Reggae Revival front runner Chronixx rises from his musical hiatus for an appearance at the Lost In Time Festival last Saturday (February 25.) The Skankin Sweet singer was one of the surprise guest acts at the inaugural event by Grammy nominee Protoje.
“Yo, the man Dem rise me up,” Chronixx uttered after his opening performance of Dela Splash. With fans delighted to see him at times forgetting his own lyrics, he took turns singing the lyrics of Popcaan who was another special guest at the event.
“All a dis come in like is a dream,” he said again before going into his second song, a lesser known reggae bop Eternal Light with Free Nationals reminding fans why they missed his soulful renditions.
Things got more animated when Chronixx said “send them out,” mimicking what DJs would say at dancehall clash concert such as Sting. The Anger Management riddim started playing which welcomed Aidonia to the stage in true dancehall fashion. Chronixx performed some of his conscious lyrics on the riddim calling for bassline intermittently.
Chronixx has not performed on a main stage in Jamaica for more than 2 years. He told Rolling Stones Magazine in 2021 that he pushed back his album due to the birth of his child at the height of the pandemic. He has since changed management but it’s not clear who currently manages the young reggae artists.
The singer cancelled a New York show that same year but would showe off his production skills on Instagram, while saluting his “teacher” U.S Virgin Islands engineer and producer Tippy I in a now deleted post.
The “I Can” singer posted a 3 minute and 25 seconds clip of himself adding layers to a reggae dub beat, he captioned:
“Dub university with @tippyigradedub my honorable teacher. 🔥 #letbabylongo #outamiheart #outamisoul. Big respect to the honorable @rasdannyi for this one. One of my favorite @igraderecords vibe”
In speaking with World Music Views, Chronixx’s then manager Daddi Barnz said, the wait is almost over and Chronixx was putting on final touches to new music.
“Chronixx is currently off the touring grid composing music for his upcoming rereleases. 2017 was his last project and he is actually finalizing to get his new body of work out soon”, he said.
Chronixx’s unprecedented rise to the top of the reggae/dancehall scene came after the release of his collaborative mixtape with Major Lazer-“Start a Fire” in 2013.
After scoring a series of seminal hits from the mixtape such as “Smile Jamaica” and “Here Comes Trouble”, he toured the U.K. and U.S. and was marked as an act who redefines Reggae’s success metrics partly due to him not leaving his band.
His debut EP, Dread & Terrible, released in April 2014 peaked at number 1 on the Billboard Top Reggae Album Chart.
The Spanish Town singer signed a publishing deal with Blue Mountain Publishing after impressing founder Chris Blackwell.
The Island Records founder praised Chronixx at the launch Rebel Salute in December 2016, Blackwell said, “I love Chronixx. I think Chronixx is an extraordinary talent. He has great rhyming, natural phrasing. That is a gift.”
