The Best Indies: Celebrating Caribbean influence on the UK

It’s carnival weekend so it is only right to highlight some of the artists with a heavy influence from these islands.

Olivia Dean

A budding superstar and 3rd generation Windrush descendant, Olivia has a song called “Carmen” which is dedicated to her grandmother who migrated from Jamaica to the UK after the world war. At her sold out show at hammersmith apollo, she explained her story and it was very compelling. She reiterated how proud she was of her heritage before proceeding to perform “Danger” which is an ode to her roots.

Digga D

A Ladbroke Grove native with Jamaican and Bajan heritage. It doesn’t get more carnival than that. even though he predominantly makes drill, he first started making music aged 12 in the vain of Jamaican reggae and dancehall music as these are the sounds that he was raised around. he has no issues in exhibiting how strong his connection is to his roots and an example of this would be ‘window’ off his Made In The Pyrex album where he sounded super comfortable executing the sounds he grew up on.

Amaria BB

She needs no introduction when it comes to artists who embody the sounds of the West Indies. Born in Hackney, East London with artistry reminiscent of someone who has lived in the Caribbean their whole life, the strength to her roots is on display in almost every song. There is little to no mistake as to where she comes from and what sounds inspire her. A true student of the game within the genre of dancehall and I’d go as far to say that she’s ushered in a new style of dancehall which a few other artists have followed.

WSTRN

a British super group that has made a name and established themselves as one of the premier musical acts in the country through the sounds of the Caribbean. An unmistakable and piercing influence of the West Indies is on show in almost every song and due to the strong ties they have to their Caribbean roots, authenticity is a quality that is in abundance and have built a long standing and loyal fan base in numerous counties because of this.

Cashtastic/Cashh

This is an artist that personifies the long-standing British-Caribbean relationship and this can be seen as a good or bad thing dependant on which part of his life story you’re looking at. another Windrush descendant who made a name for himself around the time of the ascendency of UK rap, found himself in the middle of the Windrush scandal that found himself being deported back to Jamaica despite being raised in the UK from the age of 6. fast forward near a decade, he has found his way back to the UK and reestablished himself as a premier act in Britain. his well-reviewed comeback project appropriately named ‘Return Of The Immigrant’ exhibits essentially what he learned during his time in Jamaica and the records on this album highlights a blatant influence Caribbean sounds have had on him and his approach to music.

Listen to our Carnival inspired playlist here!