Dread Lloyd Releases The Album Mekwei under Maximum Stylez Records
We first heard of Dread Lloyd back in 2020 when he dropped a track ‘Still King’ responding to one Lavado, Interestingly, Lavado had directed his vitriol to Black Dillinger; but it was Dread Lloyd who stepped up to defend Black Dillinger, whom Dread looked up to and considered as his mentor.. In 2019 Dread Lloyd was added to Jah Muzik Productionz label’s roster of artists which included Black Dillinger, Y Ata B, DJ Blakka, Jah Asha, Saya Katana and Moon Queen, They were heralded as Jah Musik Productionz New Generation and Still King was released under Jah Muzik Productionz label.
Dread Lloyd re-emerges four years later to drop his debut album under Maximum Stylez Productionz, Jah Muzik Productionz’ Nemesis. He seems to have followed his former stable mate at Jah Muzik, Moon Queen who has a collaboration with Pepsin, Black Dillinger’s rival, on the track ‘Sthandwa Sam’ and has started her own label Moon and Stars Entertainment.
Lonwabo Nokilana was born and raised in Gugulethu, Cape Town. He has been around the scene for a while, freestyling at local gigs in and around Cape Town. In 2022 he dropped a video for the song Andibathembanga on which he collaborated with his long time homie, VGL. He was definitely causing a buzz in Cape Town, when Jah Musik spotted him. He then made the famous journey to the city of gold to seek his fortune. He dropped the lead single Pressure accompanied by a video and got the hype that he needed to introduce and propel him in the Dancehall scene of Gauteng. Not long after the video, he unveiled the album cover with the track list. The young man did not come to Joburg to play, he came to work.
Mekwei The Album
The ten track Mekwei album produced by ML Beats is a luke warm introduction of Dread Lloyd, to a wider audience. His laid back dreamy voice resonates with his lanky persona. The tempo of the entire album is more or less the same, even the seemingly uptempo dancehall beats gets drawn back by his seemingly slow tempo delivery style. You recognise this in the track Party Bus where he features Momo Dread. Momo brings in the melodies that immediately picks the tempo up and compliments Lloyd’s laid back style.. Moon Queen is featured on two tracks with a similar theme. On Going Back Home, they reminisce about going to a home where the love is and on the closing track Zundi Linde, they are hopeful about overcoming the challenges. Let Jah featuring Layahn King is a stand out one drop track where Dread and Layahn are really in sync. The features on the album bring in a certain type of ‘that thing’ to the vibe of the entire album, injecting some highlights and bright spots. His follow up album will be the sure tell tale of where Dread Lloyd is headed. It will also be very interesting to hear him work with other Reggae Dancehall producers on other Riddims, to really get a sense of his talent. For now, this debut album delivered what it intended; to to,mark the entry of Dread Lloyd into the arena.
Title: Mekwei
Artiste: Dread Lloyd
Featured Artists: Moon Queen | Momo Dread | Layahn King | SFS 5 Star General
Produced by: ML Beats
Label: Maximum Stylez and Publishing
Year: 2024
TRACK LIST
