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One index for everything published: records, stories, watchable media, community memories and places. 515 records match.
Signature 1994 hit from Cidade Negra’s album Sobre Todas as Forças, a Brazilian reggae radio staple that helped cement the band’s national mainstream breakthrough.
recording · Well supported"Antonia" — GondwanaThe best-known song by Gondwana, the Chilean band who did more than anyone to establish reggae in Spanish-speaking South America. It is a good illustration of how far the form travelled and how completely it was absorbed: a Jamaican rhythm, a Chilean band, a Spanish lyric, and an audience that heard it as their own music rather than an import.
recording · Well supported"Armagideon Time" - Willi WilliamsWilli Williams's Studio One roots record for Clement "Coxsone" Dodd, cut on the "Real Rock" rhythm (recorded 1977, issued 1979) and famously covered by The Clash - a vivid case of a Studio One riddim reaching global rock audiences.
recording · Probable"Bakardi Slang" — Kardinal OffishallLead single from Kardinal Offishall’s major-label debut, articulating Toronto’s West Indian presence in patois-inflected verse and becoming his first Top 20 Canadian solo hit; a remix paired him with Jamaican deejay Bounty Killer.
recording · Well supported"Bam Bam" — Sister Nancy"Bam Bam" is Sister Nancy's 1982 song, produced by Winston Riley for his Techniques label over the Stalag riddim (built from Ansel Collins's 1974 "Stalag 17"); it is now regarded as one of the most sampled reggae recordings in hip-hop history.
recording · Well supported"Caught You in a Lie" — Louisa MarkLouisa Mark's mid-1970s record, cut when she was still a teenager, and usually treated as the starting point of lovers rock — the British reggae style that gave second-generation Caribbean Britain a music of its own, sung largely by young Black British women.
recording · Well supported"Come Around" — Collie BuddzLead single from Collie Buddz’s 2007 self-titled Columbia Records debut, a reggae radio hit that topped charts in Jamaica, the UK and continental Europe and drew a Busta Rhymes remix.
recording · Well supported"Everyone Falls in Love" — Tanto Metro & Devonte"Everyone Falls in Love" by Tanto Metro & Devonte is a late-1990s dancehall crossover record, using singjay melody and duo interplay in a way that translated strongly to international radio and introduced many listeners to a softer dancehall sound.
recording · Well supported"Everything I Own" — Ken Boothe"Everything I Own," Ken Boothe's 1974 cover of David Gates's Bread ballad, reached number one on the UK Singles Chart on October 26, 1974, staying there for three weeks - produced by Lloyd Charmers at Federal Records in Kingston, with Lloyd Parks on bass, Willie Lindo on guitar and the Maytals' Paul Douglas on drums.
recording · Probable"Footprints" — T.O.K."Footprints" by T.O.K. is a mid-2000s vocal cut on the Drop Leaf riddim, often cited in the one-drop/dancehall crossover moment when harmony groups, roots themes and polished rhythm production overlapped.
recording · Well supported"Get Busy" — Sean Paul"Get Busy" by Sean Paul is the Diwali riddim's biggest international breakthrough, a dancehall single whose Billboard success made Lenky's rhythm and Jamaican deejay delivery part of early-2000s global pop radio.
recording · Well supported"Heads High" — Mr. Vegas"Heads High" by Mr. Vegas was a late-1990s breakout hit that helped push dancehall further into global club and radio circulation, pairing a memorable hook with the faster international traffic of the VP/Greensleeves compilation era.
recording · Well supported"Here Comes the Hotstepper" — Ini KamozeIni Kamoze's 1994 crossover: a decade-old roots deejay reborn atop Salaam Remi's hip-hop-framed production, riding the "na na na" hook to number one on the Billboard Hot 100 — dancehall phrasing at the summit of American pop three years after Shabba's Grammy run opened the door.
recording · Well supported"Here Comes Trouble" — Chronixx"Here Comes Trouble" by Chronixx is a reggae-revival recording associated with the singer's international rise, pairing roots-reggae themes with modern production and festival-ready performance energy.
recording · Well supported"Here I Come" — Barrington LevyBarrington Levy's 1985 record, known by its "broader than Broadway" hook — one of the most recognisable vocal phrases dancehall has produced, and endlessly sampled and interpolated in hip hop and jungle. Levy's soaring style made him the great singer of the early dancehall era, and this is its concentrate.
