DUB poetry and social consciousness have been two areas that have thrust Ras Mykkal into the spotlight — and his latest project has once again turned heads.His latest single, entitled Sleepin’<$>, is a forerunner to his third CD, which will be entitled The Psalms of Ras Mykkal<$>.

“When you read in the Bible about the Psalms of David and the Psalms of Solomon they cover a multitude of subjects,” he explained.

The song is a revisit to an unfortunate incident from 1996 when ‘Bermuda’s First Governor’ was wrongfully accused of sexual assault in an effort to stop him from gaining custody of two of his five children after the relationship with their mother came to a messy and bitter end.

Those who have followed Mykkal’s career know that this is not the first time he has touched on this often thorny issue. Knowing that this is not a unique experience, Ras put pen to paper and eventually headed to the recording studio. “I’m working on my third album and have recorded seven songs already and I am recording them at Tuff Gong Studio (Bob Marley’s Studio) in Jamaica and Errol Brown, who used to be Bob’s engineer, is doing the mix on it and the percussion is by “Bongo” Herman Davis.

“It has been six years since I have released an album and this is a good time to release it. I have been shopping around for a distribution deal and go on tour. I had written it (Sleepin’<$>) probably about two years ago. I write a lot of stuff but don’t necessarily rush to release it and then you pick what you want to go on an album and save the rest for the next project. Sleepin’ started out based on a personal experience. We all hear about guys messing around on their girls, but, hey, girls do it too, Ras quipped matter-of-factly.

“It was unfortunate, but I had an experience like that, but what brought the title about is that it starts as a physical act and then you look at the fact you are now sleeping in a prison cell because somebody lied.

“The system was quick to serve justice to me if I were guilty but finding that I was innocent the case was just dropped like she didn’t do anything wrong, but the name Sleepin’ was fitting and it is about a whole bunch of things and I found a poetic way to talk about a personal experience.”

This is not the first time Ras has written about such a social issue. He recorded Affiliation Act <$>and Where Do The Children Go<$> on his debut album, which was written about the experience of being a struggling father.

But his latest album will mark the first time he has made it so personal.

“I realised it is not just limited to me, there are many people who have experienced it whether it is a guy doing it to a girl, or a girl doing it to a guy. It is more of a realisation, more important than the physical guys do it to girls and vice versa, that is not the important part but the system’s inability to serve justice.

“What I learned from the judicial system is it is more about winning than it is about the truth. It is one-sided! When it comes to dealing with the protection of women the law can move very quickly, but when it comes to serving justice even-handedly the system is sleeping.”

Ras added that the tune Sleepin’ isn’t the weakest track in the album but certainly has the most local appeal. This album marks a first when he will be performing material that was written by other people.

One track, entitled Refugee, was co-written by Glenn Iris and Ras and a poem entitled In Spite of It All was penned by Mykkal’s late cousin Stevie Smith.

Ras admitted that this album would be the most international out of the three. Another first was the album would be recorded with a live band, compared to the two previous albums, which used tracks.

“This album was recorded with a live band and all of the songs that have backing vocals have the same backing vocalists. They are the S2B trio and the Step By Step band. They started out with just my lyrics with me reciting it and they built the music around my delivery and then we fine-tuned it and they are very talented.

“In less than a week we had ‘di riddims’ for all six of the tracks and one track does not have any music. We had six tracks built and by the time we went to record it in two weeks, it was to a polished state. For international release we will do it in a CD format but there will be a vinyl pressing in album and in 45 rpm form,” Ras added.

Being a hands-on individual from start to finish, Ras has done the photography and graphic design on his latest project. According to Ras, the feedback on the single has been positive and he admitted that the quality of his material shows growth and maturity. “I haven’t reached my peak yet and I am showing that I am still growing and moving. The lyrical quality has been receiving good feedback and, of course, people have experienced what the song is about and we are glad to hear something like that because they know,” he added.

He is optimistic that the project will be completed before the end of the year and a world-wide distribution deal can be brokered in time for the May 2007 release date.

“You can’t limit yourself to Bermuda otherwise you will be dead in the water. If you are doing it for fun you can spend some money and do it here in Bermuda, but if you want to be successful and want to make a living out of it and you have something that has a broader appeal than Bermuda, you have to get out of here,” Ras declared.

Another coup for Ras was being asked to perform at the upcoming Bermuda Music Festival.

The last single from Ras, entitled Mi A Wonda<$>, will be on the upcoming album.

On Mother’s Day he wrote A Pink Rose For Miss Sue which is about breast cancer. Ras said he did not have the music for the song yet, but he would be performing it at the Festival.

For more information on Ras Mykkal, visit his web site www.rasmykkal.com.

Ras is on song!