Lion Of Judah - Emperor Selassie '99 / Revolution

Absolutely head-banging remix of an inoffensive filler tune from the “Tribute to Haile Selassie” LP. The original features an MC singing about “You dis Rastaman, we rip you up like lion” but the comparison that springs to mind is not lion, it is Hans Moleman, the wizened bespectacled defeatist old geezer from The Simpsons. I guess they were going through a bit of a rough patch and decided to rehash some of their old studio tapes, but whatever, the result is truly astonishingly tough. It starts off with the horns from the original together with a break that sounds like someone’s practising martial arts on a giant spring, then at the drop there’s a sample from a documentary about Rastafarianism, with the interviewee declaiming on the “Power of the Holy Trinity”. Then there’s just the loudest amen/bassline combination imaginable, together with a bit of the singing from the original.

The flip side is indeed rolling, and as with the other side the breaks and bass used seem to have hob-nailed boots on. There is weird intro of cartoony funk music, then a fairly simple and extremely loud drum pattern over which a variety of flatulent basslines display their wares.