Two years after she became the first woman to win the Grammy for Best Reggae Album (for an EP, Rapture), the young prodigy Koffee offers a real first album, brief but tasty. The tone is set from x10 opening, an original song hummed while a chorus by Bob Marley plays discreetly behind: this Gifted will pay homage to the roots instead of defining the future of dancehall as it previously did. Certainly the album includes his recent hits to leaping and modern productions west indies and the famous Lockdown, but the new ones bring Koffee back to his early beginnings, acoustic guitar on his knees. The soul reggae of Defend evokes Lauryn Hill, while a beat vaguely drill cadence its chords plated on shine. She makes herself a nice gift with the ballad lonely, the full orchestra behind his voice playing a lover’s rock rhythm that the late Gregory Isaacs would not have denied. And always, that amber and agile voice, that surprisingly mature feather that makes her one of Jamaica’s most exciting musical exports.
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