2020 Quarantine Dancehall/Reggae releases

What a year… huh? 2020 will be remembered for many things however one of the most underrated aspects of this past year will be the number and quality of music released. The genres of reggae and dancehall alone has seen over 50 releases and while most people were not privy to the numbers in previous years, 2020 certainly had more fans around the world eagerly awaiting and anticipating every new music drop. Quality was NOT sacrificed as while there were quite a few albums/EPs that were done in isolation, where artistes, musicians, producers and engineers had to change their routine and normal processes. The music output certainly didn’t suffer in any way. So what we are doing is a quick look at some releases that we at BACKAYARD found interesting with hopes that we could get you – the reader – interested in listening to a couple you haven’t heard.

Released in March and recorded many months before that, there was no way that Jah 9 could have known that her 15 track opus would be widely considered as a spiritual guide for many as the year 2020 comes to a close. Delivered with her usual calming tones, Jah 9 soothes the listener – who might not be aware that their minds are even need soothing – with songs about reflection, comfort, love and of course the many nuanced aspects of spirituality. Beautifully paced and arranged, ‘Note To Self’ had a hymnal quality to it with songs as: ‘Highly (Get To Me)’, ‘Love Has Found I’, ‘Could It Be’, ‘Hey You’, ‘Ready To Play’ feat. Tarrus Riley and the title track feat. Chronixx; which when played could affect the energy of any setting. In a good way. A good album to put on just before a relaxing bath with your favourite aromatherapy candles set after a long day.

Tessellated has certainly proven the naysayers wrong. Naysayers who dubbed him a ‘flash in the pan’ after his song with Amindi and Valleyz ‘Pine & Ginger’ came out of nowhere early in 2017 to be the soundtrack of that summer carrying that momentum all the way into 2018. Well, Tessellated has taken that initial boost and put it to good use and catapulted his career to places previously uncharted. Tessellated’s ‘I Just Learned Some Jazz Today’, became vehicle used by Apple for their 2019 Airpods advertisement campaign which helped to expose his music to an even larger audience and allowed him the platform for him to push his artistry globally. Off of the strength of the notoriety of ‘I Just Learned Some Jazz Today’, Tessellated released his seven track EP ‘Tropics Vol. 1’. This EP showcases what seems like Tessellated best quality, his ability to fuse genres seamlessly. Listen and you will hear elements of Afro Beats, Hip Hop, Jazz, Reggae and Dancehall – among other genres – all blended up. ‘Tropics Vol. 1’ is a easy listen, one that could take hours and hours. ‘No Ansa’ feat Crayon is a personal favourite from this EP.

Take a project like Dre Island’s ‘Now I Rise’, if I didn’t search high and low on the internet, I would not have found out bout this release. It was solid, however, my problem – mind you not ‘THE’ problem – with the album is the sequencing. ‘Four Seasons’, ‘Run To Me’, ‘Calling’ and ‘Favourite Girl’ all should have followed each other. In any way the label chose. I am not even certain why they were placed so low down in order but at least they are there. I sincerely hope he gets the opportunity to fine tune and put out another, stronger, album next time around. 

In his own words, ‘Healing’ is the first album that Tarrus Riley had done in real time. Meaning, Tarrus attempts to encapsulate the feeling of, not only the people of Jamaica but, the world while dealing with effects of Covid – 19 i.e. lockdowns, curfews and social distancing. The title track ‘Healing’, certainly attempts to help people who were truly having a hard time with lyrics such as:

“What will this new world be like
Without being with your friends
And the family gathering
What will this new life be like
We have to separate
Can’t even celebrate”

At the time of this album’s official release, August 28th, the pandemic was ravaging the world and there was a set paranoia amongst each country’s population. And while most might see it as fruitless exercise I truly believe songs like: ‘Blessings’, ‘Lighter’ feat. Shenseea, ‘The Week-Weak’, ‘My Fire’ feat. Dexta Daps, ‘T.I.M.E. (Together In Moments Everlasting)’ and ‘Remember Me’; will help fans recall what life was like before the coronavirus and aid what will be a massive recovery effort.

