Alborosie Takes Over The Charts

The Italian-born, Jamaica-based reggae singer Alborosie has completely taken over the German reggae charts this week, occupying the top four spots with releases on his own label, Forward Recordings. It reminded me of when U Roy sparked the deejay craze in Jamaica in the early 70s and at one point was sitting pretty with the top three tunes, which is apt as the man himself features on Alborosie's Precious.

Obviously this is just one chart, and the artist is surely bigger in his native Europe than elsewhere in the world. Especially as a white rasta understandably both resonates with and stands out more for the largely white reggae/dancehall audiences of Italy, Germany, France et al more than in Jamaica. But still, Alborosie's come on big this year with a slew of self-produced releases - his excellent production is another factor in his success, and he was on the boards for Sizzla's incredible ska tune Live and Do Right a few years back.

To be honest I haven't been madly taken with him as a singer so far - the only tune of his I've bought is Nuh Betta Than Me, where he lays down some cool foundation dancehall pattern and flow with a clever rhyming scheme and the added bonus of a Sizzla collaboration (Meditation) on the flip. Anyway, here's a short mix and blend of the four releases (five tunes) featured in the German charts this week - Nuh Betta Than Me/Meditation, Precious, Police-Polizia and Sound Killa:

Alborosie - Megamix

Sorry for the low quality mp3s, just put this together quickly with some clips from online record shops to give a flavour of the guy's style - you should be able to buy these records from any reggae shop that hasn't already sold out, or listen to them on the artist's MySpace page. You might also want to check out the video for Kingston Town, Alborosie's breakthrough hit from earlier this year.

Posted by Gabriel Heatwave | Tuesday 27 November 2007