Firmly Planted Roots

Hot Like Fire produces real feel good roots music. The song, When Will She Tell Me is lively, yet full of contemplation and yearning. It buzzes around on the surface of the mind, rather than hitting very deep, like a beat from say, The Green would. When Will She Tell Me tells you with its sound to stop thinking about 'the woman who is in love with the wrong man,' because the thought of her and how the world works won't make you feel good if you think about it too hard. You can just hear this sentiment when listening to this track.

'I know she wants my love/I know she needs my love/but she's so afraid of him/afraid to face his cold abuse.

This is so confident. As a listener, you don't know the story. But just as the sound of the song 'keeps you on the surface,' so does this confidence. The other guy sucks, always. Women seem to love other men. Listen to the line:

'with flowers in my hand/I walk to her front door/she look as if to say what are you out there for?

Is the speaker delusional? The hero? Let's hope he is not 'cold abuse,' but I know it is a possibility. This is most likely not the case, though. But it must be mentioned. This song gives strength, and is stemmed from seemingly dumbfounded rejection. Reggae music makes us feel good about ourselves. The picture it paints is so interesting, and the simple buzzing the sound creates, without pulsing too deeply, is special.

SOJA has been my thing since childhood, and Time Come Due was one of the songs I first heard. Before the renaming and rebranding, Soldiers of Jah Army wrote stuff that seems a bit more direct.

live life for today, and reap tomorrow/better yourself, respect yourself/ Mt. Zion will follow

Life lessons man. I want to say regardless of religion, but I don't know enough about religion. It is like how I don't have an opinion on politics. It is important, I guess. I am just much to uneducated to have an opinion. Regardless, this is all inspiring language. There's a link between the words 'live,' 'today,' 'respect,' and 'better.' It is all positive language. Live is the opposite of die. Die is negative. Today is the opposite of any time that is not today. Any time that is not now is not tangible. Time is not tangible at all, but any time ahead or behind cannot be touched in the same way the current moment can. Positive. Respect and better. Positive words.

'a heart like a lion, a burning like fire/waiting just to be set free/a heart like a lion, a burning like fire/how can I bear captivity?'

Those lines are really good. The beat goes down deep. I feel it in my lion heart. I’m really into this song for some reason. It’s great to walk around outside with late at night. I did it in the rain last night and it was pretty exhilarating. It made me feel a bit crazy when I went inside and dried off. Eric Rachmany is rarely not killer on his tracks, his sound is simple, but it is genuine. It has an emotional element you can almost touch. There’s not much to this song. It just brings positive energy. There’s much more I’m just too busy to say it. I have let many down lately, but for some reason, I can still feel a lion heart. Feelings have such a strong existence. That sting in your chest, and not being able to focus on anything. I think that's heart of a lion.

'and now you cry/but you don't know why'

When you have no energy but still have a flame that makes you feel instead of move. Maybe I cry like a lion instead of roaring like one? Is that a fault of my heart? These are questions we could all ask ourselves. Everything is the same when it really comes down.

'maybe tomorrow will never come'

An undeniable roots classic, Gregory Issacs’ Night Nurse is real and heartfelt. I can’t say enough about the quality of the music, but this is nothing truly of note on this blog; all the music is exceptional. Music loud on the speakers or in the headphones speaks for itself. The beat in Night Nurse is sensual. The song goes upward in lust, downward in request. Gregory is a patient that needs some help in the night. If you feel like Gregory, lay back with this song in your ears and take some deep, slow breaths. Like in most reggae music, the instruments here accentuate poetic expression. The song is a jam for the whole human race.

‘night nurse/only you alone can quench this here thirst’

The ‘thirst’ metaphor will never be trite. It’s so human, universal and understandable. In this track of lust, it is so welcome. Night nurse, you’re the only one quenching Gregory’s thirst. It’s simple, it’s real, it’s easy to close your eyes and relate.

‘I don’t want to see no doc/I need attendance from my nurse around the clock’

He wants his ‘night nurse’ 24/7. He wants her bad. It’s on his mind constantly. The clever ‘medical rhyme’ and subconscious implying of his desire for a woman’s company over any man’s is quite poetic. Quite relatable, and quite telling. He’s going a bit crazy, and he made a great song about it.

‘night nurse’ is just the right amount alliterative, and just the right amount telling. The title’s repetition in the song works because of the poetic quality of the two words together. Nurses work at night. They take care of people. Patients really need their care. They really benefit from their care. It’s just very attractive to a man. 'night nurse’ is a really good sound and thought. Always welcome in music; poems, all art.

'tell her it’s a case of emergency/there’s a patient by the name of Gregory’

As one of the best songs from 2015’s Hotting Up album, Midnight is an immediately recognizable track due to its deep, distinguished bass. Iration, the kings of Hawaii and Cali reggae celebrate their voice hard in this track, and vocalist Micah Pueschel shines as he does on many occasions. I can never fight the feeling I get in my core when listening to tracks with this kind of deep, hard, and yet, smooth skankin lines. Riddims like these give me butterflies when turned up loud. The beat fits perfectly with the matter of the song, as we are discussing women, longing, displacement, and restless midnight hours— all things humans feel in our cores as well. Midnight is not just well coated musically; there are some strong poetic moments as well.

‘don’t start ringing the bell’

Sounds to me like a plea to a lover to keep contact. To keep the speaker in mind, and a longing of the speaker to know if the other is feeling similar feelings. The bell is the speakers alarm, love and passion. A sound nearing obsession, and he doesn’t want to hear it. This sentiment is what drops the listener into the chorus, thus the drop makes it more powerful, and a moment we sing along to naturally when listening. We all seem to join in Micah’s plea when we hear the almost satisfied urgency in his voice. A bell can make sounds during these quiet midnight hours. There is something special about late nights and humans fighting sleep.

‘just thinking about you alone got me ready to run’

Is just the right kind of honesty. This sentiment almost seems to express a loss for words. This is not the most articulate expression of the speaker’s desires, but it is the most honest. The speaker displays a longing and an intense attraction, accentuated by thoughts from a distance. In attempt to dispel captive feelings, he turns to an escape, what he knows best, his music.