Words by Jesse Serwer—

The biggest complaint we’ve heard about dancehall in recent years is that there’s no substance to back up all of the hype. Finally, the hype in dancehall seems to be coalescing around some real substance: the talents of Busy Signal. Busy has been our consensus choice for Jamaica’s most consistent and talented deejay essentially since he first bruk out in 2005 but, unlike Vybz Kartel, Mavado and even Popcaan and Tommy Lee, he’s never had that moment that truly belonged to him alone. As we start off 2013, it’s starting to look like that moment might be now, though. Though it’s a shame what it took to put this ascension in motion, we’re glad to see it finally happening.