Next from the Gully: Chase Cross a.k.a. The First Jamaican Rapper

I have to admit that I´ve been quite bored by contemporary Jamaican music lately. I just couldn´t feel most of the productions and if it was only for the fact that they couldn´t live up to the mastering standards that other “global bass”, dubstep or whatever electronic music releases I listen to have.

Guess one of the reasons for the poor sound is that 99% of the dancehall stuff that lands on my hard drive comes from non-official sources – but then Jamaican artists, producer, labels etc. still just haven´t found a way to provide properly mixed versions of their new releases on the web without me having to wait for the next “biggest ragga dancehall” compilations coming out at the end of the year…

Anyway, and that´s why I´m actually writing this, I´m happy that Boomshots.com introduced me to Chase Cross – an upcoming artist from the Cassava Piece area who I even feel watching a poor sounding Youtube freestyle session. His tunes (personal favourites: “Better Days” & “Survivor”) just have a vibe. A vibe which I haven´t felt since ever I heard Mavado first. Chase´s got a decent voice, he can sing and he´s standing out from the crowd by delivering his lyrics the rap and not the deejay way.

See Cross performing alongside Mavado earlier this year in Zurich, Switzerland, here.

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