Anyway Rod and I get to talking between a point and he mentions this dude Ed. I’d played doubles with this guy a week before, and he seemed like any older dude in his 60’s, except he was sort of extra-scraggly-looking, and he was wearing a weed t-shirt. The shirt had a big leaf on it and seemed common enough, but I noticed that the back had some text like, “Hereditary Genes – Highly Concentrated THC”. At the time I remember thinking, “I wonder if this guy is some hot shot pot grower.”

Rod told me that I was right. Ed is the “Guru of Ganja”, and has written dozens of books on the subject. I’m going to try to hang out with him I think. Or maybe I’ll just lay my mellow bones down with my contemporaries.

After playing, I wandered down to the locker room in that hazy daze of endorphins and other joy, and I started listening to Alborosie. I’m not a huge reggae head, but I love this guy’s steez. He was born in Sicily and moved to Kingston Town really young, and he’s a huge part of the modern Jamaican scene. This video is pretty informative.

Here’re two of his biggest jams.

Alborosie – Herbalist

This was the one that got me at first. It’s got the kind of pacing that makes you sit deeper in your seat and touch your chin to your chest.

Alborosie – Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner

I’ve seriously put this shit on at like 20 dinner parties and no one has called bullshit on me yet, because it’s a truly unfadeable hit.

There’s something about Alborosie that makes his stuff way more compelling to me than most other reggae. I’ve been getting the Reggae One Drop Anthem comps for the last few years and there’s some great stuff there too, but a lot of it pales. Give this shit a shot, as nastily sober as you wanna be. And while you’re at it fuck a badman bloodclot.