Review: Benjamin Zephaniah vs. Rodney P – Naked & Remixed (One Little Indian)

Very sad news this morning to hear of the untimely passing of Benjamin Zephaniah, fellow Brummie, Villa fan, vegan, marshall artist but most of all, a great poet.

If you don't know about him, he recently read his autobiography on BBC Radio 4 (not currently available) and there's this own website, benjaminzephaniah.com.

Here's a short review I did back in 2006 for one of his many projects; RIP Benjamin Zephaniah, a writer, dub poet and Rastafarian (15th April 1958 - 6th Dec 2023)

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Everyone’s favourite dread poet gets a rub down by the ever-busy Rodney P.

Fresh from Flirtin’ with Emmanuel's 'Dillusions Of Grandeur' with Terri Walker, Rodney P has teamed up with The Sea (Corin Pennington) to remix four of the best tracks from Zephaniah’s 'Naked' CD.

It’s an interesting mix of poetry, hip-hop, reggae and dub. ‘Slow Motion’ is taken to a slower depth of UK bounce whilst ‘Rong Radio’ gets taken to the middle-east which enforces the anti-right wing media broadcasting propaganda stance; “I was beginning to believe I was listening to the ‘rong radio station”.

The oddness of the ‘Superstar’ would make him a prime candidate for daytime TV interviews but them ‘Rong Radio types wouldn’t risk it. Seems like it’s going to be either Mark Lawson on Radio 4 or 1Xtra that’ll play this (now there’s a odd couple?)

‘Uptown’ isn’t a great improvement on the original but an instrumental version is included on the reverse. Also on the b-side are the dub versions, and an ambient mix of ‘Slow Motion’. It appears this is the first collaboration of Rodney P and The Sea as ‘The Landscapers’ and they have excelled themselves on the dub versions. This is my type of ambient dub chill out, more please.

The EP was picked as a ‘Sureplayer’ in a recent DJ magazine in their ‘Leftfield & Chill’ section. You can’t argue against it.

Hectic Mix nomination: ‘Slow Motion’ (Ambient)

Benjamin Zephaniah vs. Rodney P - Naked & Mixed Up (One Little Indian) Cat No. 710TP
12 Release date: 20 March 2006

Tracklisting:

A1. Slow Motion (5:18)

A2 Rong Radio (7:59)

A3 Uptown (4:35)

A4 Superstar (5:09)

B1 Slow Motion Dub (3:21)

B2 Slow Motion Ambient (4:49)

B3 Rong Radio Dub (7:55)

B4 Uptown Instrumental (4:33)

B5 Superstar Dub (5:10)