It’s been a decade since Ghetto Story and there is no shortage of Cham fans in the mood for the full throttle experience. When he aims to please, he hits the mark, and what we know is that he does so with his latest work, an album aptly named Lawless. The long awaited third album is all about delivery and when it comes down to it, a taste of what’s to come is plenty to whet the appetite and still leave us begging for more. The release of the highly anticipated album has drawn heavy industry attention with a promise to be the artist's best work to date.
The debut hit hard with both audio and video teasers of the off limits attitude associated with Lawless. Have you heard the recently dropped “Money Wine”? When you do what you do for you, it also becomes about what it does for someone else, so if you have an adventurous spirit and the desire to get down - you get it, you’ll feel what “Money Wine” is all about. Taking that authentic dancehall atmosphere and making it hotter and heavier, pushing the limits in a very specific way. The sound of that sensation is feverishly expressed visually, and that’s something that is evident with respect to the video under the direction of Jamaican based Xtreme Arts.
Doesn’t it seem like by focusing in on what brings pleasure, furthering the sound has become second nature? The beauty of the artistry is in the dedication to the rawness of it and yet the fresh approach appears as it becomes more about structured emotion and layers of energy. You can tell that with Cham it’s the vision that matters, taking sophisticated and clever and finding what makes it raunchy and real reminds us that the players and the pieces are inconsequential. You can spot this when you see it, and it translates to a siren song. So the thing that really is standing out here is the magic that happens when Cham works with Stranger.
That’s the relationship between him and Dave “Stranger” Kelly that has evolved over time to solidify the special nature of the performance plus producer enhanced status that rivals the synergy of Dre and Snoop or more recently Eminem. In what can be seen as a parallel, the pair broke off from Atlantic a few years back and Madhouse Records moved on to reggae/dancehall distributor DubShot Records. They’ve come up with a bit of a trademark in developing their own unique routine, it’s packed with a punch and you can make no mistake it’s purposeful.
Lawless appears to be a breeding ground for mixing and matching authentic components with the added no holds barred freedoms of fusion. Rumor had it Cham is making his rounds to unveil the labor of love and we can expect to catch him in New York early April to promote this latest work before he heads off to Europe. With the debut of Money Wine we can anticipate the track will rise to limitless measure - in the club and ready to pounce, or on the go and eager to penetrate the popular reaction. Could it be the soundtrack of Summer calling... ?