MISSION IN PROGRESS

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Morgan’s Raid Rootz Dance




The first single off their newly released album Mission in Progress the Morgan’s family have once again delivered an impressive video that will definitely be one to remember. The Raid Rootz Dance video concept comes from an old Jamaica movie called Rockaz. Mojo who plays the role of Stallion wanted to recreate the entire movie in one video.

The rather high quality music video was shot at two locations under the co-direction of Winston Mayhew and Jay Will at Back Yard and Constant Spring Police Station. It starts off with everyone having a great time at a typical Jamaican dance. Everyone is enjoying themselves when an informer tips off the Police, who then they decide to ‘Raid the Rootz Dance’.

The police then arrests Stallion, Stripe played by Peter, Jack Diamond played by Gramps, and Jah Lyde played by Lukes. Not long after they are held in jail, Lady Don played by Una bails them. They all head back to the “rootz” dance and continue the party.

When Mayhew was asked how he felt working with Jay Will he responded “It was a great experience. I definitely learned alot from him me naah lie”.

Popular faces of media personalities DJ Sunshine and Empress as well as reggae artistes Jah Cure and Pressure are also featured in the music video.

Morgan Heritage new album is now out in stores on the VP Records label. Renowned worldwide for their riveting live shows, Morgan's Heritage's new release captures the band bottling the power of its stage performance on disc and infusing its songs with a heavier dose of hip-hop. Produced by Morgan Heritage (with a few songs helmed by Shane Brown and Stephen McGregor son of reggae singer Freddy McGregor), Mission in Progress, lyrically finds the group continuing their quest to bolster their love for reggae music through romantic, street-wise and conscious songs built on slabs of spirituality. Musically however, Mission in Progress is the realization of Morgan Heritage’s “ROCKAZ” concept: reggae music with an edge.

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Morgan Heritage on a Mission In Progress
Sibling super group Morgan Heritage's latest album is a conscious effort that seamlessly merges pop and rock sensibilities with the militancy of reggae.

Aptly titled Mission In Progress, the 14-track release features masterful musical and poetic compositions. It's an in-the-streets anthology that gives credence to the group's New Yorker and Jamaican upbringings with mild references to their Rastafari faith.
Morgan Heritage members Una, Gramps, Peter, Mr Mojo and Lukes have yet again shown that musical talent is definitely their heritage. Funky guitar stylings and bravado triumphantly declare the opening of Mission, and it's hard not to love the rootsy Cross Wi Border. Gramps laces the track with velvety, Tosh-esque vocals, complementing perfectly his lead singer-brother Peter's more R&B flavoured sound.

The triumph continues on Raid Rootz Dance, with the unapologetic declaration: "They don't love the rootz like I and I". It's a full-bodied sound, complete with heavy electronic guitar backing and is somewhat reminiscent of something perhaps from a 1970s 'blacksploitation' movie soundtrack.

"Steel Pulse done set it; now Heritage a rep' it," forms a catchy refrain as lead singers Gramps and Peter acknowledge those that have graced the stage before them, and their willingness to take up the gauntlet to be a global representation of the local sound, albeit an hybrid version.

Mr Mojo, a group member who rarely takes the spotlight, however, does on this track and 'blazes' with a clever rap solo, which seems to find harmony between the urban swagger of a modern day performer like Wyclef Jean and the 'cool-as-hell' activism of Bob Marley and Peter Tosh.

The trade-offs between morality and compassion is further highlighted on Yute Dem Share, a basic track that opines slavery of the 21st century. The Fight is a 'straight-outta-Brooklyn'-type vibe and once again, Mr Mojo offers superb rap solos that would make the late Notorious B.I.G proud.

Mission In Progress, the title track is a Wailer-tinged rocksteady number that calls for activism. It's another song which perfectly suits Gramps' vocal tones. Nothing To Smile About is already getting heavy rotation on local radio stations and highlights the reality of many living in Jamaica.The mood changes on the flirty Love You Right and Faithful. The latter features Morgan Heritage's little brother Laza of LMS. So too is Be Sure, a breezy mid-tempo single that will no doubt get you rocking.

Along with MH, Mission lists Chris and Randy Chin as its executive producers and is, for the most part, an eclectic collection that should inform listeners of their evolution as a band and their appreciation of all music.

