Not much rocked the Caribbean in October like Hurricane Melissa.
The historic storm made landfall in Jamaica (Oct. 28) and Cuba (Oct. 29), wrecked parts of Haiti, and caused heavy rain that resulted in fatal flooding across New York City. With a death toll of 75, as of Tuesday (Nov. 4), the devastation of Hurricane Melissa has spurred immediate action and support from some of Jamrock’s biggest stars. Shenseea, Beenie Man, Sean Paul and Spice have all documented their respective relief efforts via their respective social media channels, and, on Monday, Shaggy spoke with Billboard about what he saw on the ground in the immediate aftermath of the storm.
“We got [to Jamaica] early enough to reach the people, because it took me around six hours to get from Kingston to St. Elizabeth in Black River, which is normally a two-and-a-half-hour drive at most,” the reggae icon told Billboard. “We had to chop [tree] limbs down, move things out the way, and drive through high puddles of [runoff], so we got there in the middle of the night. At that point, all we could do was pass water out, so we had to regroup and drive six hours back to Kingston. The next day, we went to the Junction side of St. Elizabeth, which took us four hours. The square itself was shut down. It was ground zero because it wasn’t livable anymore. Nobody could stay there.”
In addition to Shaggy’s efforts alongside the Global Empowerment Mission, verified aid channels include World Food Programme, Project HOPE, GiveDirectly, American Friends of Jamaica, Food for the Poor and Friends of Caritas Cuba.
In lighter news, Trinidadian soca star Mical Teja made headlines after he shared a picture with his locs cut off, A$AP Rocky once again stoked marriage rumors by referring to himself as Rihanna’s “loving husband,” and Chronixx returned with Exile, his first new album in eight years.
Naturally, Billboard’s monthly Reggae/Dancehall Fresh Picks column will not cover every last track, but our Spotify playlist — which is linked below — will expand on the 10 highlighted songs. So, without any further ado:
