Indie genre-bender Santigold has long spiced her music with the riddims of dancehall and reggae, but on her new mixtape, I Don’t Want: The Gold Fire Sessions, she pops the lid and fully embraces the sound.
Produced largely by Mixpak Records founder Dre Skull—known for his work with dancehall kings Vybz Kartel and Popcaan, as well as PARTYNEXTDOOR, Snoop Dogg and Drake—the project has the dizzy vibrations of a Major Lazer album, but it remains focused by the red thread of Santigold’s lyrically complex singing (plus a lone feature by dancehall bombshell Shenseea).
While I Don’t Want isn’t close to Santigold’s greatest artistic statement, it’s a fun, liberated listen with some bona fide jams that suit her borderless, freewheeling spirit.
Score: 🇯🇲🇯🇲🇯🇲/5
Ryan is a writer, editor and vinyl collector currently based in Los Angeles. He started Mini Music Critic in 2017.