fall – BBB RADIO

For this review, I’ll be covering the 2021 album “Vybz” and 2023 EP “Fall Into Vybz” from Trinidad-born, Houston-raised rapper, singer and songwriter Shabriz. In distinguishing the genre these projects belong to, Shabriz himself stated that it’s “considered World Music, but I like to think of it as OutKast meets Vybz Kartel”. And with the more spins I gave these records, the more I understood and respected his creative, X-meets-Y high concept pitch.

Categorizing “Vybz” and “Fall into Vybz” as world music or afro-fusion (the latter of which the majority of beats presented on these records fall under) makes sense. But lyrically and vocally, it’s pretty difficult to fit these projects into those boxes. And that’s where we get to the undeniable talent Shabriz brings to the table. He’ll start a song off in one genre and then, at the drop of a dime, switch into another! The album and EP contain elements of hip hop, dancehall, reggae and R&B, all of which Shabriz adjusts to by selecting the right flow and cadence and performing them with American, Jamaican and Trinidadian accents. Of course, this isn’t entirely new in the world of urban music but very rarely have I heard an artist who can switch tones and flows so effortlessly on the same track (not in an overblown way, mind you), especially on beats where the vibe is so consistent, there’s no real need to do any vocal switch-ups.

But the idea behind these projects is not to overthink things like flows and accents. At 24 minutes and 5 minutes respectively, “Vybz” and “Fall into Vybz” are meant to….well…..vibe to. The production consists of smooth, mid-tempo instrumentals designed to make your head nod and, for the most part, get your hips moving. And it’s this production that drives Shabriz to tap into the right vibes each song brings and enhance them vocally to the listener.

I’ll start with the longer project first, which boasts a strong opener and closer. The title track “Vybz” sets the tone of the record brilliantly, with a hazy, irresistibly laid-back instrumental and a truly impressive performance from Shabriz. Off his first verse alone, I get the sense that this song and album are meant to act as both an introduction and re-introduction to his music (Think of Ludacris’ “Back for the First Time” as an example, which was both his second studio album and major label debut). Adopting his American accent in the first half, he sounds rejuvenated as he raps about how his life experiences at that point shaped him into the artist we’re hearing on this track. There’s a great moment where the beat stops and resumes a few seconds later, giving Shabriz the opportunity to show off his lyrical dexterity through a Trini-accented dancehall flow. I will LOVE to see this song performed on-stage, and I can picture the audience losing their collective shits during that second verse! The response would be even greater if it were a Trinbagonian audience, as Shabriz spends the entirety of that verse repping his country of birth.

On the closing track “Intro (Flowers for Lukhanoo)”, Shabriz selects the mellowest beat out of the album’s bag of instrumentals and uses that to drop the most introspective bars I’ve heard in this two-project lineup. Sticking with a rap vocal style, he pays tribute to his Trinidadian friend Lukhanoo who held him down through his ups and downs, and continues to support him even though he doesn’t permanently reside in Trinidad. There’s a genuinely heartfelt moment where after the first verse, Shabriz recalls a phone call where Lukhanoo encouraged him to push his music and Caribbean roots forward. A part of me wishes that we had more introspective moments like this on “Vybz”. They would’ve fleshed out Shabriz’s character and personality on this record even more.

With the exception of the opening, penultimate and closing tracks, the vibe of the other five songs is primarily party-oriented. And the songs themselves are all designed to get bodies moving on dimly-lit dancefloors and brightly-lit strip club stages (more on that in a bit) – which is actually a good thing!

The quintet of party jams begins with “Steel Drum” which you might assume is all about Trinidad and Tobago’s national instrument. But alas, no! For you conservatives reading this, it’s really about the title of rapper Foxy Brown’s debut album! Anyway, this song features a relaxed, afro-fusion beat driven by a spacey keyboard chord progression, a lyrical blend of hip hop and dancehall, a CATCHY-ASS hook and tons of braggadocio and sexuality oozing out of its lyrics! Shabriz sticks to his Trinbagonian roots on this track by centering it on the attraction he feels for a Trinidadian woman he spotted at a Carnival festivity.

Things get steamy on the following tracks “Bruk Out” and “Sugar Cane”, both of which are NOT based on the respective 1998 and 2010 dancehall riddims of the same name. The former is an undeniable mood-setter of a bedroom song, complete with a sensual, nocturnal instrumental, a deft lyrical mix of dancehall and R&B, and some of Shabriz’s most sexually-charged bars. “Fuck fi spite, don’t fuck fi war, fuck fi life” is one of those lines you’ll remember long after you’ve heard it on this track! On “Sugar Cane”, Shabriz moves the party out of the bedroom and back onto the dancefloor, where he proceeds to tell this girl he just hooked up with that she can get more of his “sweet sugar cane”. And if you know a thing or two about soca music and sugar (I mean, Patrice Roberts sung TWO songs about sugar in her career, one about a sugar boy and the other about a sugar cane!), then you should know exactly what he’s talking about. Though it would have benefited from a second verse instead of the one verse and two instances of chorus we get here, “Sugar Cane” is still a salaciously satisfying track!

