rolling dancehall & reggae 2018

Sat on the bus yesterday in front of a lady who was complaining that her kids overrate Alkaline to the detriment of "real legends" like Vybz Kartel.

Felt a million years old.

nice of them to drop this right when I've been keenly missing J Capri:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtzSFztgzsg

new solo Shenseea is nice too:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gn8KVlJgCaw

Shenseea is delightful also I’m late to the party but RDX is deeply my shit and they make me smile so hard

I don’t know what RDXs profile is like in the grand scheme of dancehall but I look forward to each single. The squeaky bed springs of “Grab” are my favorite sound of ‘18.

💀💀💀💀 pic.twitter.com/PLLaVnIe1t

— NewBalance🤘🏾 (@tahjxxn) June 7, 2018

Lol!

oh man... they need to keep that in

busy's sense of melody is peerless. I'm kind of surprised more JA videos don't pull this rewind trick but he earns it here ("one way"):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-cK7VZ3Bmo

love this new Jada Kingdom/"Banana" after having second thoughts about my initial burst of enthusiasm for her:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WrPfTzWzoQ

while I'm in a posting mood, how did I miss this Mavado on the Levels riddim?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZpg3D2NddM

Rygin King seems to be blowing up a bit; I quite like "Tuff"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5XvJYYE2ePM

This (oldish) rolling stone piece on Rihanna's supposedly in-progress dancehall album is super interesting: https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/inside-rihannas-upcoming-dancehall-album-700930/#!

signs of life from Alkaline (and Lee Milla w/ a great riddim):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jdmj4Qw3rc

Sounds promising on first listen.

“Yaadie Fiesta” was never posted, was it? Not exactly peak Alkaline, but I like it just the same:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CaU9z3jt2CM

yeah that's a good one. I also like "Mirage," "Load Up" (both posted upthread I think) and "Juggernaut" wasn't bad iirc, so tbf 2018 hasn't been a total washout for him or anything--I just miss the feeling of 2016/17 when he was releasing good to great tunes at a steady clip. I expect he'll regroup though

I actually think he's been consistently very good this year. Fine whine is dope,and Perfect is good too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uh-3-h3wPtQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaXsnHxoYgo

oh yeah I had "Fine Whine" on my shortlist too but I hadn't heard "Perfect"--it's nice! I should probably check out that whole DJ Frass project

Well I'm jumping around, but so far this is way better than a producer showcase has any right to be. I might add "Mamacita" to the Alkaline list, Shenseea's "Instruction" is good if not exactly lyrically groundbreaking for her, and I'd missed this electric Mavado track:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjPg4305aNc

I can tell I haven't listened to Robbo Ranx in a long while because I've never heard this fired up Shaggy track

okay this turned to mostly mediocre sap after the Jahmiel track ("Perfect" should be on the first half)

I don't really know where else to post Karol Conka, who's still preparing her new album 5 years after Batuk Freak, but what's for sure is that the delay is not for absence of talent : everything I've heard (Maracutaia, Lala etc) is just as good (if not better-sounding) than her debut, which is very high praise.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPvEAU8U-I8
(clip intro lasts 1 min)

Liking this new Dexta Daps, “Pleasure”:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=986GlOku-dc

I like that Dexta--is the rest of that tape any good?

Spice's new anti-colorism anthem is trending at #1 on youtube right now:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXdl3mpCbz4

Nice.

Kranium on a classic Kelly-esque riddim:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IJsBHv8vVo

He had me at "Early in the morning"

rob, the Dexta EP is just three tracks, they’re all nice, but “Pleasure” is the best.

That Spice song, Black Hypocrisy, is a tune of the year, right?

It's really great and the fake skin-bleaching "stunt" (a critique/interpretation that strikes me, a white non-Jamaican, as a deliberate misreading) seems to have paid off in terms of attention--it's at 2.7M views already.

I love that she also dropped the "Under Fire" video shortly afterward, in case you were worried she'd gone too woke

The whole mixtape goes hard.

