The Best Reggae EP's of 2010

Let’s consider this reason #4,876,876 why you should be embracing the digital market for Reggae music these days - The vast number of EP’s it can produce and just how quickly it can do it. There’re many reasons why companies and artists, presumably, release extended plays. Be it just to keep an artist’s name ‘out there’ or maybe even to INTRODUCE an artist or just to prepare the masses for the eventual album release and you know what? I REALLY like the idea. Of course I love all things album, but this has to be the next best thing in my opinion. 2010, like 2009 before it, saw an expanded attention paid to digitally released EP’s and, in terms of numbers, there were probably more in 2010 than in all of the other years combined to date. With (even almost certainly completely inaccurate) statistics like that, it gets well crowded in that market. SO! In order to narrow things down for your potential purchasing prospects, I submit for your approval, The Best Reggae EP’s of 2010.

{Note: I consider an EP a release which has more than one, but less than ten actual different songs (remixes not included)}
{Note 2: For the sake of this review I’ve chosen only to focus on EP’s which feature one starring artist instead of compilation/riddim releases}
{Note 3: I’ve also chosen to disqualify releases which would lead to an already planned album, such as the releases from VP}
{Note 4: Dancehall - Yes. Soca - No}

#10. “Roadhog” by Influential [Sons of Spoon Music/Zojak Worldwide]

“Roadhog nearly kill me!” Checking in at number ten on this list is a release which, although it didn’t get a great deal of attention (any), was well solid and, so much so, that I’m probably underrating it here actually. Influential is an artist who, while still in the process of building his name, has already acquired a pretty significant hit in the title track of this EP from Sons of Spoon, ”Roadhog”. That tune did wonders for Influential’s career and certainly opened up quite a few doors (such as the one leading to this EP, surely). It wasn’t the only big tune here, however, as it was joined by seven others which were highlighted by STRONG pieces such as ‘Principle’, ‘Behaviour‘, ‘Prayer For Mama’ and the all too personal tune, ‘Cancer’.

#9. “Life” by Zamunda [Fearless Sound System]

Zamunda, the wonderful young singer from out of St. Ann (!) may just have more untapped potential than any other artist on this list and Fearless Sound (which I believe is his homebase label) offered up a decent taste of that label with ”Life”, Zamunda’s debut five track EP. This release, unsurprisingly, kind of went under the radars of most (probably because it lacked ‘Jah Surround Me’), but for those of us fortunate enough to have caught on - What we got was five very strong pieces, including one hit, ‘9 To 5’ from this excellent young artist who’ll definitely be popping up on scopes in 2011 and beyond.

#7. “Same Difference” by Ziggi Recado [Rock ‘N Vibes]

Perhaps it’s a testament to just how strong this artist is (or maybe I’m just underrating it) that I didn’t particularly rate too highlight ”Same Difference”, the EP of one of my absolute favourite artist’s, Ziggi, now renamed Ziggi Recado (and, formally (I THINK), for the first time on this release), for most of the year and it still isn’t that great to my ears, but you see it’s still made this list. So-so Ziggi is still a pretty big and the artist here was more than so-so. There were six tunes on ”Same Difference”, including one already certified big tune, ‘Ganja Smoke In The Air’ [bka ‘Joka Smoka’] and one which would go on to receive a bit of promotion, including a video, ‘Baddest’ (both produced by Curtis Lynch Jr. and company at Necessary Mayhem). Also here was a combination featuring the legendary Marcia Griffiths. It’s still not my favourite, but it was hot enough to secure a spot here and hopefully when it comes to Album of The Year 2011, we’re talking Recado’s name again.

#6. “Zebi-Lion EP” [Andrew Bassie Records/Zojak Worldwide]

Who??? However many months later now (it’s been like five apparently) and I still don’t know too much about Zebi-Lion. I haven’t heard much of his music spinning and I probably haven’t heard a new tune, at all, from since he dropped this very modest looking EP through Andrew ‘Bassie’ Campbell. And you know what? Chances are fairly good that if you were to ask me about him five more months from now, things probably won’t have changed too much then either. AND, on top of my ignorance on the Grenada born chanter, his release was only three tunes . . . So why is it even on the list? Well, as it turns out, EVERY song on the piece was excellent - ALL THREE OF THEM. From the twisting old school style of ‘Babylonian Inna Problem’, to the COOL and upful nature of ‘Messages’ and the big sound of ‘More Love’, this one proved to be a total winner, full on.

#6. “How We Ride” by Erup [Truckback Records/Zojak Worldwide]

If it weren’t for the fact that, even when it dropped, ”How We Ride” from Erup and the nice people at Truckback (hey Heather!), was already dated, it’d make a pretty convincing surface argument to not only be on the top half of this list, but the top half of the top half of this list as well. Erup is a big artist and this time a year or so ago, his popularity was at its peak (speaking thus far, I fully expect him to turn it up a notch, from there, sometime in the next couple of years or so) and he was dropping big tunes on top of big tunes (most of which were for Truckback, incidentally). So, in this set, a few of them are included such as, of course, ‘Click Mi Finger’, ‘Roll Serious’ (here called ‘Ignorancy’) and ‘Mek Noise’. Also here were combinations with both Anthony B and Nature in an excellent form and then FOUR remixes of the biggest tune on the release.

