Their first album, ‘Push’, laid the foundations. This second album, builds the walls and puts the roof on. Regime are the complete package, reggae, hip-hop and rock, all tightly delivered with conscious lyrics laid over the top.
They groove better than many strictly party bands, and deliver a message with more style than any other band we can think of.
Whilst many rappers concentrate on rattling off their lyrics at a million miles an hour, very often you can’t actually understand what they are banging on about. Not so with Regime, the lyrics are crystal clear and thought provoking.
The album opens with ‘Hard Work’, a tale of what some people have to do to keep a roof over their head, and a salute to those that make and build the things the rest of us take for granted. The lyrics are laid over a dubby vibe that induces involuntary skanking and foot tapping.
‘Robbing Us’, follows up with a harder, bouncy edge – often used to close their live sets. Who’s robbing us? ‘The Man’, obviously. Taxing us for the things we need, but also for things that we neither need nor want. “Schools and roads, yes we need those, but what kind of mother fuckers build torpedoes?”
It’s not all serious shit, ‘Fatman’, is about loving your body, no matter how it is built. “You might be big, but you still got it going on. He’s a fatman, he’s a fatman skanking”.
‘No Beef’ is probably the funkiest ode to veganism ever recorded, all with a sixties style funky wah wah vibe going on in the background.
‘Yes’, is a positive uplifting number about making the most of life, a declaration that, ‘Yes’ we are feeling good, feeling creative and yes to fighting back, with an appropriately upbeat in ya face soundtrack.
If it is not fair trade and workers are not paid, then Regime ‘Won’t Buy It’. If we prop up these companies that exploit workers and the planet by continuing to buy their shit, then they will just carry on regardless.
At all times the music is tight, funky and has you either slowly grooving or jumping up and down – sometimes in the same song. The addition of the conscious lyrics will always be a plus here at Iguana HQ. But more so with hip-hop, a genre where too many bands fall into the trap of sexist, homophobic or racist lyrics. Take note lesser mortals out there. Being right on is way cooler than being gangsta.