Baha-Men
Holla!
S-Curve records
There’s more to this group than that annoying “Who let the dogs out?” business. Baha Men crank some high energy dance music, sexy but not too erotic, and incredibly infectious. The basis of the gumbo combines Latin, island and hip hop influences, and successfully pulls all the good stuff out with almost none of the annoying politics. Blasting out the gate is ‘“Handle It,” vaguely reminiscent of a Ricky Martin sex-on-the-dance-floor number. We tone it down a bit song for song, until we reach the slow danceable “Big Love,” and around cut eight, “Lemmeworkit,” we pick the pace up, wrapping up with the upbeat “Put Em Up.”
Baha Men is a large nine-man organization, and it seems everyone has something to do, making for a full, raucous sound that just calls out for a coconut cup full of rum with just a touch of fruit juice. They succeed in keeping three lead vocalists busy, and feature a music director AND a group leader. I almost expect to see them roll up in a beat up school bus, but with eight successful albums under their belt, they must be traveling with a bit more Ritz than that. There aren’t any lyrics in the liner notes, but each band member get a personal note, all praising God and their families. This is just a touch ironic, given the fairly explicit material, but the Big Guy did order us to be fruitful and multiply. This record should help immensely in that department.
Baha-Men: http://www.s-curverecords.com/bahamen/
