Dubamine ft. Nazamba // Cool & Relax
(Dub-Stuy)

A posthumous entry from the much-missed, mighty voice of Nazamba, riding on a heavyweight riddim from Bay Area producer Dubamine.

The loss of George ‘Nazamba’ Scott is a heavy one for the worldwide dub community. Of the many voices to cut through on a soundsystem in recent years, it’s no exaggeration to say no one could quite match the sheer weight and presence of his mighty tone. Outside of Jamaica, many listeners first picked up on his monolithic, granite-hewn delivery through his link up with The Bug on ‘Vex’, a fearsome tune in which even The Bug’s scathing production was dominated by the sheer force of Nazamba’s flow. 

There are still some projects Nazamba had completed which are making their way to the surface now, and here’s one of them. Dubamine is a Bay Area producer with a fair wedge of work behind him, most of which has appeared on this NYC label Dub-Stuy. He and Nazamba conjure a powerful kind of meditation on ‘Cool & Relax’ – the idea of such a voice commanding tranquility to all in earshot seems ironic, but for all his gravelly baritones, there is a resounding calm about Nazamba’s instruction which feels more persuasive than a softly-spoken new age suggestion. In these frantic times, we need someone to tell us firmly to chill out, it would seem. 

Dubamine matches this approach with his production, building a steadfast riddim with subs so weighty they punch through whatever the size of your system. It’s patient and coolheaded, but it’s far from horizontal. Rather, it’s something for the dance to connect with and carry onwards – a powerful, positive message from a voice the likes of which we’ll never hear again. 

‘Nature’s Dub’ on the B side offers up something solid for the dance – a proper soundsystem workout with all the parts in place. You know the approach if you follow modern day dub, but all that matters is how it lands on a sizeable stack. The drop has an understated poise about it which points to Dubamine’s affinity for truly dubwise music – his dedication to the sound positively radiates out of every inch of the production.  

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