5. Jesse Royal – “Wadada/ Modern Day Judas”
If Chronixx was reggae’s breakout artist for 2013, his friend Jesse Royal looks well positioned to attain that status for 2014. The singer, a discovery of the late Phillip “Fattis” Burrell, dropped several big anthems in 2013, in addition to his mixtape, In Comes the Small Axe. Most notable were “Wadada,” a big anthem produced by female beatmaker The Wizard (a/k/a Beres Hammond’s daughter Natassja) with a big ’80s dubwise sound, and the Winta Gordon-produced “Modern Day Judas,” a track sure to only get bigger thanks to its sharp new video. For more on the artist and his outlook, read Chenee Daley’s LargeUp interview with Jesse here.—Jesse Serwer