An intense, deeply introspective album from an artist who was once considered dancehall’s most notorious badman, Spragga Benz’s Shotta Culture is a remarkably invigorating contemporary dancehall album as well as a sobering reflection on the seemingly inescapable cycles of street violence in Jamaica. In the early ‘90s, the ragged-voiced Spragga made a name for himself recording unflinchingly brutal dancehall for producers like Steely & Clevie and Bobby Digital. The American Salaam Remi (who produced Spragga’s “Hardcore Lovin’”) produced the entirety of Shotta Culture, gracing it with a sound that nods toward classic roots and rub-a-dub while remaining bracingly contemporary. On the album’s title track, Spragga delivers a fluid double-time toast about Kingston gang culture over a bubbling one-drop rhythm from Remi that samples both King Tubby’s classic dub “Tubby’s Vengeance” and Albert King’s late-‘60s soul blues cut “I’ll Play the Blues for You." This restless eclecticism is what really distinguishes Remi’s production here, and it makes Shotta Culture one of the most compelling albums of Spragga Benz’s career.