Elan - The Young Lion

I'm giving Elan a bigup and massive shoutout, and not only because I went to summer camp (Chetz va Keshet) with him in Israel in 1991 (to-do: find some pics from that!).

It's because he also has skillz. It turns out this kid I used to go to the Soweto Reggae Club with in Tel Aviv eventually made it to become the lead singer for 3 years with the legendary Wailers band. Apparently he was discovered by mistake by one of their musicians who lives down the street from Elan. He then decided to go solo, and had the privilege of his first album being produced by No Doubt’s Tony Kanal. It also features some solid musicians and producers in currentJamaican reggae culture: Sly & Robbie, Fatis, Steve “Lenky” Marsden, Tony Kelly and DJ legend Cutty Ranks among them, as well as guest appearances by Gwen Stefani and Assasin. Check it.