Spend a day in a city with a sizable Caribbean population, like London, Toronto, New York or Miami, and you’re bound to hear certain tunes blasting into the open sky, loudly announcing the arrival of a new wave of dancehall hits.
Byron Messia’s “Talibans” is, of course, unavoidable. (If it was in the running for NYC’s “song of the summer” before, the newly-minted remix with Afrobeats titan Burna Boy seals it.)
Then there are Malie Donn & Ireland Boss’s “V6” and Teejay’s “Drift,” also thrusting dancehall’s sound and culture forward with a jolt of youth. For those living among the Caribbean diaspora, the music’s latest popularity boom may be tough to ignore.
Major labels seem to agree. This year alone, a string of new record deals has signaled a promising direction for Caribbean artists: Masicka in February revealed his signing with Def Jam Recordings; Byron Messia in May shared he has inked a deal with Interscope Records; and Teejay last month announced he has joined Warner Music Group.
This uptick in major label deals for dancehall artists illustrates the continued relevance and outsized influence of Caribbean music on the global stage, a reality that stretches back over half a century.
Significance of these investments and mainstream push should be carefully considered, but there is no denying the international surge in demand for homegrown, youth-driven music.
If you’d like to stay in the loop with breaking and certified hits in modern dancehall, check out VP Records’ regularly-updated playlist below, that features New Dancehall releases and it is updated weekly, featuring currently more than 170 songs, streaming a total of 8 hours of pure hits, this dancehall playlist presented by VP Records, the world’s largest Dancehall/Reggae record label, already raked up more than 12,742 likes.
Dancehall’s New Wave Rises High!
