Ten Popular Non-Jamaican Reggae & Dancehall Artistes
We have heard quite a few cultured Reggae and dancehall songs from some unexpected foreign talents in our time. Though these tunes are tinged with transnational twangs, it was what made their sound stand out that much more.
While a few of these artistes were spawned from Jamaican roots others were just deeply inspired by the culture, so much so that they’ve mastered imitating the patois accent and sound of the music.
Here are some of the most popular non-Jamaican dancehall acts that have blown us away with their phenomenal Jamaican inspired musical chops over the years and even still today.
Snow
Canadian born Darrin Kenneth O’Brien best known as Snow took Jamaicans by storm when he landed on the scene back in 1992 with his hit single Informer. The sight of a white Irish kid spitting some of the slickest tongue-twisting dancehall rhymes ever, was simply mind-blowing. He was instantly inducted into the Jamaican music fraternity and largely celebrated by fans locally and abroad.
Growing up in a diverse neighborhood in Toronto Canada, Snow was introduced to Reggae and dancehall music by Jamaican neighbors, it was later that he ingeniously blended the island’s sounds with rock and popular music to create his own unique style of music.
After the epic success of Informer, Snow recorded a couple songs for his second album Murder Love in Jamaica to feature reggae and dancehall legends Ninjaman, Junior Reid, Half Pint, Buju Banton, Beenie Man and Terro Fabulous. His hit single Anything for You remix became a club favourite the top-selling single in Jamaica in 1995.
Nowadays, the 50-year-old has taken a backseat in the music game but remains a huge celebrity for being the ‘white Jamaican deejay’ back in his time, making several cameos on TV and guest appearances on various shows and concerts.
Shine Head
Who can forget this Jamaican in New York? Edmund Carl Aiken better known as Shine Head was born in England but was raised back and forth between Bronx, New York and Jamaica.
His Jamaican sound was bar none, one of the most authentic coming from a mixed-culture artiste. Shine Head was a pioneer in the Reggae fusion movement having merging hip-hop with Reggae music back in the 80’s.
Singles like Rough Rugged, Chain Gang, Try My Love, Strive, Gimme No Crack and his infamous Jamaican in New York were all rich Reggae compositions and among the most popular with Jamaican music lovers.
The one time International Reggae superstar now assumes the role of disc jockey for many dancehall parties and events, lighting up the scenes with his iconic voice. He still has performances from time to time, mostly in London and Japan as well as Jamaica.
Born Jamericans
Remember these Kids for Foreign? Norman ‘Notch’ Howell and Horace ‘Edley Shine’ Payne, the duo Born Jamericans were Washington D.C. natives both with rich Jamaican roots that ultimately influenced their music career.
Notch was the sweet serenader and Shine was the rough neck deejay, together they scaled the dancehall genre to new and fresh heights back in the mid 90’s.
“Well Jamaica is ah island mi say under di sun, a nuh desso we born but we heritage strong,” is the lyrics in the intro for the duo’s 1997 hit single Yarcore.
Other chart topping singles were Boom Shak- A-Tack, Cease & Seckle and Send My Love which skyrocketed their celebrity within months of emerging on the scene and established Born Jamericans as legitimate Reggae and dancehall acts.
Eventually they went on to tour with Jamaican legends Shabba Ranks and Buju Banton as well as other famed non-Jamaican Reggae acts such as Shine Head and Mad Lion in Japan.
The duo somewhat split after their short stint of fame, Notch ventured into Latin and Salsa music, as a sonero releasing a solo album Raised by the People in 2007 combining those genres with Reggaeton flavors.
The latest with Shine is his Babylon Breeze album that just released last month and is now available on all major streaming platforms, visuals included. The two have maintained a pretty healthy friendship and work relationship, they continue to do shows together under the moniker Born Jamerican.
Maxi Priest
A favorite among Reggae sensations is this guy here, Max Alfred Elliot better known by his stage name Maxi Priest. Born to Jamaican immigrants in London, Priest began singing in his neighborhood church choir where he perfected his soulful and euphonious musical chops.
He grew up heavily influenced by Jamaican musicians such as Gregory Isaacs, Dennis Brown, John Holt and Ken Boothe as well as R&B soul singers Marvin Gaye, Al Green, The Beatles and Frank Sinatra.
This ultimately inspired his then-unique sound and established Maxi Priest as one of the first international artists to have success in the reggae fusion act.
His mega-hit Close To You gave him international musical acclaim hitting the American Billboard charts at #1 in 1990. Then came a duet with icon Roberta Flack, Set The Night To Music in 1991 to also top the music charts.
His duet with Shaggy entitled That Girl in 1996 as well as Housecall (Your Body Can’t Lie) in 2009 with Shabba Ranks made him a household name among Jamaicans. Priest also did collaborations with other Jamaican greats like Beres Hammond, Sly and Robbie and Assassin to name a few.
Gentleman
Another MVP among foreign Reggae musicians is none other than Germany native Tilmann Otto, largely known as Gentleman. This light skin Caucasian may look a little alien among Jamaican musicians but he is truly a reincarnated Rastaman.
Gentleman has no known ties to Jamaica or the culture but developed a love for the music growing up listening to Bob Marley, Peter Tosh and Dennis Brown. By the time he was 17 years old, he would start making frequent visits to the island and building his musical repertoire.
His trips to Jamaica would introduce more contemporary sounds from Sizzla Kolongi and Anthony B. Set on establishing himself as a Reggae artist, he went back to Germany to test the waters as the “Germaican,” singing in English and Jamaican patois. However, it wasn’t until German Hip-Hop group Freundeskreis invited him to feature on one of their albums that Gentleman ultimately got his big break.
In 2002 his breakthrough single Journey to Jah, a very roots oriented album that was inspired by the birth of his son, finally gave him the recognition he needed to push his career forward. Gentleman has produced music with some of the greatest Reggae musicians of all time, some of which are Morgan Heritage, Capleton, Luciano, Cocoa T, Anthony B, Barrington Levi, Ky-Mani Marley as well as Beenie Man.
He has a prolific catalogue of Reggae albums and is currently releasing new music. Rise Up, Cant Stop The Love, The Light Within f/ Diana King and a collaboration on Publik Report’s Babylon Have The Nerve with Freddie Mcgregor were released this year.
Apache Indian
Many Jamaicans may consider Apachi Indian a one hit wonder from his chart-topping single Boom Shak- A- Lak back in 1993. However the single was such a huge success that it ultimately led him to some pretty hot Jamaican collaborations.
Steven Kapur, a.k.a Apache Indian of Indian origins, grew up in Birmingham, U.K. in a racially mixed neighborhood that not only introduced him to Reggae and dancehall music but also helped him to perfect his patois infused deejaying skills. He eventually established and trademarked his ragamuffin Reggae-bhangra racks, which spawned the bhangramuffin genre.
A demonstration of which can be heard on his collab with Shaggy in Chok There, as well Fe Real w/Maxi Priest and others with Sean Paul, General Levy and Brain & Tony Gold.
Boom Shak-A-Lak is featured in several Hollywood movies, including Dumb and Dumber as well as Dumb and Dumber 2. It is also featured on the soundtrack for Scooby-Doo 2, Monsters Unleashed, Threesome among others.
Alaine
This highly prized Reggae songbird was born in New Jersey to Jamaican parents but soon enough, moved to the island at the age of 3 years old. Alaine (sir name Laughton) always had a knack for showbiz even from an early age. Many Jamaicans may remember her from local TV shows and advertisements as a little girl, however when Alaine was 10 years old, she nailed a pretty big gig appearing in the movie Clara’s Heart alongside Whoopi Goldberg.
By then, she was living in the US again and later embarked on a career as a singer and songwriter. She did backup singing for Rocafella Hip-Hop artistes Cam’ron and Freeway in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
When the summer of 2004 rolled around, 25-year-old Alaine packed her bags and headed back to the land of wood and water to focus on her own music. Her breakout single No Ordinary Love debuted in 2005 topping the Jamaican and U.K. music charts. She is also popularly known for her other singles Rise In Love, Deeper, Chaka Chaka Love, Heavenly, Wine and Love Sound w/ Beres Hammond.
In early 2019, She got baptised and released her singles entitled Boast Inna God and You Give Me Hope. Since then she has also released Million Reasons in January 2020.
Stefflon Don
This dancehall diva, Stephanie Victoria Allen, popularly known as Stefflon Don, emerged on the scene and quickly rose to fame after her 2017 hit single Hurtin Me featuring Moroccan-American rapper French Montana.
Stefflon was born in Birmingham, West Midlands in the U.K. to Jamaican parents. She started writing music in primary school and even recorded the hook for an unreleased track Hard Knock for the rapper Unique. Hearing herself on playback, young Stephanie would begin her career as a singer.
She introduced the world to her flawless deejaying wits on a string of singles including Don Walk, Pretty Girl, Envy Us and Jax Jones’s single Instruction also ft. Demi Levato. However she finally broke into the Jamaican dancehall market with 16 Shots, Senseless, Shot & Wine ft. Sean Paul and again in Boasty with Paul, Wiley and English-American actor (and musician) Idris Alba.
Sean Kingston
Like a long lost grandson, Jamaica opened their arms to welcome Sean Kingston into the music scene with no apology. Born in Miami, Florida, Kisean Paul Anderson briefly moved to Ocho Rios Jamaica when he was 6 years old and then left again when he turned 9.
Bred from a musical gene, Kingston’s grandfather was a noted Jamaican Reggae producer Lawrence Lindo otherwise known as Jack Ruby. While the young singer is largely known for his R&B singles like Beautiful Girl, Take You There, Fire Burning, Eenie Meenie w/ Justin Bieber and Beat It ft. Chris Brown and Wiz Khalifa, he has some pretty awesome Reggae singles and collaborations alike to showcase his Jamaican roots.
Some of which are Me Love, Chance ft. Vybz Kartel, One Away and Letting Go (Dutty Love) ft. Nicki Minaj, that had the music video filmed in Jamaica to show glimpses of some famous Jamaican faces like Shaggy, Esco, Wayne Marshal, the Voicemail crew among others.
Matisyahu
Matthew Paul Miller better known by his Hebrew and stage name Matisyahu is an American Jewish Reggae singer that became popular for his multifaceted musical talents as a rapper, beatboxer along with his Jamaican patois spitting wits.
Living in New York, he was brought up Reconstructionist Jew and attended Hebrew school at a synagogue in White Plains. He spent much of his childhood learning the tenets of Judaism but by the time he was a teenager, Matisyahu began to rebel against his rigid upbringing. He started taking drugs and hallucinogens then eventually dropped out of High School.
He counts Bob Marley, Phish, God Street Wine and Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach among his musical inspirations. These genres have ultimately set the tone for his unique sound. While he has gained international recognition for his inexhaustible work as a Reggae artiste, has yet to feature any Jamaican musician on his songs.
Since his debut, Matisyahu has received positive reviews from both rock and reggae outlets. In 2006, he was named ‘Top Reggae Artist’ by Billboard and spokesperson for Kenneth Cole. Also, in 2006, Esquire magazine awarded Matisyahu the ‘Most Lovable Oddball’ award in their ‘Esky’ Music Awards, calling him ‘the most intriguing reggae artist in the world.’