Check out Dis l'heure 2 Ragga, which came out last year. Some great tunes on that, premium bizness. Not all the artists are from the Caribbean, tho' (Lyricson is from Guinea). Daddy Mory is from Martinique, Admiral T is from Guada and the brilliantly named Fuckly is from the FWI, too. Dunno about the others.
There's also Dis l'heure 2 Zouk and Dis l'heure 2 Rimes for those so inclined.
Heard a great, great zouk megamix the other day, I must see if I can get a hold of it. Gabriel I can send you the first 16 tracks of that Ragga comp if you want (and a copy of the zouk set once available).
On the French (language) ragga tip, anyone heard things coming out of Reúnion and Mauritius? I've heard some things on a compilation entitled Extreme Ragga or something similar, and I though it was very good. A friend from Reúnion also introduced me (along with some homegrown hip hop and plenty of Charette rum punch) to a sort of séga-ragga fusion, the former apparently being (along with maloya) a form of indigenous music from the early colonial times in 3/4 time. Some of the stuff was very tacky, but when the vocals were gruffer and the beats harder (or the soukous influence was more audible) I could well understand the appeal.
I'm clueless tho'. Any knowledge out there?