#5. “If I Ever” by Wayne Wonder [Singso Records/Zojak Worldwide]

Still one of the most talented singers the Dancehall has ever seen, and probably one of the most popular as well, Wayne Wonder recently pushed a pretty unexpected EP release, ”If I Ever” from his own Singso Records imprint. What was unexpected was that he was actually doing such a thing, what most certainly was not unexpected was the fact that it was outstanding. Wonder is a very unusual artist because, after going through the ‘No Letting Go’ days, obviously it gave him a career boost, but it also seemed to make him BETTER. So not only are people like you and me (and who knows who else around the world) checking more and more for his output, what he is doing is arguably (consistently) as good as it’s ever been for him as a solo artist. This project featured four of his better tunes of the past couple of years from a variety of production sources, the title track, ‘All About You’, ‘I’ll Never Leave’ and ‘Don’t Say No’. If you got on at ‘No Letting Go’ and still haven’t let go (did you see that ???), you’ll like this stuff . If you got on a million years ago at ‘Saddest Day’ - Guess what - You’ll still like this stuff.

#4. “My Life” by I-Octane [Tad’s Records/Zojak Worldwide]

Probably the biggest personal disappointment for me in 2010 in terms of albums is (Lady Sweety’s vanishing act) the fact that the MUCH anticipated debut studio album from the SENSATIONAL I-Octane didn’t actual materialize and now, I’m probably even less hopeful for next year than I was for this one at the end of 2009. Officially speaking, however, the ‘closest’ I-Octane has gotten to releasing an album as far as something which does actually exist is ”My Life” which was the most stacked of a number (a billion) of EP’s/digital singles that he’s released over the past couple of years or so. Just about all of Octane’s music resonates with me, so while I could give you the track-by-track here, let’s just say that I liked all of it. The only problem was that it was a bit dated also, but even with that I think I’m probably still keeping a bit low, because it excellent.

#3. “I’m Drinking/Rum & Red Bull” by Beenie Man [Tad’s Records/Zojak Worldwide]

Just in case you thought he was finished, my choice as the Dancehall’s most talented artist of all time, Beenie Man, made a pretty big statement in 2010 via having arguably his best year in a while. Still, he didn’t manage to deliver his first LP since ”Undisputed”, but that release doesn’t figure to be far off. Still, in the meantime, he linked together a lot of BIG singles this year, several of which were corralled by Tad’s Records and put together on an EP named after two of his biggest in the calendar year. Besides those two, also on board were the DOMINANT ‘I’m Okay’ is also here as are a few top tunes from 2009, as ‘The Doctor’ continues to work on showcasing the longest PRIME years the Dancehall has ever seen.

#2. “Africa Is Our Home” by Jah Turban [S.J.P. Records]

You’ll notice that the top two entrants on this list are from artists who are largely unknowns in the Reggae world (around here, however, they’re really popular because I write about them alllllllll the time) and don’t have full LP’s to their credit as of yet, so I feel that they’ve gone about placing their absolute best foot forward on these releases. The first of the two is Jah Turban whose “Africa Is Our Home” just recently was pushed by SJP Records who, like the hotbed of Turban’s career seemingly, is based in Denmark. Despite the rather obscure origins of the music makers, however, the sounds they’ve come up to combine with Turban are as familiar as the origins of the artist, himself and because of that, this EP is a straight forward WINNER! Of the six tunes, there’re some which stick out as better than some of the others (my favourite now is probably ‘Move Vampire’, but all are AT LEAST very good and, all around, you simply cannot help but be impressed. Largely because of this work here, I’m placing Jah Turban alongside others such as Jah Marnyah and the next artist on this list who’re Caribbean born artists doing most of their work abroad and are theoretically prepared to carry the mantle of Naptali in 2010 and set FLAMES to the world with album releases in 2011.

#1. “Lively Road” by Smiley [Love & Unity Music]

And finally - Taking top honours for Best Reggae EP of 2010 is an artist I’d hoped would be making an appearance on ‘Album of The Year’ when the year began, outstanding Aruba born Dutchie, Smiley. This one is so good that it’s almost frustrating that he couldn’t . . . You know . . . Add like five or six tunes to the seven here and just run out a full album and should he do just that next year, you’ll probably see me write the review using words like “dated” as my critiques. This year, however, we can call it RIGHT ON TIME that ”Lively Road” included some of the biggest tunes Smiley is known for a single release. The title track (which was Smiley’s cut of Rootdown Records’ infectious Ska vibed Kokoo Riddim), ‘Distance’ which was not only sublime but also spawned the best video that I saw in 2010 (which is also included on the disc for this release) and ‘Dem A Wonder’ alongside Junior Kelly (video also on disc), which was Smiley’s first big tune to my knowledge, are all here. Also there’s ‘Big Money Bag’, the nearly HUGE ‘Dissaray’, ‘Miss Sassy’ and ‘Da Weed’ - All potential newer favourites as well. Put it altogether and you have a dynamic release which is also THE Best EP of 2010.

{Note: This isn’t #1 on this list because I have my own autographed copy . . . But that is cool!}