Toppa Top 10: The Best Caribbean Albums of 2012

Words by LargeUp Crew—

For the rest of this week and into the next one, we’ll be bringing you Toppa Top 10 best-of lists covering a variety of categories. After kicking things off with the year’s best Caribbean mixtapes, today we’re running down the best proper albums to come from the region this year.

In contrast to last year’s diverse offerings, the best releases this year came largely from the world of Jamaican reggae, specifically from some of its most familiar names. Most notably, a pair of contemporary dancehall’s biggest stars went back to the island’s roots with top-notch throwback reggae efforts, while two of reggae’s elder statesmen returned to top form this year with their best albums in decades. Scroll through for the full rundown.

10. Konshens, Mental Maintenance

Other dancehall artists had bigger moments than Konshens in 2012 but a year is a marathon—not a sprint—and Konshens definitely had the most consistent impact of any artist over the last 365 days. Besides scoring some of the year’s biggest hits, in February the artist also released his first proper full-length album in the US. The eclectic Mental Maintenance wasn’t the most cohesive dancehall album released this year, but it had too many big tunes—like “Do Sum’n” and the all-star remix to his “Rasta Imposter”—to notice.

9. Don Omar, MT02: New Generation

We’re not just about reggae here at LargeUp, we also give reggaetoneros their props when it’s due. Formerly one of the giants of that genre, Don Omar has wisely expanded his sound over the years and his latest album, MTO2: New Generation, was his most universal release yet. While the album features a number of tunes with pan-Caribbean appeal, we’re partial to”Dutty Love” featuring Nati Natasha (a new female artist signed to Omar’s Orfanato Music Group) with its steelpan-meets-reggae vibes the single.

8. Machel Montano, Double M

Every time you think Machel Montano has reached his peak, the world’s biggest soca star ones up himself. At this year’s Trinidad & Tobago Carnival Montano won both the Power Soca Monarch and Groovy Soca Monarch titles with “Pump Yuh Flag” and “Mr. Fete,” respectively, and took home T&T’s Road March title as well. Those weren’t the only hits he released for this year’s Carnival season, and “Bottle of Rum” and “Vibes Cyah Done.” Double M, a double-disc affair released as two separate CDs (Buy/sample disc one here, and disc two here) in March, collected them all.

7. Prince Fatty Presents Hollie Cook In Dub

Last year’s LargeUp album of the year, Hollie Cook’s self-titled debut, got remixed in a dub style by the album’s producer, Prince Fatty, and the results were…wicked! A handful of bonus cuts not on the original album like Cook’s version of the Whispers’ rollerrink classic “And the Beat Goes On” made Prince Fatty Presents Hollie Cook In Dub even sweeter.

6. Romain Virgo, The System

Romain Virgo made his name on Digicel Rising Stars, Jamaica’s answer to American Idol, but on his second album, The System, the singer showed his depth, proving he’s far from a TV-generated flash in the pan.

5. Twin Shadow, Confess

As weird as it is accessible, Twin Shadow’s Confess feels like a soundtrack to a lost ’80s cult teen movie we wished we could see. One of our favorite rock albums of 2012, it doesn’t have the most obvious of connections to the Caribbean but a quick background check reveals the enigmatic artist behind the Twin Shadow moniker, George Lewis, Jr., is Dominican. And we’re not mad at the steelpan on Confess‘ “Golden Light,” either: It might be the best use of the Trini-born instrument (or at least a synthesized version of it) we’ve heard all year.

4. Jimmy Cliff, Rebirth

Teaming with producer Tim Armstrong of punk rock band Rancid proved to be a savvy first post-Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction move for Jimmy Cliff. Cliff and Armstrong’s partnership on Rebirth resulted in the freshest-sounding and most relevant release from the reggae elder statesman in decades.

3. Busy Signal, Reggae Music Again

Over the last seven years, Busy Signal has shown that he’s not just one of dancehall’s most talented deejays lyrically, he’s also its most experimental. On Reggae Music Again, Busy’s experiment was deejaying an entire album of reggae rhythms, and he pulled it off swimmingly. In almost any of the last few years, Busy Signal’s Reggae Music Again would have been a shoe-in for the year’s best reggae album but as it turned out a few other folks from the dancehall fraternity had something similar in mind…

2. Mr. Vegas, Sweet Jamaica

Despite a deep catalog of hits that overshadows most any other dancehall artist in the last 15 years, Mr. Vegas has never really gotten as much respect as an artist as he deserves. There was something missing in his legacy, namely a great album people could point to as a testament to his talent. This year, however, Vegas solidified his place among reggae’s great acts with an album that captured the spirit of Jamaica’s 50th anniversary celebration better than any other recording. His Sweet Jamaica contained an entire disc of new dancehall material including the recent hits “Bruk it Down” and “Party Tun Up,” but the release was all about the other disc, a collection of Jamaican music standards—vintage reggae, ska, festival songs—updated to the times by a pitch-perfect Vegas.

1. Beres Hammond, One Love, One Life

For most of the year we didn’t think anyone would top Vegas’ Sweet Jamaica as far as reggae albums go. But then Beres Hammond showed up with one of the most powerful statements of his four-decades-long career. We knew something big was coming—we’d heard rumblings that Beres had something big in store from people including our own Martei Korley, who shot the album’s cover—but still we weren’t prepared for such a flawless statement as One Love, One Life when it arrived in November. From its opening track “No Candle Light,” the double-pronged LP is vintage Beres—except when it’s not. The singer’s first-ever stabs at ska, “Can’t Waste No Time” and “Don’t You Feel Like Dancing” are two of the LP’s best tracks and some of the best ska tunes made in the modern era.