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Lila Iké and Masicka on the same track is a sell off from the first beat drops. In this instance, the two artistes who have carved out their own space musically, collaborated on a song titled Romantic, a nod to the Queen of the Pack, Patra’s iconic Romantic Call. The song and video dropped on Wednesday and dancehall fans are in love. And so too is Patra, who gave the project her blessings and is heard on the intro and at the end.
“I love it!” an enthused Patra told The Gleaner. “Lila is a wonderful person ... she does good music. She reached out to me and let me know what her plans were for the song and she invited me to Tuff Gong to listen to it. I knew that Lila would have given it justice and I’m happy [about] the finished product.”
Romantic is the second collab with Lila and Masicka and the fourth single off her album Treasure Self Love, which drops on August 22. The album is being released on the Ineffable Records in conjunction with Protoje’s In.Digg.Nation Collective and Lila Iké’s Wurl Iké Records. The video for Romantic is an entire mood and needs an article all by itself. However, this comment by YouTube user @islandlovewi is a winner and needs to be shared now: “ Yow!!!!!! The video is giving ‘90s dancehall. Patra get a real shoutout! Lila Iké overstood the assignment and Masicka delivered more bars than a correctional facility!!!”
Patra’s Romantic Call, which features Yo-Yo, was first released in 1993 and was a single from her début album, Queen of the Pack which climbed to No. 1 on the Reggae Albums chart. The single peaked at No. 55 on the US Billboard Hot 100.
Patra told The Gleaner that projects such as Romantic keep her catalogue current and mentioned that last year, Janelle Monáe sampled her Whining Skill song on the track Water Slide. Spice also sampled Romantic Call on her song, Romantic Mood.
PERFECT FOR THE SONG
“I get a lot of calls about people wanting to sample Romantic Call. And I’m happy that’s its Jamaicans who are doing it this time and carrying the culture along. I’m really just learning more about Masicka but one thing I can tell you is that when I was there listening to the song with him and Lila, I felt like it was Shabba and Crystal all over again. It’s just so smooth ... it’s all about the vibes. Lila chose the perfect man for this song,” Patra stated.
Dancehall diva Patra was the Rihanna of her era. As part of the Clifton ‘Specialist’ Dillon-led Specs/Shang team, who steered Shabba to Grammy Award-winning acclaim, Patra commanded attention both on and off the stage, appearing with her trendsetting box braids on the cover of popular magazines.
Originally Lady Patra, she made her first foray into the US charts as a featured singer on Shabba Ranks’ Family Affair, which hit No. 84 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1994. Her album Queen of The Pack, was led by the single Think (About It), which peaked at No. 21 on the Billboard Rap Singles chart and No. 89 on the R&B chart. Her follow-up single, Worker Man, became a bigger hit, reaching No. 53 on the Hot 100, the Top 20 on the R&B chart and No.1 on the US Dance chart. In 1995, Patra released Pull up to the Bumper, which was a remake of the Grace Jones song and peaked at No. 60 on the Hot 100, No. 21 on the R&B, and No. 15 on the Dance chart.
The singer, who has been involved in the restaurant business for many years now, is proud of her legacy and points out that she remains a country girl at heart –a thing that bonds her and Lila Iké.
“Lila is a real country girl like me ... the two of we come from way up in the hills ... she’s from Manchester and I’m from Westmoreland. She is so down-to-earth. When she and Masicka did a cover of Romantic Call, this reminds me of the beautiful things that I did in the past,” a satisfied Patra said.
English (US) ·