New Dancehall

[Benny B]

Right I'm taking back anything negative I said about Whap earlier in the thread, I think it just arrived at a time when I was all skillied out, but it's undeniable now. Infectious, anthemic
(Via Barty)

 

[Benny B]

Me have me knife on a mi waist
Me Tek it out an put it right Inna ya face
STAB STAB STAB STAB STAB STAB STAB BRRRRP

 

[Benny B]

Absolute scenes on skengs UK tour as well, looks like him and skillibeng both smashed it, and wasn't intence over earlier this year too?

 

[Roobric]

Teejay soars on unmasked riddim I reckon - he puts out so much slushy rubbish but when he's got the right riddim he's one of my favourite singers of the last few years.

Ooh I'll have to pay more attention to that one; I had also kind of given up on him ever making something as good as, e.g., Owna Lane again

Was thinking it could do with a terrible, epic and bloody Trojan-level war a la Gully/Gaza to really shake things up.

Dear CIA, no, I do not know "Benny B" and was completely unaware of his plan to instigate a gang war in Kingston to generate good chunes

 

[Roobric]

I wasn't totally sold on Benny's Squash coronation, but he really is having an amazing year

 

[cossrooper]

i gotta go against the backlash against the brooding soupy piano in here. i guess it is overdone but I still can't get enough; when it hits, it hits. I was clicking through Medz Boss tunes via one that @Benny B posted and this one smacked me across the face:


even got fake blues guitar riffs 😂

 

[forclosure]

Was thinking it could do with a terrible, epic and bloody Trojan-level war a la Gully/Gaza to really shake things up.

uuuh yeah no no thanks

also if you've watched any of Sir P's Politricks Watch blog you'd know there's enough madness going on already

 

[Benny B]

Does it really need to be pointed out that i wasn't being entirely serious?

 

[forclosure]

Does it really need to be pointed out that i wasn't being entirely serious?

i mean i'd still say politricks watch is worth checking out, Sir P's more trusted than the Gleaner and the Observer at this point in time

 

[Benny B]

Been enjoying Spring Break Riddim, especially Vybz Kartel and Chronic Law's versions, the first two on this mix.


And Bayka's new one. They're calling him "the next Skeng" and they could be right. Definitely most exciting new guy I've heard since Skeng blew up.

 

[Roobric]

Spring Break is superb Benny, really nice to see a ton of different artists on a good riddim too.

Skilli released a new EP with prev released Whap Whap and Piana on it. The other three tracks demonstrate his uhh range.

Thee Most Power is fantastic:


Rocket Launcher w/ Popcaan and Rich the Kid is also very good and integrates the guests well:


On Love Handles, a piano ballad, you get to hear "I'm by your side / love handles" 😐

 

[Roobric]

When they lay off the syrup, dancehall just sounds so good right now. Have we moved somewhere beyond the neon screams vocal psychedelia mode? 1UpTown has some good vocal effects and Kartel's voicing on Spring Break (perhaps necessarily due to prison) has some heavy processing. But I'm feeling the energy is more right now in the way the producers have taken drill as a concrete base and then built these really elegant & delicate structures on top with the vocalists receding somewhat in prominence. (This is pretty half-baked though)

IWaata, Wikid Play:


Skeng & Govana, Gunman Spaniard

 

[Benny B]

SIDE BY SIDE LIKE CHICKEN AND FRIES

 

[Benny B]

Spring Break is superb Benny, really nice to see a ton of different artists on a good riddim too.

Skilli released a new EP with prev released Whap Whap and Piana on it. The other three tracks demonstrate his uhh range.

Thee Most Power is fantastic:

Best JA drill track I've heard so far - skillibeng and skeng have really connected with UK audience like no one else for a long time I think

 

[Benny B]

When they lay off the syrup, dancehall just sounds so good right now. Have we moved somewhere beyond the neon screams vocal psychedelia mode? 1UpTown has some good vocal effects and Kartel's voicing on Spring Break (perhaps necessarily due to prison) has some heavy processing. But I'm feeling the energy is more right now in the way the producers have taken drill as a concrete base and then built these really elegant & delicate structures on top with the vocalists receding somewhat in prominence.

You could be right there roobric, I've definitely got the feeling some strands of the vocal harmony shifting sound has kind of run its course, but squash/6ixx are still putting out great stuff so I dunno. But it's all about skilli and skeng at the moment, who obviously do use autotune and stuff sometimes but maybe in a more subtle way.

Bayka to me sounds like a more in your face gruffer skeng and doesn't seem that big on vocal trickery - he still hasn't had that big hit like crocodile teeth or street cred yet but looks like he might soon.

 

[Roobric]

Yeah good point about the 6ixx crew. And now that you mention it, it would make sense if this shift in sound was in part driven by the rising UK appeal you mentioned (I'm in Canada so that dynamic is mostly opaque to me), given the lack of vocal psych in the drill scene there.

 

[Benny B]

Yeah for sure skeng and skilli are deliberately going for a UK appeal, skilli with the drill tracks, skeng with that London-don-don-don song.

Would be cool if UK drill/rap met JA halfway and ended up taking on more vocal psych influence in return, that could be an interesting development. (Maybe it's already happening? I don't follow UK music much nowadays. But I don't think it has...yet)

 

[forclosure]

Yeah good point about the 6ixx crew. And now that you mention it, it would make sense if this shift in sound was in part driven by the rising UK appeal you mentioned (I'm in Canada so that dynamic is mostly opaque to me), given the lack of vocal psych in the drill scene there.

there must be a Canada- JA dynamic though no?

 

[Roobric]

yes, though I'm in Montreal so not locally, and I don't really know what the dynamic is like in Toronto. At any rate, a few years past Drake's peak prominence, there's nothing like the crossover you all seem to be experiencing

 

[Benny B]

. But I'm feeling the energy is more right now in the way the producers have taken drill as a concrete base and then built these really elegant & delicate structures on top with the vocalists receding somewhat in prominence. (This is pretty half-baked though)

This new Countree Hype riddim, along with Intence's Raid that you posted (and stuff like Whap) backs up your line of thinking. Very drill sounding but at the slower trap dancehall tempo, stripped down with low-key vocal to match.