ight from the starting gun, let’s just try to forget that this is a ‘remix’ album. Duppy Writer is quite possibly the most perfect reggae album released in the last 30 years. Yes, from the humble roots of Jamaican parents, hustling and rhyming on the streets while maneuvering fruits, the Roots Manuva experience comes full-circle here in 2010 via a translation by Wrong Tom, a white boy who obviously knows his dub. Funny how things work out.

I put all previous releases out of my mind when listening to this record. There is one brand new track, ‘Jah Warriors’, a collaboration with Ricky Ranking, which is a very nice dub anthem. I mean no dis to all the other reggae, dub, dancehall, dubstep, etc., that is and has been released since the heyday of the classic Jamaican recordings, it’s all OK. This is just somehow better. Manuva’s rhymes have always been first class, avoiding the pitfalls of so many other MCs, always speaking the truth, even when it’s uncomfortable.

Also so respectably absent is any mention of ‘bling’, ‘bitches’, ‘hoes’, the N-word… Every topic possible is covered here, dare I say, politely. Even when rapping to a girl, as in ‘Rebuff’ (‘Buff Nuff’ reworked), Manuva never comes across as being overbearing or nasty. I don’t even think there’s a single cuss-word on this album. If only mainstream rappers could embrace this sensibility, the world’s collective intelligence might bump up a few notches.

Hit with the vinyl-scratchy background of the opener, ‘Butterfly Crab Walk’, you’ll instantly be wondering what time and space this piece of music dropped from. Don’t be fooled, it’s not sample-stolen from Studio One, it’s a signal to you, the listener, that you’re in for thirteen tracks of pure dub reality.’ Chin Up’ follows (probably the album’s strongest track), and the synths and lyrics put you steadily into the here and now.

Reggae music was always supposed to be Gospel music of sorts, reality filtered in through a channeling of spirit — “Something took control of my hand while I was writing” (Duppy Writer – Skit). A ‘Duppy’ is Jamaican slang for ‘ghost’. So, the title puts an appropriately clever spin on the whole concept of this LP. From ‘Chin Up’: ‘These ain’t rhymes no more, they’re straight sermons, for urban-suburban Babylonian contours… Global uproar, songs of war, to drown out the police and their tracking device… Best know the Beast will listen… What’s a grown man supposed to do, when the world at large is scared of the truth? …Government man keep fighting down the weed, while they boost up the booze, the Prozac, the Methadone, and use the taxpayers money to develop their clones…” This is some serious stuff. It always was, but put to the proper soundtrack, the effect is undeniable. I’d quote the lyrics to the whole album if it made any sense to, but you should just go get it and send it up your earholes yourself.

Explaining Jamaican slanguage is also somewhat pointless; if you take in enough of the music, eventually you understand what’s being said. “I wrap my head in foil, so I don’t catch them beams… Spread love like Lennon and Yoko Ono” (‘Proper Tings Juggled’). Yes, there is a sense of humour amid this poetic rip-up of ‘The Beast’. Again, the whole point of reggae always was to enable the listener to smile while watching things go down the tubes.

Fantastic cover art by Tony McDermott should be some incentive to grab this one on wax. Seeing it in miniature in your iTunes window doesn’t really do it justice. The double vinyl release on BigDada will certainly feel like a ‘proper’ three-dimensional twelve inch piece of happiness in your hands. And when you drop the needle in the groove and blast it out your soundsystem? You just might be recruiting new souls into the dub sound, and enlightening them with some seriously timely lyrical messages. Dub reggae is so relaxing when done right, I think nearly any human would be seduced into its rhythm if exposed to it. Big ups! My only complaint with this record is that it’s over too soon, and there’s not much else out there currently that really stands up next to it. So, just play it again!