Not since Aswad and Steel Pulse first rose to prominence a generation ago has UK reggae been blessed with such a talented group of young musicians as the Ras Ites. Like them, the Ras Ites are a self-contained band that writes and plays most of its own material, and makes music rooted in the Rasta inspired reggae spearheaded by the likes of Bob Marley. Following in this same tradition, they also have a dynamic stage act, as audiences from around the world can readily testify!

Their debut album, Urban Regeneration, was released in 2001, and instantly generated comparisons with the early Wailers, as well as Morgan Heritage and Musical Youth. After scoring a hit with Jamaican superstar Luciano called Leaders, the group then embarked on lengthy tours of Europe, performing in their own right, and also backing fellow acts like the Abyssinians, Mykal Rose of Black Uhuru, Chakademus & Pliers, and Warrior King. Soon they were playing at the 2004 Rebel Salute in Jamaica, where they shared a bill with Capleton and Sizzla. During that same visit, they met up with renowned saxophonist Dean Fraser and producer Bobby Digital, who together with an array of well-known Jamaican session musicians, now appear on the Ras Ites' long-awaited second album Sex, Violence And Drugs, produced for Pride Music International, and released via the Mad Professor's Ariwa label.

The difference between this second album and their first is immediate. The Ras Ites have grown in stature by leaps and bounds (both as songwriters and musicians), and there's an authenticity to these new songs that only true reggae champions can deliver. Highlights are plentiful, and include several songs produced by the Ras Ites themselves - namely Ras Ites Come, the moving With A Little Hope, dedicated to two friends who died as a result of gun crime, How Could I Forsake Thee, and the powerful title track, on which they outdo Sly & Robbie with a devastating new cut of Fort Augustus.

Ithiopian Queen and Fittest Of The Fittest were both recorded at Bobby Digital's studio in Kingston, and keyboard player Adrian McKenzie produced Africa, which is their only cover version this time round. Apart from Because Of I Roots, produced by recent Grammy nominee Mad Professor, the rest of the album belongs to Dean Fraser, who masterminded the band's sessions at Tuff Gong studios in Jamaica, and has guided them through some of the most definitive tracks of their career to date. Ras Ites Come, Life Goes On, Music, No Fear, Trouble, and a thought-provoking One World are among the standouts, confirming this second album's status as a future reggae classic.

Like that of reggae's golden era, in the seventies, the Ras Ites' music blends social realism with a joyful spirituality that international audiences have already found irresistible. This explosive, yet time-honoured combination has generated some of the most exuberant displays of singing, dee-jaying and live musicianship the UK has seen in years, like when they raised the roof of the Jazz Café in London, during their album launch. (An occasion shared with Dean Fraser, a full-scale horn section and backing singers.)

Raised in NE London, the members of the Ras Ites grew up listening to JA greats such as Bob Marley, the Abyssinians, and Burning Spear, although they began their own musical journey at Rastafarian gatherings, where as small youths, they would play conga drums and chant alongside the elders, all the while absorbing knowledge of their spiritual and ancestral heritage. They then formed the Ras Ites in 1995, and whilst they've since augmented their line-up, the original quartet of Kashta Menelix Tafari (guitar and lead vocals), Jahmel Ellison (bass guitar and lead vocals), Cyrus Richards (keyboards), and Otis Cox-Rodney (drums) remains as tightly knit as ever.

"It's like we were all meant to be together from the day we were born," says Jahmel, whose tall stature is matched by his towering performances on the bass. "We see it as something that was ordained," agrees Kashta, who is the son of Melody Muzik's Dawit Menelik Tafari, and learnt to read and play music from childhood. He and Jahmel are the Ras Ites' two main singers, and front the most exciting band of young Rasta warriors to emerge from the reggae field in years. Jahmel was born in 1982 and raised in Dalston. He'd owned a guitar from early; although it wasn't until he was fourteen that he began picking out bass lines inspired by the Wailers' Aston "Family Man" Barrett. Born in November 1981, keyboard player Cyrus grew up in south London but then went to school in Tottenham. Otis meanwhile, was born in March 1985 and has played the conga drums from the age of four. He and the other Ras Ites started rehearsing together at the Triangle Workshop in north London, where they initially played dub before writing their own songs. Their first recording sessions took place during 1996/7, at Mad Professor's Ariwa studio and then Easy Street, where they recorded two songs, Africa and Blessed. Soon afterwards, they entered a talent competition held at the Hackney Empire, when Jahmel was fifteen, and Otis only thirteen. The Ras Ites were the only live band taking part, and after performing Africa in the final, won first prize - i.e., a trip to Jamaica to play at Reggae Sunsplash. A year later, they signed to Jet Star, who announced the band's arrival with Jah Love, from the Jet Star compilation Jet Star Presents Reality Calling Vol. 1.

The Ras Ites have come a long way since, and now present a collection of songs that'll live long in the memory of whoever hears them. That's because whilst singing for everyone and entertaining all who fall under their spell, the Ras Ites provide an important voice for youths like them, searching for identity in our troubled inner cities. Over the course of the past twelve years, the Ras Ites have evolved into articulate, caring spokespersons for their generation, and a band with a highly developed social agenda. As a result, their music has immediacy (and also relevance) that sets them apart from most other reggae acts.