Source: Jamaica Observer

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BE THERE!!!
MORGAN HERITAGE 2008 TOURDATES

Jun 15 2008 8:00P
Snorkel Park-Royal Dockards Bermuda
Jun 18 2008 8:00P
Key Club West Hollywood, California
Jun 19 2008 8:00P
Belly Up Tavern Solana Beach, California
Jun 21 2008 8:00P
Sierrra Nevada Festival Boonville, California
Jun 22 2008 8:00P
The Independent San Francisco, California
Jun 25 2008 8:00P
Roseland Theater Portland, Oregon
Jun 26 2008 8:00P
Nectar Seattle, Washington
Jun 29 2008 8:00P
Park Pop 2008 Netherlands/Den Hague
Jul 1 2008 8:00P
TBA Kansas City, Missouri
Jul 3 2008 8:00P
The Wild Hare Chicago, Illinois
Jul 4 2008 8:00P
Al Rosa Villa Columbus, Ohio
Jul 5 2008 8:00P
Club Vibes Cincinnati, Ohio
Jul 6 2008 8:00P
Peabody’s Cleveland, Ohio
Jul 10 2008 8:00P
The Haunt Ithaca, New York
Jul 11 2008 8:00P
La Suhaag Banquet Hall Toronto,Ontario, CANADA
Jul 12 2008 8:00P
Reggae Festival Montreal,Quebec, CANADA
Jul 13 2008 8:00P
Club Metronome Burlington, Vermont
Jul 15 2008 8:00P
Lupo’s Providence, Rhode Island
Jul 16 2008 8:00P
Outerland Edgartown, Massachusetts
Jul 17 2008 8:00P
Toad’s Place New Haven, Connecticut
Jul 18 2008 8:00P
Club Lido Dorchester, Massachusetts
Jul 19 2008 8:00P
Trocadero Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Jul 24 2008 8:00P
Da Real Café Jacksonville, Florida
Jul 25 2008 8:00P
Jannus Landing St. Petersburg, Florida
Jul 26 2008 8:00P
Hammerstein New York, New York
Jul 27 2008 8:00P
Crossroads Bladensburg, Maryland

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Morgan Heritage takes on the world
By Yasmine Peru Entertainment editor
Sunday, September 07, 2008

Simply put, Morgan Heritage is taking on the world. and in a huge way. Assiduous and feverishly focused, the group, which comprises the children of Reggae singer, Denroy Morgan, is on a mission. Actually, their most recent CD is entitled Mission In Progress, but it could equally have been named Mission Being Accomplished.

Quite an easy-going set of Rastafarians, Morgan Heritage has refrained from the condemnatory 'bun dis and bun dat' kind of livity dear to the heart of some of their fellow Rastafari singers (and deejays). It was they who made people stop, look and listen when they offered the insightful "you don't haffi dread to be Rasta, it is not a dreadlocks ting divine conception from the heart".

It was on June 15 that Heritage kicked off their 'World Tour' - with the emphasis on the word 'world'. Apparently worked out with mathematical precision, the tour of the world runs over into next year, with some hard to imagine continental juggling occurring over the period. For example, their US leg of the tour (June 15 to August 2) also saw them leaving North American continent to travel to Europe for one show only. But that, according to the affable Una, the lone female in the group, represented an opportunity of a lifetime.

"It's one of the biggest festivals in Europe. for 300,000 people. called Parkpop. We performed alongside Sheryl Crow, Jason Mraz, along with a host of other rock, pop, hip-hop and world music artistes," she told Sunday Observer.

According to Una, they were invited by FunX, a mainstream station that had their blockbuster single, Nothing To Smile About, at number one on their chart, above Rihanna, Chris Brown and Usher at the time.

During the official US leg of the Mission World Tour they did the West Coast and, for the group, things reached a peak when they played 18 shows with one day off to end the North American leg of the tour. Interestingly, the official end of the US tour was in the British Virgin Island of Tortola, "where we played to a crowd caught in the rain, yet determined to have a good time," Una smiled.

Quite satisfied with their progress and accomplishments in the US, a country they had not toured in quite a while, the siblings took a short break before heading off to what Una calls a "festival tour of Europe". This saw Heritage in performance at all the major festivals - and there are many - dotted right across Europe.

"We played Uppsala Festival in Sweden with Burning Spear, Sean Paul, and Beenie Man; Sundance in Holland with Burning Spear, Tarrus Riley, and Queen Ifrika; Super Bock Festival in Portugal where rock super group Massive Attack played as well. Massive Attack has the legendary Horace Andy on lead vocals. We did Reggae Sunsplash in Austria with Michael Rose and a Surf Festival in Italy," Una reeled off.