I mean... "my pussy pretty like Shenseea face" - lol!

btw, I think Rygin King's Tuff, posted above, might be in my top 5 this year.

If you mean top 5 dancehall, I think it's my number 1. I don't think I've even mildly enjoyed any of Rygin's other songs, but Tuff is sublime! Tbh I have a very poor sense this year of what's genuinely popular in JA. I know Tuff was big, but is there a contender for biggest tune this year? As well as Forever did, I don't think any one track has emerged as its hit.

I made a post a week or so ago with a bunch of Aidonia and Govana tunes but it got eaten--anyway, those two have had great years. Put "VVS" alongside "Tuff" as examples of dancehall responding to trap in an exciting way.

I didn't have time to listen to much, but the first few tracks on that Spice tape were a blast.

damn I'd forgotten how gorgeous the netflixxx riddim is

feeling the Rygin King tune. Excellent, original use of autotune on that one and the production is sweet

I meant top 5 overall, actually. It's just so... life affirming.

Legacy is kind of nice as well but obviously not half as good.

I should give them another listen but yeah none had that instant sugar rush like Tuff.
looking forward to hearing what else is in your top five later in the year, longneck

Fake Love is in there, at the very least!

don't lock that list down just yet:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8HoEvDh70Y

Koffee, "Toast"

This new Alkaline is good too:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JT0gwGWHzBk

if I was a dj I'd be real excited about Ding Dong's "Vibes"

Spice - Romantic Mood is so so good:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7eqCwj7XWxk

yeah that's a great homage. The "No No No" interpolation is the only thing that doesn't quite work imo, but the rest is smart and subtle and bangs even if you don't get the references.

It's a little weird how refreshing and creative a 90s ragga riddim sounds right now, though I can't figure out if that one is new or not. Echoing something I said on the Rosalía thread but I feel like you could really make waves in JA production these days simply by not saturating the track with sound, leave some space/air and emphasize the syncopation again (n.b., I don't know music theory at all so I may be talking nonsense here).

No, I think that's correct. The main problem in dancehall production atm is that a lot of it sounds stuffed and compressed. The Popcaan album sounded so refreshing mainly because it had a lot of air in the production, but at the same timeit could have used some new ideas about how you can use those spaces. The new Kartel is a case in point here too. It sounds as if it's on the verge of some sort of discovery but it doesn't quite get there. Imo it doesn't work but you get the distinct feeling that it might have.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=If8L0Zaskq0

Huh, that is a super interesting track! Is that really Kartel?? I'm getting some kind of uncanny valley effect from his britishy ohs (plus the IG ref). Secondly, re: the production, I agree that that sounds very close to novel. I like the crispness of the drums especially.

The Popcaan album, which I really like, is interesting in that I think it basically represents a capitulation to the idea that afrobeats took on the early '10s dancehall sound and improved it (the flipside to that being trop house, which took the same sound palette and made it bland). While there are of course good songs still coming out of JA, hopefully soon we'll get something radical.

Yeah, Kartel seems to be on some weird britishy vibey experimental ish these days - or rather I guess he must have been at some point between the advent of instagram and his incarceration, lol. On the Illi Sanchea track that dropped a while ago he's even more freewheeling.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uzFOeawzKg&frags=pl%2Cwn

I'm not into this one at all for some reason, although I guess it is... interesting. There was a fun moment when she was a guest on the Robbo Ranx show this week and she asked him straight out if he liked it and he tried really hard to avoid answering her question (he hasn't played it until this week and Robbo plays A LOT of Kartel).

Yeah that one's kind of a mess, though I'm not sure whose fault it is.

I might have to listen to that Robbo show though, haven't checked in with him in a long while. I'd basically come round to the "Kartel's vault was massive before prison" theory, but now I'm less sure.

Yeah, Kartel mentioning part of her name in the song and referencing the Beatles while doing the britishy accent thing makes the he-had-this-in-an-old-folder-all-along theory seem somewhat implausible.

So... uh... Stylo G got Nicki AND Kartel on the remix of this banger:

https://youtu.be/459bLvt7f9c