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Reggae VibeZ IV

Twenty-eight tracks proving reggae did not stop in 1981. This is the music as a living, arguing, evolving thing — roots discipline with modern production and a new generation doing the singing.

The reggae revival, still going

For a long stretch, international audiences treated reggae as a closed catalogue — Marley, a handful of roots classics, and then dancehall as a separate concern. What this playlist documents is the reggae revival: a movement that emerged in Jamaica in the 2010s around artists who deliberately went back to the roots template — live instrumentation, Rastafari themes, sung rather than chatted vocals — and updated the production rather than the philosophy.

It sits alongside contemporary dancehall and a strong international scene, and the mix moves between all three without treating any as more legitimate.

What to listen for

YG Marley's "Praise Jah In The Moonlight" is the headline — the son of Lauryn Hill and Rohan Marley, working a melody drawn from "Crazy Baldhead," and one of the biggest reggae records in years. Third-generation Marley, and genuinely good rather than merely notable.

Lila Iké's "Wanted" and Jah9's "Open Heart" represent the strongest women in the revival — Jah9 in particular sings in a jazz-inflected style that has few precedents in the genre.

Stephen Marley's "It's Alright" and Busy Signal's "Cool Down" bridge generations, and Sugar Minott's "Ain't Nobody Move Me" reaches back to a genuine legend of the Studio One and lovers rock eras.

Bitty McLean with Sly & Robbie on "Be Accepted" is the connoisseur's pick — a British singer with the most convincing rocksteady voice outside Jamaica, backed by the most-recorded rhythm section in reggae.

Green Lion Crew appears three times as a producer, including on "Selassie Calling" with Runkus, Royal Blu and MediSun — a good snapshot of the current Kingston generation. Tessanne Chin, Dre Island, Tuff Lion and Iotosh round it out.

Go deeper

Start with Chronixx's Chronology and Protoje's A Matter of Time — the two albums that made the revival internationally undeniable. Koffee's Rapture made her the youngest person and only woman to win the Best Reggae Album Grammy.

For the roots this is built on: Burning Spear's Marcus Garvey, Culture's Two Sevens Clash, and the Studio One catalogue generally.

And follow Sly & Robbie anywhere. Their discography is effectively a history of Jamaican music from 1975 onward.

A final note on the shape of this playlist. The sequencing moves deliberately between generations — Sugar Minott from the roots era, Stephen Marley and Busy Signal from the middle, and the current Kingston crop bringing up the rear. Heard in order, it makes an argument that the revival is not a retro movement but a continuation, with the elders still present and still recording. Very few genres can put four decades of active practitioners on one playlist and have it sound like a single conversation.

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