BABYLON BURNING with Jesse I
106.7 PBS-FM > Melbourne, Australia
Saturday 3rd January, 2026

Starting the program with the usual vintage classics, before running through the biggest and best dancehall songs of 2025.

I don’t think there’s ever been a bigger gulf between reggae and dancehall than there has been in recent years, and I really don’t play much new dancehall on the program at all these days. I do still listen to everything that comes out, and there are still plenty of tunes that I love, but I don’t feel much desire to play a lot of the new dancehall on air generally. That said, people always ask me for my take on dancehall every year, and I do enjoy looking back at what made waves in dancehall – not just in Jamaica, but here in Melbourne and also for me personally. I normally avoid playing excessively violent or sexually explicit songs on air – and I have found it particularly hard to enjoy songs about killing and murder in the last couple years while the world is witnessing multiple genocides – but there is no filter for today’s program, and it comes with a strong explicit lyrics warning.

Vybz Kartel is still the undisputed king of the dancehall, and after being released from prison in 2024, he made the most of 2025 as a free man. Though I rate him as the greatest dancehall artist of all time, I have to say I was pretty underwhelmed by most of his new music in 2025, and it was interesting to see that one of his biggest hits for the year (“God Is The Greatest”) was actually a reissue of a song from 10 years ago.

Masicka, on the other hand, I found far more consistent and exciting, and he was the dancehall artist of the year for me personally, while the incredibly-prolific Chronic Law was the most-streamed artist in Jamaica once again in 2025. Surprisingly, one of the most popular artists in Jamaica for the year was relative newcomer Skippa. His song “Hugo” was released in April 2024, but it was hugely popular in Jamaica for most of 2025. Skippa’s “WYFL” is probably the biggest song in dancehall at the time of writing, helped by production from DJ MAC, who also cemented his place as one of the big names in dancehall in 2025.

Other new names on the list this year are Jamal and Ayetian. Jamal’s “Ballandor” was released in September 2024, but was one of the biggest songs in Jamaica all year, while Ayetian (who comes from Mo Bay but has Haitian roots) had a number of hits.

Looking beyond Jamaica, it was interesting to see a continued trend towards retro sounding dancehall riddims. European producer Kybba was particularly noteworthy, and it was great to see him working with big name Jamaican artists like Buju, Busy and Bounty. French dancehall artist Blaiz Fayah had another big year, and he seems to occupy a unique place in the global dancehall market. With clear references back to more classic 90s dancehall vibes, I found a lot of this music to be a welcome answer to the dark trap-dancehall sound of modern-day Jamaica.

PRINCE MALACHI – Burning (One Perfect Love: Blakamix)
THE GLADIATORS – No Wrong Idea (Back To Roots: Jam Rock)
JUSTIN HINDS & THE DOMINOES – Book of History (Travel With Love: Nighthawk)
JUSTIN HINDS & THE DOMINOES – The Rainbow version (Travel With Love: Nighthawk)
THE MIGHTY DIAMONDS – Have Mercy (Right Time: Virgin & Channel One)
DILLINGER – Bionic Dread (Channel One)
DILLINGER – The General (CB 200: Island)
I ROY – Fresh and Clean (Observer)
DENNIS BROWN – Wolves and Leopards (Observer)
JAH CURE – Chatty Mouth (Yard Vybz Entertainment)

JAH LIL & JAHMIEL – One Gift (Out Deh Records)
KRANIUM & MASICKA – Cut The Link (TJ Records & Out Deh Records)
KEZNAMDI & MASICKA – Forever Grateful (Blxxd & Fyah: Keznamdi Music Group)
POPCAAN – Nothing Without God (Droptop Records & Unruly Ent)
ROYAL BLU – Little Brother (Spain Root: G.Wav & Easy Star)
RUNKUS – 3310 (Easy Star)
DING DONG – Work (From Ding Dong To World Ding: Ding Dong)
AIDONIA – Agony (Di Genius)
MOLIY, SKILLIBENG, SHENSEEA, SILENT ADDY – Shake It To The Max (Fly)(Remix) (Gamma)
SKIPPA & DJ MAC – WYFL (DJ MAC & Crash Dummy)
CHRONIC LAW – Badness Upgrade 2.0 (DJ MAC & CrashDummy)
CHRONIC LAW – NY Girls (cjthechemist)
VALIANT – All Ova (cjthechemist)
VALIANT – Passenger Princess (Story Book riddim: Head Concussion)
MASICKA – Rich Sex (Story Book riddim: Head Concussion)
MASICKA – La Cabra (Dunwell)
DING DONG – 2K Era (Dunwell)
MASICKA – Mute (Def Jam)
JAMAL – Ballandor (Cash Code)*
SQUASH – Know Bout Dat (6ixReal Records & Salkey Records)
KRAFF – Ikation (Kraff Gad & 10K Projects)
VALIANT – Down (DJ MAC)*
AYETIAN – Balance (DJ MAC & Trap Milli Ent)*
AYETIAN, GOVANA, NVTZZ – Wah Yo Deh Pan (TrapMilli Entertainment, Spaj Phoenix Records, LifeStyle Musik Group)
KLASSIK FRESCOBAR – Dansa (Klassik Frescobar)
LILA IKE & MASICKA – Romantic (In.Digg.Nation & Wurl Ike Records)
VYBZ KARTEL & KALASH – X-rated (TJ Records)
BLAIZ FAYAH & TRIBAL KUSH – Joke (Creepy Music)
MR VEGAS & JMAX – BXCKSHXT (Gold Up)
BAMBY & BUSY SIGNAL – Shattaz (Carthage Music & Muse&Music)
BUJU BANTON & TRIBAL KUSH – 16 Shots (Basshall Movement)
BOUNTY KILLER, KALASH, BUSY SIGNAL, BARRINGTON LEVY – 90s (Basshall Movement)
CHRONIC LAW – Happy Times (Droptop Records)
CHRONIC LAW – Diamond In The Rough (Collect Di Bred & Blamdem)
ORIGINAL KOFFEE – Koffee (Promised Land Records)

* = released in 2024

listen online at https://www.pbsfm.org.au/program/babylon-burning/2026-01-03/17-00-00