The group, she noted, finished up the festival tour in Germany at the Cheimsee Festival. "Surrounded by German reggae and hip hop stars, we closed the festival in front of 25,000 people," Una declared.

Another respite and the group was back in North America heading to Charlotte, North Carolina and Atlanta, Georgia where they linked up with Beres Hammond on stage.

Now back in Jamaica, Heritage will resume their regular bookings until October, when they plan to take the month off, "with the occasional weekend one-off" Una added. Come November, they will be off to Europe, this time for a club tour, which will "take us to Sweden, Norway, Denmark, France, Italy, the Czech Republic, Turkey, Germany, Switzerland, Israel, Portugal, Spain and Holland.

"The Mission In Progress World Tour will go directly to Africa from Europe," Una explained.
She admits that touring is "gruelling", but for these Rasta/Reggae standard beaarers, it comes with the territory and is an integral part of their musical mission.

Source: www.jamaicaobserver.com

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Morgan Heritage on a ‘Mission’
BY Andre Haynes

The new Morgan Heritage album, ‘Mission in Progress,’ casts the band as the would-be saviours of roots reggae. Admittedly, not an easy task, and so far the results are mixed.

On ‘Mission’ Morgan Heritage firmly plants its flags in Brooklyn - band members came of age in the US - and Kingston - they eventually established themselves in Jamaica after an ill-fated debut. The geography is important: Brooklyn is one of the capitals of rap/hip-hop, the music that has almost completely supplanted reggae as the medium for the dispossessed masses across the region, including Kingston. (G/T’s youth, so well versed in Lil Wayne’s expansive body of work can also testify to this fact.)

Although the band conjures the image of a group of throwbacks to reggae’s roots tradition, ‘Mission’ - boasting a track titled “Brooklyn and Jamaica” - seeks to repurpose hip-hop in service of its roots reggae meditations on poverty, politics, social injustice, Rastafari and, of course, love. It is an understandable compromise, in the light of a trend by radio DJs who favour the evasion of pop, hip-hop and dancehall over the engagement of roots reggae in their selections - Wayne’s oeuvre is arguably as popular as Marley’s, and it took him less than a decade.

Morgan Heritage favourites like “Don’t Haffi Dread,” “Down by the River,” and “Leave the Young Girls,” prove that an audience is nevertheless there. Consider the fact that the day before the Guyana leg of the band’s current world tour, the lead singer Gramps told reporters here that the band never expects its songs to get the airplay that they have been receiving - an outcome he attributed to the lyrical content of the music, as well as the dominance of hip-hop. He used “Leave the Young Girls” as an example, explaining that while it has been favourably received it has hardly gotten any airplay in Jamaica. He said the Queen Ifrica song “Daddy Don’t Touch Me There” also received similar treatment.

He was unapologetic about portraying the reality of the Caribbean societies. Gramps also said that because of the growing the appeal of hip-hop among the young people, the band felt it was important to use it to get its message out.

He had told the website Yardflex.com, “The objective behind [the album] is to save the music. We want to do this by introducing the young generations to roots music.” He added, “The messages to be imparted will highlight real life situations affecting the international society. Children are having children, teachers are afraid to reprimand students. The social breakdown has to be addressed.”

But the hybridization of hip-hop and reggae is a continuing Morgan Heritage experiment that has so far been unconvincing. ‘Mission’ is a sound clash: The band’s quiet revolution, built on the limber bounce of the roots tradition, has become a cacophonous confusion that is nowhere near as interesting as the aggressive digital dancehall beats that now dominate the scene.

Compare two of ‘Mission’s’ best songs, the classic roots composition “Nothing to Smile About” and the lover’s rock special “Love You Right.” The former is almost elegiac, though teaming with an immense anger at the situation of the Jamaica’s poor; the latter, meanwhile, succeeds in spite of the interjection of a jarring rap that interrupts the song’s otherwise seamless movement. The sonic discrepancy is a recurring feature of the album. The quiet moments find Morgan Heritage at its best, while it consistently flounders under the weight of its greater ambitions, particularly its failure to appreciate the complexity that is demanded by hip-hop or good hip-hop anyway. A few capable guest artists (Stephen Marley recently drafted Mos Def for ‘Mind Control,’ while Wayne has never been shy about sharing his talents) might have solved the problem.

Fortunately, the real hope for roots reggae can be found in ‘Mission’s’ most important message: in progress.

Source:www.stabroeknews.com/