Media WriterBrooklyn-based dancehall record label Massive B has delivered two new tracks that are heating up the holiday season, with Cocoa Tea’s “Weh Ya Gone” and Xyclone, Chedda Boss, and Kisko Hype’s “Bend Down Low.”
On “Weh Ya Gone,” Massive B chief Bobby Konders recruits legendary Jamaican singer Cocoa Tea for this one-drop anthem that finds the “Rikers Island” vocalist searching for the dancehall days of old, before pandemic-era lockdowns gripped his island nation and crippled the music industry. Cocoa sings:
Mi love mi dance and mi roots and mi culture
Light up mi chalice and bun sensimilla
And all di people dem a dance pon di corner
We want to have the same livity again
“Weh Ya Gone” is built on a backing track that producer Bobby Konders defiantly dubs the “No Curfew Riddim.” The piano-driven skank and horn refrain, courtesy of musician Madman Myrie, carry echoes of the now classic “Things and Time Riddim” that spawned Buju Banton and Beres Hammond’s 1999 party time anthem, “Pull It Up.”
“Cocoa Tea is back!” exclaimed Konders. “This song and riddim will remind you of the Golden Years of reggae and dancehall when sound system would string up!”
“Weh have the good vibes gone Jamaica?! Wan hear sound clash start back again!” added Cocoa Tea, who hails from Rocky Point, Clarendon Parish. “Weh Ya Gone” marks the first time that Massive B and Cocoa Tea have linked up on a record.
“Bend Down Low,” featuring Massive B cohorts Xyclone, Chedda Boss, and Kisko Hype, calls some of the more raw elements of dancehall into play as the chorus repeats “Gyal bend down and push it back” over a snare-driven beat that gives the listener no choice.
Konders, who rules New York City radio on Sunday nights with his long-running HOT 97 program “Fire Sundays,” explains “‘Bend Down Low’ is another ladies anthems for the clubs! This can mix with everything, from dancehall and reggaeton, to soca, Afrobeats, and hip hop.”
Whether you’re headed to the roots dance or the bashment party, Massive B has something guaranteed to turn up the heat at your holiday function. “Weh Ya Gone” and “Bend Down Low” are available on all streaming services and DSPs.
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