Lexie Lee "Keep It Duttyah”

Yes, she’s gorgeous, but Jamaica’s Lexie Lee is equally as skilled on the mic as she is stopping traffic with the bat of an eyelash. Being praised for motoring in a "new era of dancehall,” this Los Angeles/Montego Bay-based deejay puts a much-needed twist on not only the lady’s often sexualised role in the genre, but also dancehall in general.

Call her crazy, but Lee has a conscience and she uses it, centring her sights on crucial topics like the AIDS crisis, domestic violence and poverty. And, I’m sorry if I sound ignorant, but when was the last time a female deejay rose to the level that has found Buju Banton, Bounty Killer, Beenie Man success, and to a much more commercial degree, Shaggy and Sean Paul? It’s kind of a sausage party on the charts… but Lexie’s got the goods as "Keep It Duttyah” demonstrates.

Produced by J-Hits (who oversaw most of her forthcoming album), Lee brings something to the dance floor that’d suit Missy Elliott as much as anyone with glitchy percussive samples and some bouncy flava that leans as much toward hip-hop and reggaeton as the suggested dancehall vibe. The contagious chorus and its synthful melody arm it with enough weaponry to penetrate and dominate commercial radio — a notion that seems too good to ever happen.

With debut album, Di Intro, scheduled to drop on November 19 (?), according to her website, Lexie Lee is destined for stardom.

Lexie Lee "Keep It Duttyah”

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