December New Mexico Reggae Dancehall Chart

Capleton & Military Man have taken over the New Mexico Reggae Dancehall Charts for the month of December. Barely topping last month's leader Shocking Murray, the two storm in alongside a number of selections on the Morgan family's NO TIME riddim. This red-hot, rootical beat on 71 Records also occupies the #4 and #6 spots, in the form of Jr.Kelly and Richie Spice. Another strong contender from LMS is currently bubbling under. Further elements of the roots are provided by Warrior King as well as by Capleton and Luciano on the TRIBAL WAR. Nelly Furtado is still "On The Radio" while Brian & Tony Gold find di gal gal "Irresistable".

On the bashment-tip Rattler's DIESEL is still tough, entering at #3(Kiprich) and #9 (Elephant Man), whereas Awful Music's G-STRING finally charts with Ward 21, Cobra & Keke Flint pon the title-track, and a nasty Bounty Killer/Angel Doolas combination called "Fitness". This slower-paced, heavyweight riddim has a hard time on the NM dancefloors but works well pon the airwaves, while the massive is cruising in their vehicles (which New Mexico is notorious for, in case you dunno). Elephant Man's second badman-anthem on Stonelove "Tall Up Tall Up" is making some waves (the third in the series "Sorrow To The World" done to the melody of Joy To The World is mashing up things already-just in time for X-Mas). The DIWALI returns with Wayne Wonder's "No Letting Go", which is said to be in rotation on a number of hip hop/r&b stations (but has not hit NM yet). Also in heavy rotation on commercial radio is Sean Paul and Busta Rhymes "Gimme The Light Remix". Sean Paul's brandnew album "Dutty Cup" reportedly sold 60 000 copies in the first week alone (!!!!). In NM Sean Paul has been one of the most requested dancehall artists for years-so big up suh! Beenie Man's party-anthem "Golden Bathtub" has dropped down to #16, while Cecile's "Push Up Your Hand" re-enters our chart. Brandnew at # 20 is a hardcore ganja-tune from the Ancient Monarchy aka Frisco Kid entitled "More Marijuana" on the hip-hoppy BOLLYWOOD riddim.

Look out for Lenky's new MASTERPIECE riddim (which sounds smokin'), King Of King's hip-hoppin C4, and Danny Browne's TAI CHI. Also in the works is Black Shadow's follow-up to the hugely successful BUZZ riddim. It is called SURPRISE and sounds a lot like THE BUG.

Also sounding hot are Massive B's recent update of the TEMPO, another more rootical selection entitled BALLISTIC AFFAIR, as well as a new series on the FULL UP on Buju's Gargamel label. A new label out of Oakland,California called HGS appears to be quite on the conscious tip, with artists such as Luciano, Anthony B, Jah Mason and Lutan Fyah under their wings. Next month we will also release our top 50 of the entire year 2002.

Until such time: