Dancehall heavyweight Sean Paul believes that musical “top striker” Masicka is leading the current wave of talents moving the genre forward.
Sean Paul shared his views during a question-and-answer with Billboard. The artiste was asked, “Who from the younger generation do you think is leading dancehall right now.”
“Definitely Masicka. I’ve been supporting his career for a long time. He just reminds me of freshness. Every time that you hear a song from him, you [can] tell that he put[s] a lot into the wordplay,” he said, adding, “That’s very commendable as a younger artiste.“
Dutty Paul, a winner at the recently concluded Latin American Music Award, also named Skeng and Skillibeng among the new generation artistes making waves in the genre.
“I like Skeng, I think his voice is awesome. I would like to hear some different topics from him, but still love the voice, love the vibe, it’s the right energy. I know I wasn’t around when rock’n’roll started, but the raw energy that I feel when I listened to the early rock’n’roll — Chuck Berry and all of that – it’s the same feeling I get [with these younger dancehall artistes]. It’s not overproduced at all. Big up to the younger dancehall artistes. Skillibeng doing his thing.”
The Grammy winner also commended Popcaan‘s impact on the music’s reach and audience pull.
“Big up to Popcaan. He’s a little older generation than them, but [he’s] somebody who still is making music that is making an impact here for me.”
Sean Paul is currently gearing up to kick off his 22-date U.S. leg of his “Greatest” tour on May 2, at House of Blues in Orlando, Florida, which will be his longest single tour run in the states in over a decade, as per Billboard.