Black Bullet Riddim – Bird Label

The Black Bullet Riddim has that clipped, hard-edged late-’70s feel, the kind of roots cut that keeps its weight in the drums and lets the singers and deejays do the talking. 197X’s Bird Label keeps it to five tracks, so there’s no wasted motion here. Hopeton Junior’s “Whip Down The Wicked Man” and the Prince Heron and Jah Brokie combination on “Wip The Wicked Man” give the set its most direct militant pull, while Jah Booky’s “Kingston Rock” loosens it up with a more street-corner swagger. I-Roy’s link to “Black Bullet” has turned up in the wider history of the tune, and that lineage hangs over this version too. The sequencing feels deliberate, moving from chant-style pressure to a couple of tighter vocal pairings before closing with Scorpion’s “Natty Want Progress. ”