Elephant Man: Good 2 Go : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

It's clear that Elephant Man -- Jamaica's loud, lisping answer to Busta Rhymes -- isn't the kind of star who obsesses over his CDs. Every year brings another haphazard, energetic disc full of electroshock club tracks and mystifying novelties. And although Good 2 Go is supposed to be Elephant Man's crossover album, he stuck to the old formula. The first single, "Pon de River, Pon de Bank," is overstuffed and irresistible: Elephant Man barks out dance moves while three different digital dancehall beats jockey for position. And he sweetens up "Signal di Plane" by swiping the hook from Celine Dion's "I'm Alive." Elephant Man knows how to sink a hook into even the most hectic backing track, and by the time he's finished, his shamelessness (at one point, he remakes "Eye of the Tiger") just seems like a healthy fearlessness.

KELEFA SANNEH
(RS 940, January 22, 2004)