Munga Honourable released ‘Shine Your Light’ recently. Now he always had the talent to put out songs that have a certain bounce to them. However, Munga suffers from dancehall’s continuous chase for relevancy and need to ‘run the place’. But that is just how things are. This album ‘Shine Your Light’ attempts to relive Munga’s turbulent past year – crash and all – and highlights his current focus, which is on his money, career & having fun. However, Munga does express gratitude for surviving the accident on the first two tracks on album the title track and ‘You Alone’.  Not great but certainly not trash 🤷🏾‍♂️ 

I remember in 2017 when Dexta Daps and his Dascea team took the step to release his album ‘Intro’ completely free on YouTube. Many thought it was crazy to attempt to leverage the audio, and visual, experience created on the popular platform to build a fanbase in lieu of the traditional sales model. 3 years later, off of the strength of that album – and other key moves – Dexta is one of Jamaica’s best supported artistes in dancehall in terms of both online and offline metrics. Because of this fact Dexta’s new album ‘Vent’ was already going to be a ‘hit’ how big of a hit would be based upon the strength of the material. Fortunately, for his legion of female fans, ‘Vent’ is continuation of ‘Intro’ with songs like ‘Call Mi If’ and ‘Breaking News’ specially crafted with them in mind. ‘Vent’ also features tracks such as ‘Most Wanted’, ‘Consistency’, ‘War Season’ and ‘Lift My Hands’ which were placed to showcase the variety of themes Dexta could actually credibly speak upon. None of the features really connected however from Beenie Man, Spice, Tarrus Riley to Friyie, Angel Doolas, Ikaya, Blakkman and Chronic Law it is clear that Dexta is rated by his colleagues across the board.

Growth is something that many dancehall artistes, based in Jamaica, are not allowed to show albeit on a personal level or in their music. As a music form that has its more vocal proponents rooted in the youthful demographic, it makes all the sense in the world that some artistes would just ‘age’ out of being a relevant force in that genre. However, for Agent Sasco while his name is not on the tip of the tongues of preteens and teenagers, he is definitely represents the mature subsection of the Jamaican music/dancehall fanbase. His transition from the Assassin sobriquet to his current alias of Agent Sasco – after the birth of his first child and death of his mother ( in 2005) – represented more than just a mere name change but complete change in mindset and focus of priorities. This is the well, Sasco returns to draw from with this EP release. Containing just 5 tracks ‘Sasco vs Assassin’, definitely does not waste any time delivering usual standard of quality lyrics expected from a Agent Sasco project. He enlisted the help of Kranium, Chronixx, and Tropkillas to deliver his vision and based on the results it definitely worked and should please the listener. One could only hope this is just the precursor to a larger collection of songs on the horizon.

Normally the purpose of mixtapes is purely to be promotion material. Made up either by just verses or songs that were deemed surplus to an official album release – for any reason – or just not properly mixed for the airwaves, digital space or physical (vinyl/compact disc) press. However, the last few years has seen quite the sea change as fans are given more and more insight to the daily processes of their favourite artistes through social media. Gone are the days of waiting years between projects or songs; a post Covid world demands constant access and mixtapes certainly helps with that. That being said, Popcaan’s ‘Fixtape’ moved the goalposts again with regards to what is expected from an act when they put out what was previously regarded – by most in the music industry – as throwaway material. Released as both a 19 track “album” on the major streaming platforms and as an uninterrupted 90 minute, or so, mix on Soundcloud; through Drake’s OVO imprint ‘Fixtape’, serves its purpose as a peer into how Popcaan lives his life. The likes of: Drake, Dane Ray, Frahcess One, French Montana, Jada Kingdom, Masicka, PartyNextDoor, Preme, Stylo G and Tommy Lee all make their significant varied contributions with voices of Lila Ike, Protoje, Giggs, Kano and Cassnova popping up here and there throughout. The Soundcloud version, done by frequent collaborators the Chromatic soundsystem, reveals Popcaan at his most raw state and subsequently is the ‘better’ version for fans who truly want to connect with the man and not just his music. ‘Fixtape’ was not nominated for a Grammy for the year 2020, but its lasting legacy will be that mixtapes moving forward will now certainly considered for music’s most cherished accolade.

