Just Keep Good Relations, St. Croix meets Jamaica Inna Original a Roots and Culture Style

Andrew "Bassie" Campbell has been checking for the Midnite sound as a musician and producer from Jamaica for nearly a decade.  As told to Reggaeville, "I first hear Midnite when I was doing a show with Junior Reid in St. Croix in 2002, that is how I  catch the vibes."  How he got to the point of linking what is considered one of the most popular reggae bands in the world was a result of  "observing the music on a level and seeing the music in Europe as I do a lot of tours."  And in his life as a producer, he teamed up with Conscious Riddims, a partner with several Virgin Islands-affiliated artists, releasing riddims like "Gather the Remnant" which Midnite voiced  on he explains,  "Being a friend of Midnite and a great listener of the music  and a bass player, I feel that the vibes and the timing pushing the riddims and everything, it could be a great move. So we started talking, and I was thinking about getting one song from him (Vaughn Benjamin of Midnite) and that is how it started, so we meet after Tippy (from I-Grade Records) make arrangements to meet him and he was happy to meet me, because he loves the Jamaican vibes.  So we reason, talking a bit, and he is getting to know me more, and I asked, 'I hope you would do a one song for me and he was saying, 'Yes fine, but an album would be greater, I heard your work and I love your work,' and that is how we started."

How the collaboration went down in early 2011 is explained with a still-present sense of wonder by Campbell from his home in Kingston 13, St Andrew.  "I made the riddims here in Jamaica and I traveled with my hard drive and my tracks to St. Croix. Tippy and I were running through the riddims that I would love him to sing on, and when we were linking now, he (Vaughn) said he was interested and that he was ready to do it.  We went into the studio, once he listens to a riddim and it connects, he writes, and he would listen and he would write, and he would listen and write.  Very unique vibes because I didn't hear him singing anything, I only see him writing, and nodding his head, when he finish writing, he said he was ready. And he goes into the voicing room, very unique and very special, even when I have produced other artists, they are usually singing and making melodies for the riddims and everything.  Well Vaughn doesn't do that, he is mostly writing what is in his head, and then he goes in the voicing room, around the mic and then he starts sing - that is the vibes, very different, very unique different vibes. I think we go about four times we go into the studio about four times and he made the album like that, big big vibes, good vibes."

One of the greatest reggae experiences is to examine the lyrics and motives behind some of its prophets and artists.  From this we learn the struggle, from these leaders come the people.  As in, if the people lead the leaders will follow.  Vaughn Benjamin, consistently propels the message of Rasta and its strength around the globe, frequently providing empirical evidence both in song and in real time discourse, exalting its growing influence and the importance of us all to do our part to uplift, maintain and carry on the works while staying true to the practices of the ancient ones. To observe signs that were in existence  before there were email, text and social media messages.  As his lyrics remind us on the title track, "King's Bell"  - "Keep you spirit love pulsing, from deep within…too much technical gadgets keep you from the source."

Opening the set is Exalt the Crown an homage to H.I.M. Haile Selassie, as is the timing of the Kings Bell album release, that coincides with the historic coronation of H.I.M., November 2, 1930.   The lyrics remind us again of our basic human need for direct connection and the power of love, "Staying afloat in the pressing stream, holding on to the buoyancy of stability, what would that mean in a word put in, when love is the linking of topography concrete, make sure when that one they called you reach, you need a mass communication of on two feet, that's how want and need a go eat and sleep, without anxiety wrecking the peace, this is the world beyond dollar industries, chemical industry from how people feel, chemical imbalance setting in, while corporation and unity invade the deep, places of dissonance and bring relief -- I exalt the crown…..They nah say love they nah say life, if what they want is breaking down, the building up will back a sound, the hearted people praise the crown, (and the   rhyme in the couplet, a wonderful reminder of how strong our reggae camp worldwide is with) "the festival look like a rasta town!"

On the album's second tune, Try That Way he is returning to the roots amidst our chaotic world, reminding us "every moment is a thanksgiving, chance to see, waking up healthy is a blessed speech….and lot a struggle out here, lot a warrior out here, respect and recognition of one another, rasta try that way deya, when the other consequence bigger, a little work hard pull together, the principle live forever."  It is perhaps Vaughn B's love note to Jamaica, the roots of reggae, coming from deep in Africa, a statesmanlike approach to the warring factions, the vitriol that festers in the Jamaican scene, "The ark is with the architect, Haile Selassie I the maker, and his sons of it a keep, feeling powerless the earthly beings, the aftermath of empathy, and catastrophes." 

With songs like System Peak Out, Peak Tension Time, Black Mamba, What About Sudan and the Nyabinghi-style percussive riddim, The Quickening Vaughn Benjamin's sense of urgency on the world's problems and provisions for realistic solutions are sung with poetry that carries metaphoric imagery such as "economic eugenics" making a truthful case with laser-point accuracy.

To make his ancient roots message understood more widely, so Vaughn as part of Midnite endeavors the partnership.  As Andrew "Bassie" Campbell explains  the goal of the King's Bell project, "We tried to reach a broader audience with these vibes and the younger generation with more uptempo beats."  As for a possible motive behind the release of Mongst I & I - the first-ever music video associated with Midnite? In order for any music to receive exposure in Jamaica's thriving reggae marketplace, a video must also be released. [WATCH IT HERE]

Reggaeville asked the producer why would Vaughn Benjamin, who along with his brother Ron, founded Midnite with the proviso that they would not use their images, no actual photos of them to promote their career, now endeavor to present a music video with his image? His response was, "Well I think the energy that I bring with the riddims, the energy that I bring, he was loving my vibes which I know for sure, I am not guessing.  I am a good person, a smooth person, and someone when they open their mouth you can tell by the energy and the vibes, to know what kind of person they are.  I know that he is checking me out, and the production I did before, created a vibes also, reviewing the whole package of what I do and my works.  So with the video now, since he is loving the vibes, it (the concept) could be about the producer from Jamaica and St. Croix vibes so it is a great energy and why he just decided to do it." Three-fourths of the video is filmed in Fredriksted, St. Croix where Vaughn resides and the remainder of the footage was filmed in Jamaica.  

The collaboration is assembled with inspiration over high-energy, well-developed tracks. Vaughn's voice channels  stellar, melodic vocal trills, punctuated by his own subtle, breathy harmonic responses.  Crisp intros with wah-wah pedaled guitar, clean piano, strength in the kick drum, and  endurance builds  from each cymbal crash whether sounded by drummies Horsemouth Wallace or Squidly Cole both wonderful drivers for the bassie (Campbell)  to co-pilot moody lines and so much more.  As in Tippy Alfred's crucial keys and classic vintage horns recorded in St. Croix with their own particular "I-Grade" style.  Well-conceived guitar portions from the great Earl "Chinna" Smith allow Vaughn to set the pace as on the album's single, Mongst I & I where he chants, "I-tection in this time" during the intro giving the sense of the tune coming to life from its genesis, the riddim.  And as Andrew "Bassie" Campbell reflects on the first collaboration of this type for the mighty Midnite, he notes, "I am happy with this album and conscious to get it out and around, straight up, that's the vibes."