I haven't done a playlist in a few months so I thought I'd dedicate this one to my favorite genre of music - reggae! Well dancehall to be exact. There's different kinds of reggae if you didn't know - soul/roots (Bob Marley), dancehall (Sean Paul, Beenie Man), reggaeton, lovers rock, etc. I think it must be my African blood why I love reggae so much, after all the music originates in African drum rhythms. Even though I can't understand what they're saying, I remember when I was a teenager playing reggae in the car with my dad he would make me turn it off because he could understand every word! I'm just enjoying the beat, not the raunchy lyrics. lol

I ran across this throwback list of reggae hits that I really enjoyed and will give you a history on dancehall through music videos of some of the top songs in the past 10 years. The way true dancehall music is released is not by albums by individual artists, but rather by riddim. Basically someone comes up with a music pattern, then multiple artists all record their song to the same music and that makes one album. Back when I was in college I would download those songs as one long song. lol I used to be able to pick up new songs on the Reggae Gold CD that was released every year but was disappointed with last year's album. But as a whole they're a good place for you to start if you want to explore dancehall.


Here's a great recent article on the top 5 apps for identifying music if you hear a song you like while you're out.

For the past 8 years Mavado has been the top dancehall artist. Here's some of his recent songs released in the past year. The first one was just released on April 1 and I've had it on repeat mode since! It's a slow sweet song. I've separated the list by slow songs first and the second half true fast dancehall.

Mavado - Tie Yuh
Mavado - Come into my Room
Gyptian - One More Time

Mavado - At The Top
Vybz Kartel - Georgina
Mavado - Friends with Benefits
Mavado - Book Look
Mr. G - Swaggarific   (an oldie but a goodie)

Mavado recently did a song with Nicki Minaj which is a bit too commercial for me. Reminds me of those early hip-hop songs that had a rap at the end.

Mavado - Give it To Me feat. Nicki Minaj