Once again, we’ve invited our good friends (and OG LargeUp columnists!) from London sound crew The Heatwave, Gabriel and Benjamin D., to share their playlist for Notting Hill Carnival.
This playlist is filled with enough massive dancehall tunes to get your hand stuck in permanent gun-finger salute position.
Here is Benjamin D. to break down The Heatwave’s Notting Hill Hitlist, and tell us why these will be the tunes running road come Bank Holiday Sunday and Monday.
The biggest dancehall tune in the world right now.
One of a handful of brilliant tunes Poppy dropped at the start of the year, and it is still building heat.
The Heatwave ft Stylo G – Closer To Me
Our collab with Stylo is ready to do some damage on the dancehall soundsystems this year.
The teacher continues to dominate dancefloors both sides of the Atlantic with this aquatic masterpiece.
Not one to be outdone, Kartel’s long time collaborator Spice returns fire with this brilliant counteraction.
HoodCelebrityy – Walking Trophy
A real viral hit, this song is absolutely inescapable in London, Kingston and New York right now.
Casual piece of songwriting genius from Kartel over a great Dre Skull riddim.
Certainly the most relevant and lyrically profound song on the Notting Hill circuit this year.
Hugely popular reality tune from Busy. Opening line gets a massive reaction.
Popcaan – Bullet Proof
Must win the award for the most romantic sounding gun-tune ever.
Rising UK dancehall star Alicai has delivered her best song yet with this retro sounding dancehall banger.
Dancehall with a heartfelt sufferers message from the hottest artist on the streets of Jamaica.
Late addition to the list, but had to get on there, instantly catchy and heavyweight riddim.
Lyrically this tune displays more skill than the whole French World Cup football squad combined.
Tosh Alexander feat. Miss Kitty – Bubble
Massive tune: ear catching riddim, sick vocals, brilliant adlibs and intro.
This only just registered in time for Carnival last year, should have a much better run this time around.
Love song in a futuristic reggae style. One of our favourites from Protoje so far.
If all the Spice MP3s suddenly disappeared in a puff of smoke the whole of carnival would grind to a halt.
Another wicked piece of UK dancehall from London’s rising star.
Shenseea and Konshens – Hard Drive
Great combination over a typically speaker-shattering Rvssian production.