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We celebrate the women who set the foundation and keep reggae and dancehall going. Spanning across decades, organized by a living list by impact rather than era. From trailblazers to dominators, we trace sound, image, and industry shifts while calling for continued support.

In this episode we discuss:
• Why impact-based categories reveal truer influence
• Highlight trailblazers who normalized women at center stage
• Discuss how groundbreakers shaped by video and production advances
• crossovers, samples, and global bridges
• How culture contributors across music, dance helped build brand Jamaica
• Dig into how fusionists blend pop, R&B, hip-hop, EDM
• The new wave of artist pushing the boundaries in branding and marketing in a streaming-first world
• How hit songstresses whose singles still rule
• How dominators sustaining scale, charts, and carry the culture
• Why collective shine beats the “only one” myth

Check out full list on Style & Vibes

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Produced by Breadfruit Media

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Producer-turned-artist, Dre Island channels real life experiences and prayer to create music that resonates for today and tomorrow. We discuss his upbringing, shaped by classical piano, Stone Love sound system nights, gospel harmonies, and the distilled “top ten” diet of Jamaica’s radio that trained his ear for greatness.

Dre flows in between sharing his own stories to the inspiration that surrounds him, his poignant care in storytelling shows not just in his music, but through conversation. We discuss his popular collaboration “We Pray” with Popcaan including the bold choice to leak the record and let the people decide. Dre explains how visuals amplified the story months later, his debut album "Now I Rise" released in 2020 showcased his versatility and growth as an artist.

Dre shares why positive music grows slowly and lasts longer, and how he avoids dating his catalog so each song feels brand new to first-time listeners years down the road. He shares studio tales behind “Nice Again” and “Situation,” where a beat built for someone else and a real-life phone call turned into records that balance melody, DJ cadence, and clean, modern production. Along the way, he nods to mentors like Buju Banton and breaks down tasteful sampling that honors the source while speaking to today.

At the heart of it all is love—learned at home, witnessed in community, and now channeled into an upcoming project devoted to spiritual and romantic uplift. We talk about staying focused in a noisy era, adapting promotion from radio to social without chasing gimmicks, and building live culture in Connecticut with family-friendly events like Reggae and the Rice and Rubber Dub Fridays.

If you care about timeless songwriting, authentic storytelling, and the evolution of reggae in the age of streaming and social media, this conversation will light a fire.

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We welcome the Paradise Plum, Naomi Cowan back to unpack the heart behind her debut album, Welcome To Paradise. Inside the studio with producer Toddla T and co-writers like Runkus, she found a collaborative space where her vision held, her pen stayed sharp, and the sound fused lover’s rock warmth, subtle dancehall undertones, and modern storytelling. We dig into the album’s cohesive arc, the intimate interludes featuring her parents, and how family history roots the record in a lineage you can hear.

Paradise isn’t a place on a brochure; it’s a feeling you experience through community, love, and the music that carries you there. Naomi shares how portraying music legend Marcia Griffiths in the Bob Marley biopic re-centered her commitment to making a fully reggae album, free from trend-chasing and built for longevity.

The conversation turns to a deep introspection love—romantic, communal, and self-directed. Naomi shares her perspective on how today's culture treats independence as a badge of honor without the context of its potential isolation. She makes the case that partnership is a spiritual practice, that real growth requires letting others in, and that reggae remains a living vessel for these truths.

We also celebrate the sisterhood rising in reggae with artists like Sevana, Jaz Elise and Lila Iké, showing how authenticity dissolves competition and strengthens the scene. Along the way, Naomi opens up about performing the new songs, balancing album promotion with relief efforts after Hurricane Melissa, and why this project is meant to grow on human time, not algorithm time.

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Style & Vibes: Website | Newsletter | Youtube | Instagram | Facebook

Produced by Breadfruit Media