Masicka: Her Name Is Love EP Review

Masicka’s latest EP finds the dancehall star reconsidering power, desire and intimacy — quietly.

It was just after 8.30am on a Friday morning, somewhere between Kingston and Portmore, when Her Name Is Lovelanded. The cover set the mood before a note was played: Masicka in a close, unguarded embrace with Miss Jamaica Universe Rachel Silver. No bravado. No posturing. Just proximity. I connected my phone to the car speakers and pressed play.

The opening track, Source, moves deliberately. Produced by Lily Kaplan, Otis and Gray Toomey, its sparse keys and measured pace suggest an artist taking stock before speaking outward. It isn’t dramatic or declarative. It simply settles into place. In the lull of early-morning traffic, the song slowed everything down. I barely moved.

Momentum arrives gradually. Whine All Night introduces motion without force, nudging the EP toward rhythm while keeping its composure intact. By the time Please arrives — produced by SMPLGTWY, with drums and bass from Boi-1da and clipped, minimal keys from Cubeatz — the project has found its footing. Lola Brooke’s presence doesn’t disrupt Masicka’s approach; it sharpens it. Their exchange feels mutual, not performative.

There’s a confidence in how Masicka sequences these moments. Two waistline-conscious tracks back to back might read as indulgence in lesser hands, but here they function as recalibration — sensuality without cruelty, desire without conquest.

Cruising toward the Port Henderson stoplight, “Top of the World” landed. Produced by 1500 or Nothin’, it carries the unmistakable sheen of a modern victory lap, but Masicka resists triumphalism. He sounds aware of his moment without being consumed by it. The song’s lift comes not from aggression, but from clarity — the sense of someone who knows exactly where he stands.

What becomes increasingly striking is what Her Name Is Love refuses to do.

There is no chest-thumping here. No barked authority. No ritual humiliation masquerading as seduction. Instead, Masicka approaches women with reverence rather than reprimand, curiosity rather than control. This is not performative sensitivity; it’s structural. Across the EP, he consistently positions himself as participant, not ruler.

That intent crystallises most clearly on “Keys,” the closing track. Produced by 1Mind and Westen Weiss — who also handles bass guitar and background vocals — the song feels hand-crafted, almost tactile. Programming, keyboards and percussion interlock gently, giving Masicka room to land softly. Mixed and mastered by Andre “Dre Day” Ennis at Cymayic Audio Studios, the track sounds warm, unforced, settled. It doesn’t climax; it resolves.

Importantly, Masicka writes every track himself. That consistency of voice matters. So does the framing: A&R oversight from Tunji Balogun and Kardinal Offishall places Her Name Is Love within a broader lineage of Caribbean artists being allowed — finally — to mature in public, without being flattened into caricature.

In a genre often critiqued for how it treats women, Masicka doesn’t lecture or posture. He listens. He celebrates. He reframes intimacy as power rather than weakness. If feminism here exists, it does so without slogans — embedded in structure, tone, and restraint.

By the time “Top of the World” cycled back for the fourth time, the point was clear. Masicka hadn’t dropped an EP so much as set a mood — one built on trust, attentiveness, and control without cruelty.

Twenty-three minutes of hardcore loving.

★★★★☆