7 Takeaways From Chronixx’s New Single ‘Safe N Sound’

Just when many Jamaicans were giving up on Rastafarian artists for being eerily silent about the important issues plaguing the island’s society, Chronixx has responded forcefully, sparing neither government nor church in his new social commentary, Safe N Sound.

For three minutes and 15 seconds, Chronixx takes aim at the State in the song and video released on Friday, supposedly one of the tracks to be featured on his upcoming sophomore album Dela Splash. However, he takes no prisoners as the lyrical onslaught also raps the members of the general population who have been also contributing to moral decay on the island.

Dela Splash Will Be ‘Dark’ Chronixx

Directed by Dark X and SAMO, the video treatment for Safe N Sound shows Chronixx troding through deserted sections of land adjoining one of Kingston’s inner-city areas.  The street on which he trods appears desolate, strewn with debris, as if it was in the aftermath of a riot or war, perhaps a testament to the St. Catherine native’s revelation last year that the Dela Splash album is “much darker than anything else I’ve ever done.”

In the song’s intro, Chronixx sounds a warning that the oppressed were awakening from their slumber, and were becoming more sagacious.  He chants:

“Wise ghetto youth start wise up now (warning)
Rise ghetto youth start rise up now (warning, warning warning warning warning)
Hear mi
Bun sufferation and bun poverty
Mek dem know a evolution time
A Babylon invent crime”

‘Work affi gwan and food affi eat’

In the chorus, he expresses his desired blissful state of being for Jamaica and tries to evoke support from his listeners, singing:

“We need more love flowing in the streets
Children a smile an a skin dem teeth
More love flowing in the town
Whole community safe and sound
Love flowing in the street
Work affi gwan and food affi eat
More love flowing in the town
People tell me how mi sound”

https://www.instagram.com/p/CMYO8YFgHAe/

Reminiscent Of Peter Tosh

Chronixx’s first verse, continues in his ‘cool and deadly’ style, reminiscent of Peter Tosh.  He expresses umbrage at the rampant violent crimes overwhelming sections of the country, even with protracted states of Public Emergency, while clueless politicians, essentially, fiddle away, while Jamaica burns.

He is sure to raise some eyebrows when he mentions the need for community dons, and references ‘one order’ which could be construed as a double-entendre, seeing that a Spanish Town gang bore the same name.

“Lord a mercy
All of a sudden everybody a gun man
State of emergency and a bag a tension
Politician doh have nuh development plan
That’s why every community need a one don
One order, everybody fi unite
Nyahbinghi order Rastafari
Nuttn nuh precious like di youth dem life
Dat a one thing nuh mount a money cyah buy”

He Rips Into Criminals

No oppressor is spared, by the They Don’t Know artist.   Midway through the lengthy first verse, he rips into gunmen, who have made themselves pawns of the establishment, where they reign terror on communities, destroy them even to even their own detriment.

“Chat dem a chat
A talk bout dem a bad man
A run up dem mouth an gwan
The guns that they gave you
Are tools that they use to break good communities down”

The ‘Rum and Boom’ & Skin-Bleaching Culture, Too.

The St Catherine High School old boy takes an implicit but sharp jab at rum manufactures and energy drink company Wisynco, manufacturer of the popular Boom Energy Drink, in the latter part of the verse.

The two liquids are often mixed by young men, in particular, to get their fixes, and have even been highlighted in song by Dancehall deejay Quada who recorded Rum and Boom, in late 2020, in which he lamented “rum and boom dem drink an bad”.

Skin-bleaching men even evoke an uncharacteristic expletive from the Spanish Town native.

“A mus the boom and the rum
Fly up in your head my son
Mek yuh figet seh you a king
And start bleach out your skin
And flex like a bloodclaa clown”

But the transgressions are not the only thing he addresses.  Chronixx speaks to the African pride and black excellence, which is being militated against due to the actions of those he deems despicable.

“Look how much a wi son dem kill already
Look how much juvenile dem killing again
Future Shellyann Fraisers Usain Bolts
Doctors, wi lawyers and all wi singer dem
African people we lock di world already
A through the powers of Haile I, we a win again
Wi up and wi ready, di natty firm and heavy
Diss Rastafari and everything a dead

The Spirulina artist also addresses the women who are selling themselves short, falling victim again to the ‘rum and boom’ phenomenon, engaging in prostitution and making general fools of themselves.

“Chat dem a chat
And a talk bout dem bad
And a run up dem mouth and gwan
Prostituting wi daughters
Wi son dem get slaughtered
They breaking our families down
A mus the boom and the rum
Weh di Dutty government bring come
Mek you figet seh you a queen
And start bleach out yuh skin
An a flex like a fool Winsome”

Swine and crappy TV Shows are called out.

Processed and unnatural foods, as well as mediations, also come under scrutiny from the 28-year-old.

“Or it could be many years of brainwashing
Or the stew peas with the pig tail
It even might be these pills that they poppin
Mek everybody feel like a big devil
Affi face the truth an wi cyaa hide from it
Affi heal wi people, it’s inevitable
Cause the poison food a mek di youth brain damage
Coupled with with the crap they watching on the cable

The war on drugs is a sore point for Chronixx

The watering-down of Jamaica’s ganja strains, long rated the best in the world, and the Jamaican government’s own Bureau of Standards’, importation of Californian cannabis seeds into the island, is also a sore point for Chronixx, something he addresses in the final lines of the song.

“Pastor nah nuh answer
Di youth dem inna d church sick and dying from cancer
Marijuana is the healing
And a long time church people a laugh after Rasta
Jamaica government invest millions a dollars fi destroy wi landrace sativa
Bring in seeds from California
And then they legalize ganja”

When Chronixx posted a snippet of the song on his Instagram page on Friday, the reactions of his compatriots were resounding. “Babywrong melt at Rasta foot 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥,” Kabaka Pyramid cheered. “A Babylon Invent Crime 🔥,” Reggae crooner Romain Virgo wrote in showing his agreement.

Popcaan, Dre Island, Iba Mahr, Chi Ching Ching, and Lila Iké were also among the stars that gave the song their endorsement with fire emoticons.

Meanwhile, fans said they were waiting with bated breath for the Dela Splash album, which from all indications will be a treat.