Large Up Top Ten Dancehall Post Kartel Popcaan
Dancehall artist (and now we can add legend) Vybz Kartel was recently sentenced 35 years to life in prison for a murder conviction. The artist that everyone either loves or loves to hate has left us with some artifacts to remember him by - being the first dancehall artist to curate his own line of rum, cologne and condoms (none of which are for sale), one season of his reality show Teacher's Pet, a book in Princeton University's library plus array of controversial and immortal hit songs. Kartel has done a lot for the dancehall community, so perhaps it's no wonder that in the wake of his conviction, various sources are claiming that dancehall is dead. Fortunately, LargeUp is proving them wrong with an entire list of the top ten dancehall artists in the world new and old who are keeping the genre healthy and more thriving than it's been in years.
The artist that have made list are making waves all around the world. Veteran acts like Mr. Vegas and Konshens are getting play from Hot97 and BBC1Xtra. Popcaan has had international success working with producers like Major Lazer and Dre Skull. He has also been featured on tracks with Snoop Dogg, Purity Ring's Megan James and Pusha-T not to mention influencing dancehall enthusiast Drake while in Toronto. Newcomers who have made the cut include "Tight Skirt" singer Samantha J and the clearly Kartel inspired Alkaline who's still developing sound has hit airwaves. There are so many good dancehall acts amongst them are Busy Signal (who's Major Lazer collab is hard to beat) or I-Octane who went from completely conscious one-drop and crossed over into totally universal with Jamaican club jams. We are not sure who is going to lead dancehall next - Movado? Aidonia? RDX? - the fact is, it does't really matter. Right now, dancehall is a force to be reckoned with in music and we can't deny that every player is coming strong.
