Jesse Royal
We rated Jesse Royal as our top artist to watch in 2014 with good reason — he’s one of the key players in Jamaican music’s current reggae revival, along with Chronixx, Protoje, Kabaka Pyramid and others. With big tunes in 2013 like The Wizard-produced “Wadada” and the one-drop anthem “Modern Day Judas,” the mixtape In Comes the Small Axe, and some very well-received live performances in Jamaica, we foresee this being an even better year for the 24-year-old singer. For all these reasons and more we’ve tapped him for the first ever SXSW LargeUp x Rice & Peas showcase at Empire Patio. If you can’t catch him with us, you get another chance at night with our bashment friends The Heatwave, at 512 Bar at 9pm.—Kieran Meadows