Two days ago Jamar McNaughton turned 34. More than a decade has passed since a skinny youth from Spanish Town, son of the singer Chronicle, started making roots reggae feel urgent again. Chronixx became the voice most closely tied to the Reggae Revival.
Major Lazer’s 2012 mixtape Start a Fyah carried his name overseas, and by 2014 his Dread & Terrible EP was sitting at No. 1 on Billboard’s Reggae Albums chart.
Picking the best Chronixx songs means weighing early sound system dubplate energy against grand album statements. It means setting Grammy-nominated polish beside the long silence that ended with Exile.
What follows are the twelve tunes that define him: the anthems, the love songs, the hometown odes and one collaboration that is still collecting plaques ten years on.
1. Chronixx, “Here Comes Trouble” (2013)
Every generation of roots reggae has a tune that announces the next voice, and this was his. Built on the Rootsman riddim and pressed on a 7″ through Overstand Entertainment, “Here Comes Trouble” walks in with the swagger of a youth who knows the yard is about to change.
The melody is simple and the conviction is total. It became the triumphant centerpiece of Dread & Terrible, the EP that topped reggae charts in the US, UK and Japan. Its video won Best Music Video at the 33rd International Reggae & World Music Awards in October 2014.
Chronixx himself has said it hit even harder than “Smile Jamaica”. The streaming era agrees: it remains the most popular song in his Spotify catalog.
2. Chronixx, “Skankin’ Sweet” (2017)
Some songs feel like a breeze off the harbour, and “Skankin’ Sweet” is the purest example in his catalog. Produced by Bost & Bim, mixed by James “Bonzai” Caruso and released through Soul Circle Music and Virgin EMI, it wraps a one-drop pulse in lovers-rock warmth and lush, orchestral touches.
Chronixx sounds relaxed and romantic rather than militant, and that shift showed how wide his range on Chronology really was. Listeners took to it immediately.
It became the album’s most-streamed single on Spotify, with more than 32.4 million plays by July 2023. Today it sits at or near the top of his streaming profiles, the song new fans usually find first.
3. Chronixx, “Smile Jamaica” (2013)
“Smile Jamaica” started life as a voice note on his phone. When Silly Walks Discotheque played him the Honey Pot Riddim, he went into the studio the very next day and cut it alongside “Play Some Roots”.
That speed comes through in the record, which has an easy, sunlit confidence, a love letter to the island that never turns into a tourist postcard. It was his first true breakthrough single and was pressed on 7″ with “Brothers”, his duet with Jah9.
It won Best Song at the 2014 International Reggae & World Music Awards. Years later it was folded into Chronology, and it still lands like a national anthem whenever a selector drops it.
4. Protoje feat. Chronixx, “Who Knows” (2014)
No song in the Reggae Revival story has travelled further. Producer Phillip “Winta” James brought Protoje and Chronixx together.
Protoje handled the verses, Chronixx delivered the hook, and the result premiered on David Rodigan’s BBC 1Xtra show in February 2014 before landing on Ancient Future, which topped Billboard’s Reggae Albums chart two weeks after release in 2015.
The groove is unhurried and the chorus is impossible to shake. Its afterlife is remarkable. The BPI certified it Silver in 2022, and on October 8, 2026, it went Platinum in New Zealand.
By then it had passed 255 million YouTube views and 135 million Spotify streams. It is the clearest proof that this generation’s roots music built something lasting.
5. Chronixx, “Spanish Town Rockin'” (2017)
Chronology opens at home. Chronixx produced “Spanish Town Rockin'” himself and built it around a Barrington Levy sample, so Levy and Henry Lawes share the writing credits with him. Tying his story to one of Jamaica’s great singers was a deliberate move.
The song paints his parish in bright, proud colours and pushes back against the reputation Spanish Town usually carries abroad. He grew up in De La Vega City, and his love for the place runs all through the bounce of the track.
It was pressed on a 7″ with “Majesty”. As an album opener it sets the mission statement for everything that follows: this is where he comes from, and it rocks.
6. Chronixx, “Majesty” (2017)
Billboard called “Majesty” “sultry, retro R&B flavored,” and it is the slow-burner of the Chronology era. Federation Sound and McNaughton built it on the Studio One riddim that reggae heads know from Otis Gayle’s “I’ll Be Around”, so it carries the warmth of a foundation rhythm and the gloss of modern production at the same time.
Lyrically it is a crown placed on Black women, with nods to Venus and Serena Williams among others. He co-directed the video with Che Kothari at Strawberry Hill in St. Mary.
