Paying The Luxury Tax

As a concept, luxury tax is easy enough to explain. This is a tax only imposed on items that only the upper set of that particular country’s populace could seemingly afford. One interesting side effect of the luxury tax system is that often even with, or in some cases because of it, the luxury tax only makes items even more desirable as they increase in value.

Maybe this visual was the intention of Jamaican hip hop stalwart The Sickest Drama (TSD) when he entitled his debut LP. As an avid sports enthusiast, The Sickest Drama would no doubt be aware that for the sporting leagues around the world that employ a salary cap system, luxury tax is a component that often has to be breached in order to remain championship competitive. In essence, you have to pay in order to play or you have to be willing to put everything on the line in order to ‘win’.

Well, with this ten track LP, it could be easy to say that The Sickest Drama has certainly won the ultimate prize. Using the compositions crafted by some of the best producers on the island: Massy The Creator, WolvesDen, Dizzy The ill One, Justin Jay Beatz and DamienBeatz; and mastered by Space Age Rasta – The Sickest Drama showcased his lyrical potency on Luxury Tax and whenever he was accompanied on a track by a featured guest. It seemed like a collaborative effort to deliver the absolute best work – together. As opposed to an egotistical measuring contest as the final versions of these songs can sometimes result in. ‘Compliance’, ‘Man vs Machine’, ‘Infinity Gauntlet’ and ‘White Noise’ are songs that resonated the best with me, however I am willing to bet whosoever the listener they would be able to identify at least one track from this set that would encourage multiple listens. Luxury Tax is a great project that should portend to even greater works for this artiste and his team.