Kingston Story

Portmore’s finest dancehall chanter, Vybz Kartel, has produced some of the most authentically vibrant, sometimes dangerous-sounding music to emerge from the mainstream of Jamaican dancehall in some time. Kingston Story represents something of a stylistic departure for Kartel. Where his previous full-lengths have been compiled from an eclectic hodge-podge of dancehall-proven singles, Kingston Story is a concerted collaboration with a single producer, Dre Skull, who’s famous for dabbling in everything from indie-electro to hip-hop to hardcore dancehall. Consequently, Kingston Story boasts a more consistent sound than any of Kartel’s previous albums, but it’s also miles removed from the gritty, lo-fi riddims over which Kartel made his name. Yet he certainly sounds good paired with Dre Skull’s glossy, electro-flecked dancehall. Singles like “Yuh Love” and “Go Go Wine” have all of the openhearted crossover appeal of Kartel’s earlier concessions to the pop market, like 2011’s breezy anthem “Summertime.”