Terry Lynn's Logic

I'm a child of the soil, I was born in the ghetto
Where the gangstas roll by and then gunshot echo
You have to hide inna your place and tuck down like a gecko
Can't touch the street until the gangstas dem say so

-Terry Lynn in Child of the Soil

Listening to Kingstonlogic 2.0, the debut from Jamaican artist Terry Lynn, feels like stepping into a time machine and heading back to 1989 via Public Enemy. You know, when “gangsta rap” used to be an attempt at a genuine reflection of what was happening in the streets. An attempt of an upstart musical genre to generate social critique concerning the problems all too many people faced in the United States. An attempt that has obviously fallen by the wayside in most of present day hip hop.

Regardless of the musical mainstreaming happening in the US, Terry Lynn’s goals appear similar to Chuck D when he started the Countdown to Armageddon. In Kingstonlogic 2.0, Lynn brings her native countries problems into sharp relief, not using hip hop, but an electronified amalgamation of reggae, dancehall, and dub that provides a stiff, sharp frame for her lyrics that tackle poverty, government corruption, and globalization in Jamaica. Check out the lyrics above from the opening track Child of the Soil to get a strong taste of what Lynn is up to right from the get-go.

If you buy a physical copy of the album, it contains a booklet with pictures taken in Jamaica showing the chilling conditions much of the population lives under, conditions described in Lynn's music. If you buy a digital version, simply head to her site and you can see them in slide show format. They complement the music perfectly and together form a complete artistic project created not just to entertain, but to educate and raise awareness.

Terry Lynn - System : Kingstonlogic 2.0

Terry Lynn - Kingstonlogic (Coejacq Mix) : Kingstonlogic Single

Visit her website, her label Last Gang Records, and become her friend on MySpace.