Words by Jesse Serwer, Sherman Escoffery and Edwin STATS Houghton—
Dancehall has always been, and always will be, a singles genre. Over the last two decades, only a handful of dancehall artists have opted to transcend the usual hits-and-filler format, and create proper albums in the rock-and-roll sense of the word. Originally released last year in digital-only format, Vybz Kartel’s Kingston Story was one such release: across 14 tracks made entirely with American producer Dre Skull, the Werl’ Boss crafted a hypnotic, cohesive LP worthy of being heard from front to back, over and over. While the album didn’t make the splash commercially one might have expected, it’s getting a second chance in the form of a Deluxe Edition re-issue out on U.S. label Vice Records this week. With that in mind, here’s nine more dancehall albums from the last 20 years/post-digital era that we still play all the way through.