‘Council Estate’ is Tricky’s hommage to Two Tone legends The Specials, combining gritty urban imagery with scratchy Ska-Punk rhythms. It’s the first single off his forthcoming album ‘Knowle West Boy’.
The song captures the frenetic urgency and social commentary of Specials hits like the teenage pregnancy song ‘Too Much Too Young’. Musically, tricky takes the tinny Specials sound into a a much beefier realm. Lyrically, things get darker, too.
“I wanted to do a track like ‘Council Estate’, that rips off The Specials but takes ‘em into my world. When I was a kid I always wanted to be in The Specials,” says Tricky on the website of his record label, Domino Records.
Tricky enlisted Dancehall production team South Rakkas Crew to remix the single. South Rakkas turn ‘Council Estate’ into a slow-burning digital reggae bomb. The Crew, a bunch of Jamaican Candians based in Florida, has rocked Jamaica’s dancehalls with its ‘Clappas’, ‘Red Alert’ and ‘Chinkuzi’ rhythms, voiced by Tanya Stephens, Mad Cobra, Sizzla, Ward 21 and other Jamaican singers.
Tricky, formerly vocalist with Massive Attack launched his solo career with ‘Maxinquaye’ in 1995. His first new studio album in five years is due out on 7th July. Titled ‘Knowle West Boy’, the album is a collection of songs drawing from Tricky’s memories of growing up on a council estate. “Knowle West is where I was born. It’s a white ghetto. I didn’t know what racism was until I left. My family’s mixed race, so we don’t see colour. I grew up on a council estate more as a white kid, but with Jamaican roots,” explains Tricky.
Listen now to Tricky’s new single ‘Council Estate’ and download tracks from iTunes.
