Every week, a different FADER editor compiles a playlist to highlight a new release and give you a guide to that artist’s web of influences and peers. These Staff Selects live in our Spotify app, alongside GEN Fs from our archives and playlists for each issue. This week, it’s Naomi Zeichner on rap reggae.
Though Kanye West said Yeezus would blend drill and house, he might have also boasted that four of its ten tracks tie themselves directly to dancehall. "This one kinda gully too," I tapped on my phone notes at the album's assaultively-loud listening party in New York, giddy even before Beenie Man popped up on "Send It Up," which magically bounces through all its screech and blare. Kanye brought reggae samples back to rap radio last summer with "Mercy" (and played with them on 2007's "Good Night" and Jay-Z's "Lucifer"), but in New York it seems they've always been there, with dancehall imports dolloped into drive time mixes, highlighted in niche shows and woven into plain old rap songs. Here’s a cookout-ready playlist, with Kanye dancehall moments, classic New York rap reggae cuts and "One Blood." Pay special attention to "Bonnie & Shyne," the tender third single from Shyne's debut, and a duo of tracks from adventurous pop's other reggae champion, Nicki Minaj.
