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Track Listing 1. Trailerload a Girls - (Patois) 2. Mr. Loverman - (Patois, featuring Chevell Franklin) 3. Ting-a-Ling - (Patois) 4. Housecall - (Patois, featuring Maxi Priest) 5. Rough Life - (Patois) 6. Pirate's Anthem - (Patois, featuring Cocoa Tea/Home T.) 7. Roots and Culture - (Patois) 8. Shine Eye Gal - (Patois, featuring Mykal Rose) 9. Gal Yuh' Good - (Patois) 10. Slow and Sexy - (Patois, featuring Johnny Gill) 11. Wicked in Bed - (Patois) 12. Jam, The - (Patois, featuring KRS-One) 13. Bad and Wicked - (Patois) 14. Let's Get It On - (Patois) 15. Twice My Age - (Patois, featuring Krystal) 16. Ram Dancehall - (Patois)
Album Notes Personnel includes: Shabba Ranks, Chevelle Franklin, Maxi Priest, Cocoa Tea, Home T, Mykal Rose, Johnny Gill, KRS-One, Krystal. Producers include: Wycliffe "Steely" Johnson, Cleveland "Clevie" Browne, Sean "Puffy" Combs, Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis, KRS-One. Compilation producer: Jerry Rappaport. Recorded between 1991 & 1995. Includes liner notes by Eliana Oumana. All tracks have been digitally remastered. With one foot planted firmly in Jamaica's tradition of classic toasting (his precursors include U-Roy and Yellowman), and the other in the burgeoning world of American hip hop, Shabba Ranks purveyed a hard-hitting ragga-rap style that came to typify the form known as dancehall. Delivered over deep, bass-thick production, Ranks' provocative, rhythmically infectious delivery struck an international chord. The artist's particularly successful tenure at Epic Records in the early-to-mid-1990s is represented on GREATEST HITS, an impressive and well selected--if not comprehensive--sampler of Shabba's talents. Included here are popular collaborations with other singers, including Maxi Priest ("Housecall"), Johnny Gill ("Slow and Sexy"), and KRS-One ("The Jam"); in addition to pairings with producers and arrangers like Sly Dunbar ("Shine Eye Gal"), Sean Combs ("Rough Life"), and long-term production partner Bobby "Digital" Dixon. "Trailor Load a Girls" and "Wicked in Bed" show Ranks wielding his renowned sexual braggadocio, while "Roots and Culture" proves him capable of tackling social issues. Ultimately, Ranks was a key player in the rise of Jamaican dancehall, and GREATEST HITS is a great overview of his contributions.
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