Jah Cure – The Universal Cure
Sobe Entertainment (4/7/09)
Reggae
I’ll confess to not being the biggest reggae fan out there. I can appreciate its heritage and the heartfelt fervor of the genre’s roots, but there’s a difference between “appreciation” and “affection.”
Jah Cure is one of those artists whose work is usually lavished with hyperbolic phrases including, but not limited to “…for fans of any genre…” and “…if you never thought you’d buy a reggae album…”. Cure, not surprisingly, has quite the umbilical link from his life story to his discography. He did an extended bid in prison—writing and recording his first album during that time—and has gone on to establish himself as a headline act since his release.
The Universal Cure is much more focused and cohesive than his last album, True Reflections…. Cure’s wordplay, especially, is much improved. How else can you explain the juxtaposition of Cure’s life with those of guards who watched over him in jail on “Mr. Jailer”? And Cure gets downright melancholy on “Sticky” while waxing nostalgic over his lost youth.
Sure, the “jail” theme is a little overdone, but on tracks like “Reflections”, Cure’s raw accounts are honest, haunting and a damn fine deterrent. Things are brighter by the second half of the album. By the time the title track hits, or the playful (albeit disposable) final song, “Call Me” (featuring Keyshia Cole) comes around, you’ll almost believe that Cure is the act that brings reggae into the ringtone era. Indeed, there’s an oddly effective Latin-infusion on many of the cuts that might be a bit sonically jarring for Cure’s core audience, but I found myself digging it.