Behind The Scenes shot by Phvrvoh

The title of this EP ‘Be Somebody’ could be the autobiographical title of many Jamaicans, especially the rural migrants who move to an area considered a bit more metropolitan. Those metropolitan areas are seen as providing the best opportunity for those travelling to either maximize their earnings or chase their dreams – many times both -. For Sevana – a daughter of the coastal town of Savanna-La-Mar, capital of the parish of Westmoreland – ‘Be Somebody’ seems like a fulfillment of a promise to herself to not only chase her dream but to also do so under her terms. Which meant Sevana had a hand in the writing, production and even artistic direction of the visual components of her EP; a feat almost unheard of for a major label debut. The results, a 6 track dive into the musical mind of this burgeoning talent. ‘Be Somebody’ can not be categorized as a strictly reggae, R&B or dancehall project, however it contains elements of all three genres blending into a sound that might take some getting used to for the subsection of the musical audience that pays attention to the music from Jamaica. ‘If You Only Knew’, ‘Blessed’ and ‘Mango’ were my personal favourites but in truth the entire EP has quite the replay value. However, as with every artiste, Sevana should hope to find that one tune that resonates with the world and then build from there. And if she does, there will be a significant number of her current fanbase cheering her on because for almost every music fan there is nothing sweeter than ‘finding’ an artiste they could say “I Told You So” about to their friends.

The year could not have gone better (musically) for Lila Ike. Almost every song she was prominently involved with found some traction with audiences in Jamaica and beyond. Starting with ‘Second Chance’, a song over the track of one of Dennis Brown’s biggest hit ‘Promised Land’, Lila Ike saw her stock rise and rise reaching a crescendo with her first full blown hit ‘Where I Coming From’ a tune that many Jamaicans have adopted as their personal daily affirmation/ anthem. And when her popularity was seemingly at its highest, Lila released ‘The Experience’. What should be noted is that while this EP is her debut, Lila has commanded the attention of the Jamaican public for at least two years prior. These 7 tracks are culmination of the first part of Lila’s musical journey hopefully post – Covid the world will get to enjoy ‘The Experience’ live on stage.

As was mentioned before in our welcome home feature, Buju Banton spent the almost 10 years in custody of the US federal government. Detained on December 10th 2009, he was subsequently released on the 7th December 2018. This is a long time to be away from all that society has to offer: technology, language and even the way people consume music has significantly changed, a fact which Buju Banton – and his team – have to contend with. After a year of touring, most of the globe, Buju Banton settled down in the studio and begun the process of delivering some new music to an ever eager fanbase; and, while the process was obviously altered by the spread of the coronavirus, on June 26th 2020 Buju was able to deliver ‘Upside Down 2020’. One of Buju Banton’s greatest attribute as an artiste is his propensity on two of Jamaica’s most popular musical genres (dancehall and reggae). Being a legend in both soundscapes normally would bode well for an artiste’s album release, as being eclectic is a wonderful musical feature. However, to me this is where ‘Upside Down 2020’ falls down in my opinion. The album contains wonderfully received tracks such as ‘Trust’, ‘Blessed’, ‘Memories’, ‘Buried Alive’, ‘The World Is Changing’ and ‘Steppa’ but for me – going back to what I mentioned before – the music industry has changed significantly the ways they promote, distribute and sell music in the years Buju Banton was behind bars. If fans would appreciate ‘Upside Down 2020’s 20 tracks in 2009, they would be far more likely to baulk at such an output in the year 2020. As there is no question of quality, Gargamel Music and Roc Nation should have split ‘Upside Down 2020’ in two and had two releases, each concentrating on either dancehall or reggae. That being said ‘Upside Down 2020’ is quite the sonic experience and should be regarded as one that adds to the legend that is Buju Banton and not one that detract from it.

What is often forgotten by fans of music. Is that it’s creators have the same battle with the ticking of the clock that they do. The time spent: in the studio; on the road promoting, traveling, performing – although many times for proper compensation – is time spent away from their comforts, homes, friends, family and other love ones. This is the conundrum facing an artiste like Protoje, how do you go for your dreams and try to maximize earning potential while trying to be present parent watching kids grow up or enjoying quality time with those closest to your heart. This album’s title, cover and overall theme all speaks to Protoje’s desire to attempt to make up for lost time, no matter how futile such a task might be. Always a man who focuses on his lyrical output, ‘In Search Of Lost Time’ had some songs that highlighted Protoje flow versatility. ‘Switch It Up’ featuring Koffee, ‘Like Royalty’ featuring Popcaan and ‘Self Defense’ packed the most punch while ditties such as ‘In Bloom’ featuring Lila Ike, ‘Still I Wonder’ and ‘Same So’ revealed a softer reflective side. But to me is the introspection of ‘Deliverance’, ‘Strange Happenings’ and ‘Weed & Ting’ that truly resonates. With the current global reality of some tour venues being temporarily closed there is no telling how his songs would be received live on stage by his overseas fans. A critical test for every project, in any case, Protoje should be pleased with this body of work which should only age well through the passage of time.

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