Cutty Ranks didn’t drop his Beres Hammond collaboration quietly. He took it straight to BBC 1Xtra and sat down with David Rodigan to play “Way to Go,” the new single from his album Blacklist.
The deejay shared the moment on Instagram. Deh a the big station @bbc1xtra with the man @davidramjamrodigan a vibe to the new @bereshammond & #cuttyranks song,” he wrote, confirming the track is out now on all digital platforms.
On paper, this pairing makes a lot of sense. Cutty Ranks built his name on a gruff, rapid-fire delivery that powered dancehall staples like “The Stopper” and “Limb by Limb.”
Beres Hammond is one of reggae’s most trusted voices, the lovers rock singer behind “Tempted to Touch” and “Rockaway.
Grit next to velvet is an old formula in Jamaican music, and it usually works best when both artists are this established. Neither has anything to prove.
That tends to make a collaboration feel less like a bid for attention and more like two veterans enjoying the room.
The choice of where to debut it matters too. Rodigan has spent decades championing Jamaican music on British airwaves, and getting a track in front of him carries real weight with the UK’s reggae audience.
Cutty’s music has deep roots in the UK, where “Limb by Limb” became a fixture of the jungle scene through countless remixes and samples.
Cutty also shouted out two names in the post: @garrisonent and @frenchie_maximumsound. Frenchie and his Maximum Sound operation are known in the UK reggae world for producing and releasing work by Jamaican artists.
The credit hints at a London connection behind the project, though Cutty didn’t spell out who did what on the album.
There’s another angle worth watching, and that’s the album title. Blacklist is a loaded word to hang over a record.
Cutty offered no explanation for it in the post, which leaves listeners to work out what he’s getting at once they’ve heard the full project.
So far, Cutty’s own post is the only official word on the release. He hasn’t shared a tracklist, other guest features, or any plans for videos or live dates. “Way to Go” is the first real look at what Blacklist sounds like.
For longtime fans, any new music from Cutty Ranks with Beres Hammond on the hook is reason enough to press play.
For younger listeners who know Cutty mostly through jungle samples, this could be a chance to hear him in a straight reggae setting next to one of the genre’s great singers.
Whether “Way to Go” ends up as a one-off highlight or the opening move of a bigger rollout is still unclear.
With Rodigan already spinning it, the next step is seeing how far the track travels on other UK and Jamaican radio shows.
