rolling dancehall & reggae 2020

season's greetings everyone!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-iuiYDRH0E

that style a style riddim is so fucking good

those twitter kids have a single btw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLpXkAn5dY0

Intence + Zimi were definitely my favorite thing about dancehall in 2020:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSqBrHfr0bU

"Light Up"

LargeUp did a top 20 that I like more than most their past lists when the site actually published content regularly:

20. Runkus feat. Royal Blu, Jesse Royal, Kabaka Pyramid and Munga Honorebel – “5Gs” (Producer: Runkus Music/Walshy Fire)
19. Popcaan – “Buzz” (Producer: Mini E5/Two4Kay)
18. Chronixx – “Cool as the Breeze/Friday” (Producer: Pantha)
17. Teejay – “From Rags to Riches” (Producer: Damage Musiq)
16. Koffee feat. Buju Banton – “Pressure (Remix)” (Producer: Ryan Bailey)
15. Skillibeng – “Crocodile Teeth” (Producer: Adde Instrumentals)
14. Alkaline – “Ocean Wave” (Producer: Jahvy Ambassador)
13. Jada Kingdom – “Heavy!” (Producer: DJ Papis)
12. Intence – “Yeng” (Producer: Zimi Entertainment)
11. Skip Marley feat. H.E.R. – “Slow Down” (Producer: Rykeyz)
10. Govana – “Likkle Bit A Money”/ “HAMANTS Convo” (Producers: J.L.L. Prod/Emudio)
9. Various Artists – Aircraft Riddim (Producer: Chimney Records)
8. Lila Iké – “I Spy” (Producer: Izy Beats)
7. Protoje feat. Popcaan – “Like Royalty” (Producer: Ziah and Winta James)
6. Agent Sasco – “Loco” (Producer: Teflon Zincfence)
5. Dexta Daps – “Call Me If” (Producer: Good Good Production)
4. Kranium – “Gal Policy” (Producer: Jahvy Ambassador)
3. Buju Banton – “Blessed” (Producer: Dave Kelly)
2. Tarrus Riley feat. Shenseea – “Lighter” (Producer: Rvssian)
1. Koffee – “Lockdown” (Producer: Dane Ray)

I would've picked different Teejay and Alkaline tracks, and predictably there's a tad too much reggae, though this Marley/H.E.R. song is better than I would have expected. Still, this is a pretty good roundup with some interesting omissions: no Kartel (fine with me, he hardly needs the shine), no 6ixx crew (basically agree here--dug a few tracks early in the year and then they seemed to just churn out middling songs to the point I stopped checking for them), and it's kind of odd to highlight only one riddim and then choose one that came out in Nov 2019 (of course I'm sure it blew up this year).

tbf revisiting Aircraft (and I'd missed or forgotten they did a whole riddim video), Jahvillani's and Intence's versions *really* stand out, which makes it feel more 2020

super fun poppy new one from Jada Kingdom

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvRUol3niYM

"Green Dreams"

I’ll leave the new-thread-making to rob, just came here to mention that Skillibeng has a 35-track album out called The Prodigy.

Nice list, but come on... no Yami Bolo?

thanks for the nudge breastcrawl: rolling dancehall & reggae 2021