VP's annual Ragga Ragga Ragga series always offers high-grade reggae and vital dancehall hits, but some volumes go above and beyond. This 2014 edition gets extra credit for excellent sequencing, kicking off with
Don Husky's soul-baring sufferers song "On and On" and slowly rolling up to
Vybz Kartel and his laid-back strip-club track "Punany a Mi Best Friend."
Spice follows in the footsteps of
Lady Saw with her sexy R&B siren song "So Mi Like It," and the tempo is as cool as the sentiment is hot, adding to the large pile of midtempo numbers that make this one of the most even-keeled Ragga Ragga Raggas to date. It takes the "Energy God"
Elephant Man to kick things up with his ridiculously busy, ridiculously fun "All the Way," while previously hyper folk like
Busy Signal and
Bugle offer a cloud-rap sex track and some EDM-flavored reggae-pop, respectively. Those who don't go for chaos will find dancehall nice again on Ragga Ragga Ragga 2014, an awesome overview that also plays like a structured album. ~ David Jeffries