Anthony B

Reggae singer Anthony B set himself apart during a career that took off in the mid-’90s with a socially conscious style that merged the punchy production of dancehall with the spiritualism and political insights of roots reggae. Anthony B was born Keith Blair in March 1976. He grew up in the rural settlement of Clark’s Town, Jamaica, where his religious family gave him a strong spiritual core while he fell in love with the revolutionary anthems of Bob Marley and Peter Tosh. After getting his start as a member of the local Shaggy Hi-Power sound system, he moved to a suburb of Kingston, where he garnered attention for a hard-hitting toasting style on hits like 1996’s “Raid the Barn”—a strident call against corruption that reflected his devout Rastafarianism and pushed against a prevailing trend in dancehall of glorifying sex and petty crime. A string of acclaimed albums in the late ’90s and early 2000s won Anthony B increased attention, and Wyclef Jean and Snoop Dogg made cameos on 2004’s R&B- and hip-hop-leaning Untouchable. He remained prolific throughout the 2010s, and his well-received 2020 single “Chill Out” shows him keeping a positive mindset.