With 78 days left before the end of the year, the race is on for who will gain top honours as the premiere performers in reggae and dancehall music. Today, we focus on the main contenders in the Deejay of the Year category.
"Right now, Kartel ah lead over Elephant Man and Beenie Man because him have more hit songs, but all three have two big number one songs based on my chart so it still up in the air, but we still have two and a half months to go so it is anybody's game," Stampede Lammie, creator of the Stampede Street Charts, told one876entertainment.com.
"Mavado is in the singer category not the DJ category and nobody caan stand beside him, Vado is #1, the only other nominee close enough is Terry Linen who has my vote for best comeback artiste of the year."
Vybz Kartel is the clear front-runner this year as he has enjoyed a brilliant if controversial year clocking three number one singles, Trailer Load a Money, Nah Go Nowhere, and Money Fi Spend on the Jamaica Music Countdown charts. Other standout singles such as Million By a Morning and Life Sweet show how much the deejay has evolved into the dominant force in dancehall. The deejay has made the cover of major publications several times underlining his mass market appeal and his ability to move newspapers. He made the front page of the Jamaica Observer when news of his divorce broke, he made the cover of the STAR at least four times and the XNews at least two times. He even made the front page of the Sunday Herald once when the story broke about the photos with he and Aidonia posing with the fake guns while backstage at a concert in a Caribbean island. Plus, he has jumpstarted two corporate ventures this year, Vybz Rum and Daggering Condoms, showing that he is not just a hit-maker but a smart entrepreneur as well.
Beenie Man is always in the running and even though he has not had a breakout year, he has remained consistent, hitting the pole position of all major charts with the songs, Gimme Lickle and Wine Gal. He has had a tumultuous year as well with his court cases becoming regular fodder for gossip mags and entertainment websites all over the world. He has disposed of one major distraction, the tax evasion case, so now he can concentrate on finishing the year off strongly and word is he is got a few songs that are already picking up steam.
Elephant Man, whose career was in the doldrums for the past two years, is now back with a bang. Buoyed by the international attention given to dances coming out of Jamaica after the record-breaking victories (and dances) of Usain Bolt at the Summer Olympics, Elephant Man is again in the ascendancy as the 'dance king' of Jamaica. His singles Gully Creeper and Nuh Linger have both hit number one, and his follow-up song, Sweep, which features Usain Bolt in the video is already a clear favourite among teenage dancehall fans.
Mavado, who some industry insiders argue is a singjay, is one of the leading candidates for artiste of the year, but is not in the running for the deejay of the year title, but will get special mention in this article based on his sterling performances, scoring two major number one dancehall singles with On the Rock and So Special.
Busy Signal is in with a legitimate shot but he has not had a breakout year in 2008 to follow up on his successes of 2007, but his Loaded album is one of the best dancehall albums released this year.
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