Akae Beka - Mek A Menshun (2019)

Akae Beka will probably never release as many albums as Midnite, but still, this is already the ninth release since Vaughn Benjamin founded the band in 2015 and his second collaboration with Zion I Kings, a crew of musicians and producers made up of members from Zion High Productions, I Grade Records and Lustre Kings Productions, who also worked with Midnite before.
I have to admit Vaughn Benjamin's monotonous chanting style started to bore me a bit during the seventh track, even after some listening. But maybe that's what the Oracle of the US Virgin-Islands intended. Is it simple coincidence the tune is called 'Nah Talk'? The rest of the lyrics we couldn't quite grasp, but that's typical Vaughn. Asked why he never releases lyrics himself, he once answered me that he wants to encourage us to keep listening, until we fully understand the message.

This album will definitely have to be on my playlist dozens of times before I will be able to grasp all the lyrics. I've noted some brilliant sentences already. "If that's the place where your heart wanted to be, don't take it for granted…" in 'The Mighty', a song sounding like a prayer, musically reminding us of an old reggae riddim, a rarity in the universe of Akae Beka/Midnite. "We have to evaluate our ways from start…" in 'Our ways', a threatening tune with ditto bass line and a sample of Haile Selassie. Vaughn's voice sounds as if it was given the Auto-Tune treatment, another novelty for him. Correct me if I'm wrong, I don't have all hundred albums by Midnite and Akae Beka.

He sings 'Read!' in 'Veterans Of Narrative' (great title), "…about those bitters and sweets…". Read the books of people who matter. "It's geometry you have to believe, angles connecting each. Dreams of lasting peace, world citizenship (yes, quoting H.I.M. and Bob Marley), make knowledge and reason increase…". A religious or spiritual worldview need not stand in the way of science.

'Only Now' is essentially a mindfulness song: "There's only now, the sweat of eyebrow... Past and future speaking, diverging every topic from the now... All diversionary tactics from the now.". 'Worth It' is about the head corner stone that was rejected (again: remember Bob Marley) and Vaughn Benjamin assures us: "You're worth it."

But let's talk about the lyrics again in a few years, once they've really gotten through to us, as musically 'Mek A Menshun' is a fascinating album as well, featuring lots of beautiful horn arrangements (trombone and saxophone): 'By Day', classic one drop, not coincidentally featuring Aston Barrett Jr. on drums, 'Into Law', an exegetical song in real rockers style (exegetical: explanation of holy writings), 'Chemistry' ('My Story', about Vaughn's "mystic destiny"), 'Worth It'... We hear warm acoustic guitars in 'Reason', 'Into Law' and 'Only Now' (which starts and ends beautifully with violin sounds). And may we advise you to listen to every song in full? Blessed outros.

The title track features Protoje, but he doesn't get any further than a short strophe, in a song that is vintage Vaughn Benjamin. 'Mek A Menshun' means "Make a mention" in traditional English. "Dem no mention Yah, dem no mention Ethiopia, nor God King Emperor."; they never talk about H.I.M., the rulers and opinion makers. Luckily we still have the Rastaman.

Please don't ask me if this will become a classic Akae Beka album. I own a few dozen Midnite CD's (!), released between 2000 and 2015, which I'm only now fully beginning to appreciate and understand. So let's meet up in ten years or so, when I've mastered both lyrics and music. Because one thing I know for sure: I'll be listening to 'Mek A Menshun' many more times to come!