One Blood

Shabba Ranks
6" x 6"
oil on wood, 2012

 Junior Reid
4" x 4"
oil on wood, 2012

Shabba Ranks, Junior Reid, Chaka Demus, Buju Banton, Eek-A-Mouse are some of the Jamaican dancehall stars that gathered points in the 2011 top 100 year. So when it came to selecting—from a large number that gathered less than 10 points—the last songs to complete the list of 100, I just had to include some in it, especially since dancehall music is a relative new style to feature in my top 100. There always have been plenty of its predecessors, reggae, ska, and dub but I had managed to largely ignore the new wave of Jamaican music. Dancehall came into being in the eighties in Kingston and is somewhat synchronous with hip-hop music (it at least shares some features). The impulse for dancehall in the top 100 was provided by the fact that some records simply showed up at my main source for gathering music, the local thrift stores. The Shabba Ranks CD As Raw as Ever is one of only a handful new CD's  I've acquired in a year, I paid 50 cents for it. On vinyl I gathered two dancehall compilation records, a Buju Banton LP, a Yellowman single, and also some roots records. Junior Reid comes into the list courtesy of The Wu-Tang Clan. He collaborates on the song Jah World with Ghostface Killah and RZA on the final track of the CD The W. The CD also features a sample of Reid's biggest hit One Blood (in One Blood Under W–Reid does some additional vocals there too).