ELEPHANT MAN Good 2 Go (VP/Virgin) Rating: NNNN Rating: NNNN
It’s a sign of dancehall’s creeping influence on the mainstream (and Virgin’s hope of finding another Sean Paul) that the genre’s clown prince and creator of the Signal De Plane and Pushcart dances has been let loose with a major-label deal. A crossover pop breakout for Elephant Man is unlikely, but Good 2 Go should reveal the secret that folks like Missy Elliott and Busta Rhymes already know. Elephant Man snarls and yelps his way through one uncut dancehall stormer after another, with more energy than ODB and about as much sense. His signature “good to go” tag line grows tired, but it’s impossible to sit still through cuts like Jamaica and Fan Dem Off (a roots reinterpretation of Survivor’s Eye Of The Tiger). In the year dancehall went global, Good 2 Go might be the best of the bunch.
