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Better Days Are Coming – Roots Still Run Deep (ZodoA Records, 2000)
Back in 2000, we pulled together some of Jamaica’s rawest voices and unleashed Better Days Are Coming – Roots Still Run Deep through my label, ZodoA Records — a roots reggae compilation that poured straight from the soul.

No glossy production tricks. No pop stars play-acting at consciousness. Just grit, struggle, and unfiltered truth locked into rhythm, vibrating through your chest like a heartbeat you can’t ignore.

From a London Flat to the World
It started small — me in a cramped London flat, air thick with the ghost of burnt herb clinging to the curtains. Scraping by but electric with ideas.

Stacks of warped vinyl leaned like drunken soldiers against the wall, ashtrays spilling grey dust across scarred floors, and grease-stained napkins scrawled with half-finished lyrics.

The chill pressed against thin glass, fogging the panes with my breath, but inside, my head burned hot. I wanted sound that hit bone-deep — music rooted in message, defiance, and pride. The kind that grounds you in red soil and fires you up for the battles ahead.

The Artists and the Fire
When it came to artists, I skipped the chart-chasers. I went hunting for heart.

Chrisinti, Pinky Dread, I Jah Bones, Ras Igie, Herica B, Steve Flex, Mark Ten, Shadroch, and Lij-I — they came with fire in their veins, not fame on their minds.

Their voices carried scars and triumphs from the streets:

Pinky Dread’s gravel rasp like sandpaper on soul

Herica B’s honeyed alto wrapping you in night air

Chrisinti’s Better Days glowing like dawn through mango leaves

I Jah Bones’ Mama Africa grounding you barefoot on sun-baked soil

Every lyric, every note — real, lived, and breathing roots culture.

Chaos and Alchemy in Kingston
Those sessions were pure chaos and magic.

A sweltering Kingston studio, walls patched with foam scraps and threadbare rugs, ganja smoke coiling thick as syrup. Fifteen of us crammed into a control room made for half that, sweat dripping, laughter cutting through the heat.

Bass thundered from amps inches from the cone, shaking your teeth loose. Guitars skanked bright through spring reverb. Drums cracked sharp and urgent, snares muffled under wads of damp paper for that tight, dry snap.

Arguments flared over tone and tempo — not ego, just passion. The kind of energy you can’t fake.

Power cut mid-take more than once. Total blackout. And someone always shouted, “One more time, mon!” before the generator coughed back to life.

By dawn, we stumbled out red-eyed and buzzing, the bassline still pulsing through Kingston’s sleeping streets — that same rhythm that later flowed through Brixton, Camden, and Croydon, carrying the roots from Jamaica to London.

Grassroots Distribution – No Hype, Just Heart
When the album dropped, there was no marketing machine. No flashy promo. Just street hustle and word of mouth.

Me, hustling copies at markets — Camden, Brixton, Croydon — where jerk smoke hung in the cold air and reggae basslines warped the pavement like heat haze.

Hand-to-hand, tape-to-tape, sound systems carrying it across corners, block parties, and beach sessions. From Brixton’s backstreets to Montego Bay sands — Better Days Are Coming moved on faith, rhythm, and community.

Back to the Source – Jamaica Revisited
That record took me full circle.

Twice to Jamaica, once standing outside 56 Hope Road, under a merciless sun that burned straight through my shirt.

The smell of jerk pits and split ackee pods hung in the air, basslines drifting faint like memory. Kids’ laughter cracked through it all — sharp as glass.

That was the moment it hit me: this music isn’t product. It’s pulse. It’s heritage.

Roots. Message. Revolution in Rhythm.
Better Days Are Coming was never about image or commerce. It was roots reggae stripped bare — music that clings to the dream of brighter tomorrows, even as the flames rise around us.

It’s still there in the bass, in the breath, in the heartbeat.
Real music lives.

Tracklist: Better Days Are Coming – Various Artists (ZodoA Records, 2000)
# Artist Track Title
1 Chrisinti Better Days
2 Pinky Dread Innocent Man
3 Herica B I Love You
4 Pinky Dread War & Crime
5 Steve Flex Face It Horder
6 Mark Ten Boby Wrong
7 Ras Igie Dark Cloude
8 Shadroch Fire In A Rome
9 I Jah Bones Mama Africa
10 Pinky Dread Love Rastafari
11 Ras Igie Black Man Sturggle
12 I Jah Bones Sluw Now
13 Pinky Dread Flesh & Bone
14 Lij-I Dub Version
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