"mary's got a baby" || maxi priest || 1999

To make up for my lack of posts over the last few days, I'm doing a double-shot of ragga hip-hop today.

First up is Maxi Priest, who made a bit of noise on the pop scene back in the '90s. In fact, I think he made the perfect amount of noise; the average American can recognize his name but probably can't name a single one of his songs.

His most well-known track is almost certainly 1996's "That Girl," on which Shaggy did some rasta-vocals, which no doubt helped propel the single. The provocative video with crotch shots of women pushing shopping carts helped too, I'm sure.

The thing that I like most about Maxi Priest is that he seems like a classy dude. I think that's why I found "That Girl" a bit awkward; it just seemed too "dirty" for him. "Mary's Got A Baby" seems much more appropriate for him. It's an interesting message: Dude wants to help chick who just had a baby (not his), not because he has the financial faculties to do so, but because he knows it's the right thing to do.

What a classy guy!

Maxi's voice is smooth, and the ragga-raps by Beenie Man add a nice rasta feel to the song.

Listen to it here.