As if the racks weren't stuffed with enough 2004
Sizzla product, the gruff and righteous one released
Stay Focus through the high-profile VP label. Add production by the Xterminator Productions crew and you've got
Sizzla's most commercial release of the year, but don't think
Stay Focus is easygoing or necessary. A full album of
Sizzla's relentless fast tongue isn't for everyone, but his fans eat up his hard-line, Bobo Dread-influenced lyrics.
Stay Focus has plenty to offer them. Right off, there's the wicked and ambitious "Psalm 8," followed by the call to arms "Sound the Trumpet" and the noble singalong "We're the One's." The sudden shift to sweet lovers rock with "Thinking About You" is jarring, but isn't that tune familiar?
Stay Focus repeats four tracks from the Light of My World album -- one renamed -- and ends up a thinly veiled collection of previously released
Xterminator-helmed tracks. That explains the haphazard running order that requires shuffling, but if you don't buy "riddim" collections faithfully, you aren't going to be duplicating your
Sizzla too much more. The last four tracks are top-notch and the album would've been better served if they were sprinkled about. Half of
Stay Focus is prime, but the haphazard flow and repackaged material puts the album on the B-list of
Sizzla product. ~ David Jeffries