Bringing some Southern flavor into the mix is the aptly-titled strip club anthem “Slide”. Over some R&B / hip hop production (the guitar solo in particular has this 90s-styled bedroom music vibe to it), Shabriz channels his inner T-Pain and expresses his love – oops, I meant to say sexual attraction – towards a certain stripper doing her thing right in front of him. The truly impressive thing about this track is how he plays with the listener’s expectations on this song, giving us rap on the first verse, R&B on the hook and out of the blue, dancehall on the second verse! You won’t associate the latter lyrical style with a beat like this and yet, somehow, it WORKS!

Shabriz changes the order of those three lyrical styles on the following, and dare I say, BEST track on the record: “Uno”. Here, we’re treated to this hypnotic, afro-fusion beat with a backing drum pattern that interestingly sounds very 90s dancehall-inspired. Shabriz drops his wittiest, eyebrow-raising double entendres, with standouts like “You have de coldest waist like Toronto / Leg and thigh, I want de 2-piece combo” and “Kinda wine turn meh sister into ah auntie / Fi de food, gyal, I willing to raid yuh pantry”. The hook, or should I say the execution of it after the first verse, is FANTASTIC as the line “You may be the one for me” is delivered in a slower fashion after the first instance. The third and final instance helps segue the song into a hi hat-driven beat that beautifully maintains the previous instrumental’s hazy and hypnotic tone. Of course, with a beat switch like this, Shabriz has no choice but to rap, and he uses his cocky bars and laid-back delivery to literally GLIDE his way to the end of the track! And speaking of ‘end’, is that a Sampha sample playing through the song’s final seconds? I would love to know!

Closing off the “Vybz” section of this review is the penultimate track “I Know”. The production on this track is the most textured on the album, with its downbeat R&B/hip hop grooves, shimmering keyboard chords, bluesy electric guitars and soulful organs. Shabriz capitalizes on this hip hop and R&B fusion with a brilliantly-sung hook and a first verse where he adds a little poetry to his sexual suggestiveness (“And I know your shrubbery’s sweeter than bowls of potpourri / I’m a Hardy boy, but baby, this ain’t no mystery / Had to save me from witches trying to kill the Cedric Digg (dick)-ory”). On the second verse, however, he starts off with dancehall for a bit (four lines to be exact), then reverts to rap. Thematically, while this song follows the same throughline as the previous four songs where Shabriz sees a girl and is determined to win her heart, I’d make the argument that it relates the most to the opening track, where it seems as if he had to ‘find himself’ first before making this life-changing commitment to stay with his current love interest. The song’s closing line “I bet you wonder where I’ve been” alludes to that as well.

The “Fall into Vybz” EP serves as a continuation of the “Vybz” album with only two tracks to keep the…well….vibes going. The first in this duo is “Anything” which features a seductive, head-nodding beat and a lyrical structure similar to the aforementioned track “Vybz” where Shabriz starts with rap and ends with dancehall. This song also shares tonal resemblances with “I Know” as it involves Shabriz assuring his partner that he’ll always be there for her, and includes a mix of poetry and sexual innuendo on the first verse and direct, unapologetic requests for intimacy on the second verse.

By comparison, “Pum Pum” is a fun, raunchy dancehall song clearly inspired by the many dancehall songs of the 90s and 2000s that got away with revealing their ‘findings’ on that particular topic over the airwaves. Over a groovy afro-fusion instrumental laced with harp-like strings, Shabriz spits a series of raw, sex-fueled dancehall bars sprinkled with witty one-liners (“Now yuh slide down de vine like Tarzan did to Jane”), the second verse of which is cut short by a brief rap segment set to some dramatic piano keys in the background.

As a showcase of Shabriz’s songwriting and genre-specific vocal skills, “Vybz” and “Fall into Vybz” delivers the goods and more! His ear for mood-inducing beats and lyrical ability to make the absolute use of those beats are on full-display on both projects. And overall, they left me excited for the next “Vybz” session Shabriz will hopefully bless our ears with the near-future. But in the meantime, if you like your urban music with the genre-fusing bravery of a group like OutKast and the lyrical brashness and bravura of an artist like Vybz Karel, “Vybz” and “Fall into Vybz” are definitely worth checking out!

‘VYBZ’ RATING: 8 out of 10

‘FALL INTO VYBZ’ RATING: 6 out of 10

“Vybz” is now available on Spotify, Apple Music and Tidal.

“Fall into Vybz” is now available on Spotify.