by Howard Campbell
KINGSTON, Jamaica – AS a native of Trinidad and Tobago, it’s no surprise that Cherise Ransome has a passion for soca music. Yet, when it came to recording her latest song, Police in The Hills, she chose a more serious beat to express her feelings.
Reggae drives Police in The Hills which is inspired by the controversial deaths of black men in the United States, many of them at the hands of law enforcement. The song was released on January 1 by her Island Rich Entertainment company.
Ransome says Police in The Hills was triggered by some celebrated cases.
“I was able to follow the Trayvon Martin incident pretty closely. There were many incidents following, for example Eric Garner, Tamir Rice, Freddie Gray and Michael Brown that clearly demonstrated the increasing trend of police brutality targeting young black men,” she explained.
Last year, Ransome travelled to Kingston, Jamaica’s capital, for recording sessions with top reggae musicians including saxophonist Dean Fraser, drummer Kirk Bennett, percussionist Bongo Herman and bass guitarist Mikey Fletcher.
Police in The Hills is one of the songs from those sessions which took place at Anchor studios where songs like Shabba Ranks’ Mr Loverman and Gregory Isaacs’ Rumours, were recorded.
Though she is strongly influenced by the indigenous soca and calypso of her homeland, Ransome is big into dancehall and reggae, pointing to her admiration for Bob Marley and Chronixx. She is into more traditional Jamaican sounds, hence the roots-reggae feel of Police in The Hills.
“I prefer listening to reggae rather than dancehall as it’s usually backed by a strong conscious message,” said Ransome.
