rolling dancehall & reggae 2023

In honour of ILM EOY-ing the lon-don-don-don, let's take stock for another year. We can start with the man in question, putting the rolling in rolling dancehall, tripping his way toward graceland, a genuinely unexpected tune:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fCyO3wEqig

Skeng - Elvis Presley

damn, that is good!

great welcome to this thread

“Elvis” is one of my top 5 jams of the year so far. there must be more where this came from. any other hot recent dancehall tracks anyone’s heard?

Well, nothing really sounds like Elvis, sad to say, and the genre is still pretty stuck in the diminishing returns rut of the traphall sound IMO. But it's not all dire. I'm mostly keeping an ear out for stuff pointing in new directions.

This morning I was checking out the promising artist Bree Bree, really like her matter-of-fact style and she picks excellent riddims

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBMQi9DDTtc

Eva Bless

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUd6hEtUMlI

Money Move

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

Life Style w/ Valiant & Pablo YG

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jT3hErgq2kk

Rich

this one too, she sounds so good on these dancey drill productions

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOM1OWEGJTw

Problem

I also like the spacey riddim on these, though neither voicing fully satisfies

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

Roze Don - White Rum

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jRt6wTaEhg

Ding Dong - Bup Bup Bup

I actually meant to post this bouncy Rytikal tune a few weeks ago

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnzFa8l2zo0

The King Is Back

thanx so much for these!

very happy to get acquainted with Bree Bree. those first two especially, “Eva Bless!” and “Money Move”, are a joy.

Sad I missed an old-school reggae night near DC this past Friday with Nadine Sutherland and an opening talk with Ms Pat Chin

if this year's posts have been too lighthearted for you, don't worry, there's plenty of pitch black evil shit too (various content warnings on these vids)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aa6Hz14A25I

Chronic Law - Slip Dem Slide

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aa6Hz14A25I

Intence - Chip (see also "Mugger")

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_K5P783pqw

Teebone & Roze Don - Upstairs (v cool Countree Hype riddim)

oops, here's the Chronic Law:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmyXSCMB4Vs

wild drums on that

ok I'm coming around on Valiant for sure, this is on the same riddim as White Rum and Bup Bup Bup upthread, but does actually satisfy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0diqJOZR39c

Motorcade

Currently enjoying some Shatta, a new mostly francophone afro dancehall hybrid genre. Don’t know much more than what I already said yet, lol, but here’s a jam.

Elji, Shaydee’s & Natoxie - Ek c tout

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ab4KsNuSBEk

belatedly dropping into thread. elvis presley is f’ing great - that bass! bree bree also going directly onto the repeat play playlist.

having enjoyed tommy lee stuff in the past was hoping i’d get more from the pitch black evil shit, but Chronic Law sort of aside, not really sure it did it for me. Will revisit later to see if it’s just my mood.

francophone afro dancehall jams also excellent.

ah yeah that is cool, good looking out longneck

the evil shit is in diminishing returns territory these days for sure. or I'm getting too old / dismayed at the state of the world to vibe out to songs about shooting people, idk (maybe that's the same thing as "just my mood"). otoh, Jah Vinci sounds great on this

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

Skeng x Jah Vinci - Seh Feh

yeah see i love this.

yeah Skeng remains the most exciting thing in dancehall right now. for ex, this is p half-baked but it's still fun:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsdyE9UQvso

p deranged riddim on this one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSlr6K3HkGM

Intence - Taxi Fare

Currently enjoying some Shatta, a new mostly francophone afro dancehall hybrid genre. Don’t know much more than what I already said yet, lol, but here’s a jam.

on a un thread pour ça!
🀄️🀄️ Martinique to the world: 70 SHiiNE x Nacho • DOMINO 🀄️🀄️

some of the Bree Bree stuff is a perfect segue (if perhaps a tad slow) with that sound, especially “Money Move”

speaking of…

“Pretty Preps”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmtSte1fJpo
(why does this have only 72 views?)

