Alborosie ADD

Review

Album Review: Irie Souljah - World Citizen

08/01/2025

by Gardy Stein

From Spain to Jamaica: growing up in a community close to Barcelona, Josep Jordi Grau Saula aka Irie Souljah has relocated to the heartland of reggae in 2014 to fulfil his musical ambitions, and can thus be considered a true World Citizen. No wonder that his current oeuvre carries that name – after his impressive debut album Immigrant (2015) and the follow-up All About Love (2023), he now presents another original creation released, like the previous one, on Ineffable Records.

A powerful kick-off, Rasta At The Control states clearly where we are headed and who is taking us. While the first verse is an autobiographic account of growing up as a little hustler with big dreams, the second one is a critical assessment of the current state of affairs. The underlying riddim is a piece of cake, too – like most of the ten songs, it was created by Genís Trani, a compatriot of the singer who started his career as member of Spain’s  One Blood Sound and has steadily built a reputation as able sound engineer and producer.

The subsequent title track touches on a subject that has been present on Souljah’s debut album, too: immigration laws and the dire situation of many refugees. He is joined by none other than “the lyric deity” Kabaka Pyramid, who adds his immaculate flow to the subject: “It’s in our cultural differences where the beauty lies (…) we have a human right to travel anywhere we want!” We are all World Citizens!

The friendship between the two artists goes way back, ten years at least, and it is of interest to note that it extends to more than vocal features. Kabaka is credited as co-writer of the lyrics to Me & My Weed, I Know Dem (two tracks that deserve special mention because of the beautiful instrumentals contributed by Kawain Williamson on bass, Ottmar on keys, Pau Dangla Valls on organ, Jevaughn Jones on guitar and Keneil Delisser on drums) as well as the propulsive Bout Ya, a track he has also produced single-handedly.

He isn’t the only featured artist, either. Alborosie shares the fervent prayer for better days in Another Way, and US-singer MediSun (formerly known as King Mas) is heard on So Far. The final track In & Out, a juicy love song, is not a feature per se put contains both vocal and lyrical input by newcomer Mystic Marley, daughter of Stephen Marley. Definitely an artist to keep an eye on!

This leaves us with Give Me Reggae Music and Blaze Up The Fire. While the former is too pop-funk-disco for my taste (I have tried to like it, really!), the latter can be seen as another alignment of the singer with his chosen genre and its values. On the whole, World Citizen is a solid body of work, continuing the conscious foundation and growth established in previous releases. Worth announcing is the most recent collaboration between Irie Souljah, Matthew Malcolm and Quan Dajai. Under the name of The Rising Suns, this vocal trio will certainly start releasing exciting stuff soon!

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