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On The Rise: Lila Ike

Six tracks. That is all it takes to understand why Lila Iké is one of the most important voices to come out of Jamaica in a decade.

On the rise, and staying there

Alicia Grey — Lila Iké — is from Manchester parish in Jamaica, and came up through Protoje's In.Digg.Nation Collective, the label and crew at the centre of the island's reggae revival.

What makes her distinctive is refusal to stay in one lane. She is a reggae artist by lineage and by community, but her records take in R&B phrasing, hip-hop cadence and dancehall attitude, often within the same song. Her voice is warm and slightly husky, and she sings behind the beat in a way that owes as much to American soul as to Jamaican tradition.

She is also, notably, one of very few women in the reggae revival to have broken through as a headline artist rather than as a featured vocalist.

What to listen for

"Where I'm Coming From"-era material established her, but "True Love" is the record that made the wider case — a slow, unhurried song built on almost nothing, with a vocal that never raises itself.

"Wanted" is the one with the most immediate hook and probably the best introduction.

"In Bloom" and "All Over the World" both feature Protoje, and the pairing is the clearest illustration of what the In.Digg.Nation approach sounds like — live instrumentation, roots foundation, contemporary production values, and lyrics with something on their mind.

"Sweet Inspiration" is the most straightforwardly joyful thing here.

"Never Leave" with WSTRN is the UK crossover — and the Jamaica-to-London connection is one of the most productive relationships in either country's music.

Six tracks is a short introduction by design. This was an "on the rise" post, and the rise happened.

Go deeper

The ExPerience (2020) is her EP and the essential listen — seven tracks, no filler.

Protoje is the next stop: A Matter of Time and In Search of Lost Time are two of the best reggae albums of the last twenty years, and he has done more than anyone to develop the current generation.

For the rest of the revival: Chronixx, Koffee, Jesse Royal, Sevana and Jah9. Sevana in particular is the other In.Digg.Nation artist worth following closely.

And for the women who cleared the ground: Marcia Griffiths, Judy Mowatt, Rita Marley and Sister Nancy, whose "Bam Bam" is one of the most sampled records in existence.

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