Music Review // Rebel ACA & French Monkey Wrench (feat iSTAND & Danny Sprang) "Never Give Up" (remixed by Lil' Rossco)

 

This song has a lot to process just by looking at the combination of who is making it and who is helping.   There are two names to start but then it also features two more people and it even has a remixed by credit!   While this might feel overwhelming, the end result is a song which could be on the pop radio station but also has elements of reggaeton and hip-hop.  At one point during the singing there is a rap and that just furthers the genres which this song (and these artists) will cross.

When I was in my younger years I used to listen to a lot of ska because it was popular here (and maybe everywhere) at the time.  As I dug deeper into the roots of ska, I found more and more of it came from reggae.   Sure, I had listened to Bob Marley before but it wasn't until I started listening to The Toasters that I really got into Buju Banton, for example.  There is an element of dancehall within ska and reggae as well, and this song is an example of that.   It just feels like something you would put on at a club when you wanted to dance.

Throughout this video it is mainly those involved dancing or standing while singing or rapping.  It paints a nice visual, though there are also some moments of driving around and the like, and makes me think of a video that might be closer to the hip hop side of sound from the late 1990's, when MTV was just full of more videos like this.    It's almost a shame how well this would've fit in back then as a video considering that there really isn't an MTV that plays music videos out there right now.

Overall, perhaps more than anything else, this music video and song are about what the title says: Never Give Up.   The song feels like a positive one in the way it sounds but there is also just this repetition where it can get stuck in your head.  If any lyrics are ever going to get stuck in your head, the ones which tell you to not give up are not a bad choice.   From being on a ska compilation in the year 2000 to being on pop radio right now, "Never Give Up" is a song and video combination not to be missed.