Words by Sherman Escoffery—

Less than ten days after being released from prison in the US, dancehall star Busy Signal has returned to Jamaica and asserted his presence with “Come Shock Out,” a real uptempo feelgood song that pays tribute to 80’s sound system deejays, and a time when it was just one turntable playing in the dance. Shouting out his peers and his elders alike, Busy channels the sound of some of dancehall’s greatest rhythm riders from the 80’s, including the late Early B, Lord Sassafrass, Burru Banton, General Trees and even Sancho, as producer Shane Brown plays bits and pieces of Dennis Brown’s “Revolution” bass line—and which Busy Signal rides like a professional disc jockey in the Jamaican sense of the word.