In 2017 he performed it on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, putting a Studio One-rooted love song in front of American network television.
7. Chronixx, “Likes” (2017)
Released on February 10, 2017, “Likes” was Chronixx stepping onto the dancehall floor with something to say. Self-produced and crisp, it blends reggae funk with trap, dancehall and EDM flavours.
The hook insists he makes music for love rather than likes, an early and pointed critique of chasing social media numbers.
He name-checks Rihanna’s “Work” and Drake’s “Controlla” while paying respect to King Jammy, Digital B and Sly & Robbie, which places him between the global pop moment and the producers who built the music.
Joachim Maquet shot the video in London, including scenes at Brixton Academy. The message has only become sharper with time.
8. Chronixx, “Capture Land” (2014)
If “Here Comes Trouble” was the knock at the door, “Capture Land” was the history lesson once he got inside.
It became one of the most widely received tracks on Dread & Terrible, and coverage of the EP’s chart run named it alongside the lead single.
That run was serious: by March 2015 the project had spent 42 consecutive weeks in the top ten of Billboard’s Top Reggae Albums chart.
The song speaks in the language of land, dispossession and righteousness that runs back through Burning Spear and the Wailers.
He delivers it with a young man’s fire rather than a lecturer’s tone. For many conscious selectors, this remains the deep cut that proves he was more than hooks.
9. Chronixx, “Roots & Chalice” (2016)
Not every Rasta tune has to be solemn. Released in February 2016, “Roots & Chalice” is a full-tilt Rastaman party, the kind of high-energy tune that turns a session into a celebration of livity, herb and fellowship.
It arrived in the gap between Dread & Terrible and Chronology, a period Chronixx himself has pointed to as a key phase in his journey.
On vinyl it was paired with “Out Deh”. Next to the reflective material that came before and after, it shows the joy at the centre of his faith.
The music is not only about what is wrong with Babylon. It is also about how good it feels when the chalice is lit and the bass is right.
10. Chronixx, “Ain’t No Giving In” (2012)
Go back to 2012 and you hear the blueprint. “Ain’t No Giving In”, voiced on the Tropical Escape riddim, comes from before the awards and the chart runs, when Chronixx was a promising youth trading 7″ sides with established stars.
One pressing paired it with Tarrus Riley’s “Gimme Likkle One Drop”, which says plenty about the company he was already keeping. The song is steady and determined, a quiet vow of perseverance that now sounds like a prophecy.
It has aged remarkably well and still ranks among his most-played tracks on Spotify. Longtime fans treat it as the moment the Revival found its frontline singer.
11. Chronixx feat. Chronicle, “Big Bad Sound” (2017)
Track two on Chronology is a family affair. On “Big Bad Sound”, Chronixx shares the mic with his father Chronicle over a self-produced rhythm that runs funky, with hints of dancehall and the sweetness of a classic one drop.
At just over five minutes, it gives both men space to stretch out, and the generational handoff is moving without ever feeling sentimental.
The AP’s review of the album singled out “the terrific ‘Big Bad Sound'”, and it is easy to hear why. It doubles as a tribute to sound system culture itself, the speaker boxes and dances that raised both father and son.
12. Chronixx, “Market” (2025)
After eight years without a full album of new material, Exile arrived in 2025 on Forever Living Originals, the label founded by producer Inflo. “Market” is its most grounded moment.
Over a chunky bassline and swirling horns, Chronixx narrates a trip to the local market and laments rising prices, the everyday economics every Jamaican household feels.
One reviewer heard Gil Scott-Heron meeting a rub-a-dub session, and that captures the spoken, jazzy edge of his delivery.
Exile divided critics, but it debuted at No. 5 on Billboard Reggae Albums and No. 15 on the UK Official Download Albums chart. “Market” has already become one of his most-streamed songs, proof that a patient audience was waiting.
Why Chronixx Still Matters
Line these songs up and you can hear one artist’s whole arc. There is the hungry 2012 youth on the Tropical Escape riddim, the Dread & Terrible run that held Billboard’s reggae top ten for most of a year, and Chronology, which topped the chart, earned a Grammy nomination and has since passed roughly 100,000 US equivalent units. Then came the long quiet, broken by Exile.
What ties it together is conviction. Chronixx brought Studio One warmth, sound system bravado and Rastafari consciousness to a generation raised on streaming, and he never sounded like a museum piece doing it.
A decade on, “Who Knows” is still picking up certifications and “Here Comes Trouble” still opens sessions. At 34, he remains the measuring stick for modern roots reggae.
