August 2026

The most telling detail from this year’s MTV VMA nominations is not who showed up, but what disappeared.

Few genres have mapped the terrain of romance as faithfully as reggae. From the sun-soaked studios of Kingston in the late 1960s to the lovers rock clubs of London in the 1980s and the digital dancehalls of today, the best reggae love songs have carried declarations of devotion across language barriers, generations, and continents.

Reggae is one of the most globally influential genres ever born from a single island. For a small Caribbean island, Jamaica has had an extraordinary influence on music.

When the question is who made dancehall a global phenomenon in the 21st century, the answer starts and ends with Sean Paul.

50 Cent turned a soul battle into a full-scale event when he made a surprise appearance at the Joe versus Donell Jones Verzuz in Los Angeles, performing the Power theme alongside Big Rich Town and sending the crowd into a frenzy that nearly drowned out the music itself.

Blvk H3ro just put out a new single called “Body to Body,” and the way he announced it says almost as much as the song itself.

Leave it to Dexta Daps to hype a London show with a warning instead of a flex.

Julian Marley is clearly hyped about this one. He just announced that “Skank Rock Reggae” drops tomorrow, and the way he’s talking about it “I’m excited for you guys to finally hear this one!”

Forty million streams for an album that isn’t even out yet that’s the kind of pre-release momentum that turns heads.

Sean Paul is back with the official music video for “Stand On Business,” and the choice of riddim here is what makes it worth paying attention to.