Search - Shinehead :: Real Rock

A stateside dance hall pioneer, Shinehead spent part of his childhood in the U.K. and Jamaica before settling in the Bronx and becoming part of the African Love sound system. Never a purist, he borrowed from the Beatles and cowpoke Marty Robbins on his 1988 debut. This follow-up from 1990 finds him covering Sly's "Family Affair" and rapping with a Fresh Prince-like innocence on the anachronistic "World of the Video Game." The peppy "Potential" recalls a mid-'80s Eddy Grant and "Strive" is heartfelt ode to up-by-your-bootstraps positivity. But the tracks that don't fade in this mixed bag are the loping dance hall of "Dance Down the Road" and the more frenetic "Musical Madness," which presages the arrival of Shaggy later in the '90s. --Britt Robson