DESPITE a continued slump in popularity overseas, music distributor Tad Dawkins says hardcore dancehall had the better of traditional reggae in terms of sales and appeal in 2014.
Top: Demarco
Bottom: Alkaline
Dawkins, head of Tad’s International Record, declared in an interview with the Jamaica Observer that: “The dancehall scene is in a lull, the one drop reggae is making a bid to top the genre, but sales abroad and iTunes show dancehall outselling reggae by at least 10 to 1. The radio stations locally and overseas are responsible for that, they play mostly dancehall,” he said.
According to Dawkins, imprisoned deejay Vybz Kartel “is still the number one seller”, followed by deejay Alkaline and singjay Demarco.
Alkaline and Kartel dominate the latest edition of The Ultimate, a 23-track compilation recently by Tad’s. It includes seven songs from Alkaline including the hits Move Mountains and Wul de Claffy Dem.
Kartel, who is serving a life sentence for murder, has four tracks on the set.
The company has another compilation on the market, Reggae Jammin, geared at fans of lovers rock and roots-reggae. It contains 18 songs including the hit songs Wake Up by Jah Cure and I-Octane’s What About the Poor.
Dawkins is best known for producing hits by traditional reggae singers such as Dennis Brown, Gregory Isaacs and Johnny Osbourne. His company, which has offices in South Florida, Kingston and Montego Bay, released albums by I-Octane (My Journey) and singer Hezron (The Life I Live) this year.
– Howard Campbell
