Yes We Can

An artist whose sweet vocals, pugnacious rhythms, and incisive, politically motivated lyrics appeal to dancehall fanciers and roots diehards alike, Cocoa Tea has been trading in his unique brand of conscious dancehall for over twenty years. His earliest recordings for the legendary Henry “Junjo” Lawes featured Cocoa Tea’s smooth, Joseph Hill-like vocals over a set of propulsive rhythms from the Roots Radics. Though his essential approach has changed little in the intervening decades Cocoa Tea’s 2008 effort Yes We Can is anything but a throwback, and finds him throwing himself into the contemporary political arena with a number of tracks passionately endorsing Barack Obama. Political activism is nothing new for Cocoa Tea, whose 2005 hit “Immigration Law” criticized Patriot Act-sponsored emendations to American immigration laws, but crossover success certainly is: Tea’s joyful “Barack Obama” became a surprise hit in the summer of 2008. Thankfully Yes We Can serves as a fine introduction to one of the most talented Roots singers on the scene today and listeners should stick around for the blissful, unhurried roots of tracks like “Your Smiling Face” (a remake of a classic Dennis Brown number), and the plaintive “I Swear.”