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Elephant Man a veteran of international touring, Ele is regarded as one of dancehall's strongest stage performers. The current single and video "Pon de River, Pon de Bank" are growing at a rapid rate. All confirming that Elephant Man is Good 2 Go!Reviews:
Dancehall is probably the last major genre where singles (and there are billions, every year, still on seven-inch vinyl) outweigh everything else: albums, videos, even radio play. Of course, dancehall's recent crossover success in America means that Jamaica's ground-level carpet-bombing of product needs to be rethought in terms of good old fashioned star power: albums, videos, even radio play, in other words. So after Shaggy's loverman pop and Sean Paul's hip-hop alliance, Elephant Man -AKA the Energy God, AKA the Punk Rock of Dancehall-is next in line for the US putsch. As star material, he's just about perfect: he looks like Dennis Rodman on a Caribbean vacation, sounds like Ghostface Killah gargling hot granite, and generally acts the unhinged id. His first official US album release mixes new productions like "Jook Gal (Wine Wine)" and "We We Are" with singles that ride the year's hottest riddims (the endlessly recycled backing tracks that make dancehall dancehall): widescreen Technicolor Bollywood soul, US hip-hop's orientalist fetish taken to dizzying degrees, and minimal bangers heavy on the bass. Song of the album (and maybe dancehall track of the year) "F*** U Sign," showcases producers Ward 21's typically unhinged "Sign" riddim. Over a frenzied washtub thump punctuated occasionally by an electric violin, Ele spits and garbles the verses before barking the title chorus with such fervor you'd think he just learned the word. Let's see the White Stripes match that.