loving all that *pitch black evil shit* rob posted (about) back in March, especially Chronic Law's "Slip Them Slide", Intence's "Mugger" and Valiant's "Motorcade" (just the audio, not in any hurry to watch the videos)

also, "Elvis Presley" still on course for top 10 track of the year

glad you liked those bc! def don't watch the Mugger video iirc lol

that Bree Bree doesn't look official to me? which might explain the low view count, because it's a good song yeah

Bayka - Celebration

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

^love that

ftr Byron Messia's "Talibans" is a huge hit:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LD5LxJdCiRk

(arguably the wrong thread since this is really an afrobeats song + Messia is from St Kitts)

(cw: guns & violence in the video)

yeah this song is getting to be nearly as ubiquitous in nyc as “munch” was last summer

interesting. any thoughts on why? I haven't thought about it much, but it's an oddly chill, kinda sad tune to be a big summer hit

Skeng's world tour stops over in Paris:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uh1N7LC1ntM

a song being dark and low-key has never been an obstacle in new york. compared to something like pop smoke’s “dior” it’s positively breezy lol

as for why this song in particular popped, i’m not sure. it’s got an airy bounce with bass that sounds good in your car. the “da das” in the beginning give you something to melodically latch onto even if the fast paced patois is intimidating

yeah that makes sense. I was also perplexed because I found the song kind of unremarkable at first, but it grew on me. I particularly like the sung outro part now

did Crocodile Teeth get big in nyc?

checking out some other Messia I'm not much into it apart from this collab w/ Bayka that Zimi produced:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=re3aMO7dNtk

"Mhmm"

I'm loving the new Masicka. Should be huge.

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

That's Masicka - Tyrant for future reference

And Talibans is gorgeous.

xps i remember hearing the crocodile tears remix with nicki a little

Speaking of Byron Messia, I also like his tribute to the nineties:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYim6NKgT3o
Byron Messia - 90z

*crocodile teeth, duh

Also into Talibans, 90Z, Tyrant, and to some extent Skeng (not Paris). Clearly I need to start paying attention.

yeah 90z is good too

I'm intrigued by throwing Valiant's dramatic voice against this murky background:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbBJObF4vo4

"Corruption"

not sure it quite works (reminds me a bit of Brent Faiyaz in being slightly more interesting than enjoyable), but I like the ambition

as mentioned elsewhere the Burna remix of "Talibans" is real good

I don't know how fast these things go, but this feels very post-Talibans; I really love the dreamy swirl of the production:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srG4C6V6Xhc

Jquan - Choppa Gospel

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sE8e5M12qgI

Bogus is not bad too

the ice-cold vibes continue:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UG2F5G1Qk0

Teejay - Drift

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9hyjrPS104

RajahWild - Grung! (maybe more seasick than ice cavern)

+ Zimi's high-yield Big Bunx riddim:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y41MJM-0EJA

Valiant - Mad Out

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzV6K1yi5vo

Kraff - Rum Behaviour

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsxA0-OCzoQ

Skeng - Shalalala

I saw a few "sped-up" versions of these tunes; not sure they actually sound good, but an interesting little development given how slow-mo this stuff is

Also intrigued by Najeeriii, who can sound straight-up demonic on some tunes but also funny on Panton (google "Panton SSL"):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuLgsWZ575M

or horny but not as off-puttingly so as a lot of his peers on Paddle Boat:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4LtwqAA5mM

or he can make you wonder if Skillibeng snuck by security to get into the studio on War Boat:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5b3ADEL9Fb8

Grammys nominees for Feb 2024
Best Reggae Album

For albums containing greater than 75% playing time of new reggae recordings.

Born For Greatness
Buju Banton

Simma
Beenie Man

Cali Roots Riddim 2023
Collie Buddz

No Destroyer
Burning Spear

Colors Of Royal
Julian Marley & Antaeus