General Zone Riddim: Who is Da General?

November 20, 2018

Genera Zone Riddim – @Maximum Stylez Records & Publishing

Review by SoulSista Sekano

Maximum Stylez Records and Publishing have released a new riddim called General Zone riddim. After the successful release of Piece by Piece riddim in 2016, I was eagerly waiting for this one, the riddim was released in October 2018, with each tune being released a day or two days apart. A clever move from Maximum Stylez because the anticipation kept the hype up and gave fans something to look forward to AND to talk about. The riddim is in the style of clashes where each artist proclaims to be The “General” and the baddest lyricist in the game. Artists featured on the riddim are: Black Dillinger, Senci Ranks, Rash Mashi, Bun pot, Pepsin, Conquer Arson, L’TiTude, SfS, Botanist and General Plago. The instrumental is punchy and hardcore, it required the same delivery from the artists but it was let down by a few. Some are just trying too hard to convince me (they fail) that they are bad and disregarded the instrumental entirely.

If we are going to clash can we not be ‘SWEET’ about it. The other day I was watching sting 2000 “Merciless vs Ninja Man vs Bounty Killer” now if you want to hear “war” watch that. There are two tunes that stand out for me, Rash Mashi’s “Fool a chat” and Botanist the sniper “Bwooi dead”, they compliment the instrumental, on some tunes my mind wanders off and I only hear the beat (yep it’s that bad). Also I feel these two are not trying too hard, they BELIEVE that they are The Generals, their lyrics are clear and straight to the point. I would give the title to Botanist but he went ‘soft’ for lack of a better word, I feel that he should have not censored himself. Reggae/Dancehall fans have long been listening to full blown vulgar and ‘raw’ songs, so censoring some words did him no good.

I’m disappointed that no one attempted to bust in their native languages, out off all the tunes I think I heard one line on Pepsin’s tune ” watch how yuh move, sa shay’umntu sa shay’umuntu” that’s it! just that line *sigh* I’m certain that whoever had done that would have taken the crown cause sometimes you are able to express yourself better when you use your own mother tounge. They all missed that chance.

Another Let down is that there are no female artists on the riddim. I hope Maximum Style Records have a good explanation for this. I’m 100 percent sure that we have capable female artists who would have killed this riddim. I’m not going to dwell on this, it’s a topic for another day.

With that said, General Zone Riddim is a banger and will keep revelers on the dance floor happy. Much Respect to Maximum Stylez Records crew.

I have 3 ‘Generals’ on this Riddim, but you listen and tell me who’s your GENERAL?

I’ll give it an 8 out of 10