Mr. Vegas, "Hot It Up"

The average dancehall career—if that’s the proper term for the prevailing hand-to-mouth business model—is nasty, brutish, and short. But Clifford “Mr. Vegas” Smith is one of the very rare artists who have seen lightning strike time and time again. An exciting singer whose voice blends Barrington Levy’s soaring lilt with the raw simplicity of Tenor Saw, Vegas burst on the Jamaican scene in 1997 with the buoyant “Nike Air,” the first of an improbably long run of hit singles.

From 1998’s “Heads High” through 2004’s “Pull Up,” Vegas has proved a consistent hitmaker over the past decade. Part of his staying power has to do with a general lack of strong, traditional dancehall singers—especially with the genre’s increasingly breakneck computerized tempo. Still, there would have been no way to predict the hot streak he’s hit on a full 10 years after his debut. He’s on fire on his fifth album, Hot It Up, dropping hit after hit—from dance tunes like “Hot Wuk” and “Tek Weh Yuh Self” to badman cuts like “We Nuh Want Nuh Friend.” From end to end, this is a blistering snapshot of Vegas’ unlikely second chance at dancehall glory.