Words by DJ Arems
For the final Mixtape Mondays of 2015, we round out the year with a couple of best-of mixes including a world premiere from VP Records and the Platinum Kids plus brand new heat out of Australia as well as a new mix from yours truly, rounding up the year’s toppa top dancehall riddims. Check out all of the straight fiyah to keep you warm well into the New Year.
LargeUp Premiere: VP Records & Platinum Kids, Strictly The Best Volume 52 and 53 Mixtape: VP Records has been releasing their Strictly The Best compilations for decades and they always do an excellent job of summing up the year’s big reggae and dancehall chunes. Here, we find the Platinum Kids running down Volumes 52 and 53 in a mixtape that isn’t always mixed, but instead expertly hosted and well put together. A few stand out tracks for me included Eddie Murphy with Beenie Man on “Wonna Deez Nights” in the reggae section, and Patoranking‘s afrobeats track “My Woman” featuring Wande Coal in the dancehall section.Where most mixtapes may have you wondering exactly what you’re listening to, the Platinum Kids make sure you know what’s what, providing a reggae and dancehall mix that every fan of the music will enjoy.
DJ S-Man – Chief Rockers Sound, Dancehall Volume 1 2015: Australia’s Chief Rockers Sound provides us with a brand-new mixtape featuring some of the latest chunes to drop as well as some of the biggest riddims from this past year. Sprinkled with dubplates and non stop hits, S-Man gives us a mix that runs down the year 2015 very well plus gives us a glimpse into what’s hitting in Oz right now. Dancehall runs the world, and S-Man shows us that even down under they stay pon toppa tings.
DJ Arems, Large Up’s Toppa Top Dancehall Riddims of 2015: As the end of the year rolls around you can be sure that we at Large Up have you covered with everything BIG that went down in the world of Caribbean Music for 2015. If you haven’t by now seen all of the countdowns we’ve provided for you, I suggest you look around the site a little, starting with the Top 10 Riddims of the Year as counted down by the Faction Sound Crew. In case you missed it, I mixed down all of my favorite tracks from this year’s winners so you can enjoy all of the heat in one pure fiyah mix. Stream and download below!