“Come Home” — Vybz Kartel

Ladies, get ready to wine your waistline! This high-energy track by the king of dancehall, Vybz Kartel, brings the original dancing vibes. The song is about how a woman’s body makes her man “come home.” In the track, he reassures her that he is not leaving her for anyone. Kartel deejays, “Me nah left, me nah left / Me nah left / Go deh me gyal yuh body wicked inna bed / She cyan seh yuh cyan bubble pon yuh head.” Vybz Kartel expresses that he cannot leave his woman based on her skills in bed.

“Blessed (feat. Tyga)” — Shenseea

After signing with Interscope Records, Shenseea dropped a hit single with Tyga. The track has a hip-hop sound with a dancehall beat to it. She sings, “First thing in the mornin’ when I wake up / Thank God for life / Look in the mirror, say / B***h I’m the best / Best, best, best, best, best, best / Way too blessed, blessed, blessed, blessed.”

“Cut Off Jeans” — I Waata

This new artist has been turning up the stations and parties in Jamaica with his hit song “Cut Off Jeans.” The song brings great dancehall vibes, plus lyrics Jamaican men can relate to because they love wearing jeans in the summer. As he deejays, “Suh mi role / Suh mi role / Suh mi role / Rolex pon wrist yuh kno dat a gold / Suh mi role / Boy suh mi role / Mmm a just suh mi role / Role out inna mi cut off jeans.” The song focuses on how I Waata flexes when he is out in his cut off jeans.

“Standard” — Squash

The 6ix is real! Squash is currently one of the hottest artists from Jamaica. He runs a deejay/singing group called 6ix which includes other popular acts such as Chronic Law and Daddy 1. With popularity comes attraction from the ladies, which he addresses in “Standard.” He sings about how his baby’s mother leaves him because he has too many women around him. However, he tells her “Yuh drop yuh standard cause yuh a di queen,” telling his lady to stand firm to her morals.

“Cool It” — Spice

With a hot summer, we need something to “cool it” down! Spice’s single, “Cool It,” has been blazing the dancehall scene this summer. The song brings fun and high energy to the genre. Both men and women love dancing with each other to the song, especially at parties. “Cool It” is also doing well abroad in various countries within Europe.

The rapper made the comment when his co-host Rory reminisced on TLC’s Chilli being his first crush. Mya, Lil Kim and Chilli were spotted in Trinidad together during the Carnival season for their future reality TV show “Girls Crew.” Additionally, the R&B singer Ashanti was there.

Following the crush confession, Budden asked, “What’s up with Mya?” Rory implied that Mya was, “doing that little Carnival shit. She looked aight,” to which Budden laughed and responded, “These chicks can’t wait to put on these Carnival outfits and be hoes.”

The conversation went left after Budden expressed those thoughts; he was called out by his co-host for them and hit with, “And what are you saying?” “You mad?” and “I have yet to see a problem.”

The commentary began to surface on the internet when many West Indians and women were upset about Budden’s ignorant comment on the Caribbean Carnival culture. With the push from such great backlash, the rapper went to social media to apologize on his derogatory comments:

“On my most recent podcast we were having a conversation about ‘other’ [people] appropriating Culture they weren’t apart of (as we normally do). We were not discussing Carnival, Caribbean Culture or anything of the sort and never would as I’m well aware of the strong and proud history & heritage,” Budden wrote in a now-deleted Instagram post. “To anyone who heard that conversation and felt offended I’d like to humbly apologize, that’s just never my intention. To those of you outraged by this 7 second clip of audio being matched [with] pictures of beautiful women to push a narrative we aren’t adding to let me say, I didn’t publish that, those are not my thoughts or sentiments and I don’t feel that way. I can assure you your anger is misplaced. That isn’t journalism, it’s cheap clickbait to weaponize emotions to push an agenda.”

However, the apology was not good enough for people to forget, including myself. I understand as a blogger that some blogs do malicious things to get attention, likes and views, but the joke was disrespectful toward women. He also tries to cast blame on journalists instead of taking responsibility for what he said. Additionally, since he deleted the post, this raises some doubt on the apology.

Men in general should not joke or comment on a woman’s personality based on what she wears. Clothing does not define us, personality does! We should wear what we want freely without having to worry about random slut-shaming and ignorant commentary on who we are. Furthermore, a woman should not be sexualized based on how she dresses. Just because she is showing a lot of skin does not make her a “hoe.”

Situations like this occur when we lack the education on the cultures of other black diasporas. If Budden understood Caribbean culture, he would have known that Carnival is a celebration of life and not just some random event that happens every year for women to show skin. This is all culture, more specifically black culture, and we should make it our duty to respect and embrace that culture.

“Ms. Melanin” — Neeqah

Following her hot EP “Aura,” Neeqah proudly represents black women in her smooth and groovy song, “Ms. Melanin.” Colorism is one of the biggest problems in Jamaica, which affects women with darker skin tones economically, socially and politically. This problem drives insecurity within some girls and pushes others to bleach their skin. However, Neeqah is letting these melanin ladies know not to be afraid of being dark-skinned and loving themselves for who they are.

“Braff” — Teejay and Ding Dong

A high-energy track featuring new dancing king Ding Dong and Romeich Entertainment new artist Teejay, “Braff” brings nothing but straight dancehall vibes! “Braff” is all about showing off one’s self and having fun while doing so. The men deejay about how much they have money, how much they spend, the cars they have, their girls and more luxurious things about themselves. “Yuh nuh see we just a Braff and a floss cah we money nuff!”

“Nah Mad (Ova Nuh Gyal)” — Munga Honorable

After taking a long break from his career, Munga came back in December with a blazing hit! The dancehall artist vouched for the men on this record, reminding them he “Nah Mad” over no woman. He sings, “She coulda pretty like dolly and spend nuff money (NO!) / We nah mad ova no gyal,” implying that regardless of a woman’s looks or qualities, she still cannot drive him crazy over her.

“Toast” — Koffee

Being a young female artist in the industry with great lyrical talent, Koffee released her first hit song, “Toast.” This song is all about remaining humble and being thankful for your blessings in life. Oftentimes we forget to do so as human being. She deejays, “Mi thank god fi di journey di earnings a just fi di plus (yeah) / Gratitude is a must.”

“ShenYeng Anthem” — Shenseea

Launching off a successful career in dancehall with her collab song featuring Vybz Kartel in 2016, Shenseea grows more with hot song “ShenYeng Anthem.” This upbeat and high-energy song has gained so much love from the ladies (and men) in the Caribbean and abroad in the states, as well as Europe. The artist reminds the ladies not to fight over no man.