WHAT makes a hit? Is it the lyrics, the artiste, the hype at the time? Is it “something special” about the voice or riddim? The TEENage Hitlist pinpoints the hits and the misses as soon as we hear both local and international releases.

Local Hit Of The Week

Til Kingdom Come by I-Octane & ChanDizzy

The year 2011 proved to be a career-defining year for both I-Octane and ChanDizzy. For I-Octane, last year represented his continued thrust into the Jamaican mainstream market as a staple heavyweight act for years to come. While for ChanDizzy, he was one of the few relatively new acts to infiltrate the dancehall scene with formidable hits and has built a solid foundation for continued success into the new year.

Til Kingdom Come is the first major collaboration to be released for 2012 and features I-Octane and Chan Dizzy toasting over a Russian production for his Head Concussion Records. I-Octane had previously collaborated with Russian on several of his singles such as Mine Who You A Diss, and Chan Dizzy is the flagship artiste on Head Concussion records.

Til Kingdom Come is an inspirational track that focuses on one not stopping their progress despite the inevitable obstacles that we are faced with. Lyrically, both artistes did not stray from the song’s focus and each shared the workload on a timely rotation during the chorus and the verses. Also both artistes must be commended for not trying to outshine each other on Til Kingdom Come, as this provided a cohesive listen with consistent subject matter.

Production-wise, Russian continues to be a leading force in the fusion of dancehall with other genres without losing the dancehall identity of the track. In Til Kingdom Come, Russian delivers a melting pot of dub-step, hip hop and traditional dancehall influences in the instrumentation to create a new wave dancehall sound that doesn’t sacrifice the ability of Jamaicans acts to toast comfortably over it.

TEENage Hitlist believes that Til Kingdom Come is a solid release by two artistes with a large enough fan base for it to get the just spins it deserves on the radio and virally.

International Hit Of the Week

Glory by Jay-Z featuring BIC (Blue Ivy Carter)

On January 7, 2012 one of the most anticipated events of the year in celebrity news occurred with the birth of Jay-Z and Beyonce’s first child named Blue Ivy Carter. In honour of their child’s birth, Jay-Z has communicated to the public about the experience through his best channel, music.

Glory is the symbolic title of the ode that features Jay-Z poetically delivering each verse over a production by long-time collaborator Pharrell Williams of the Neptunes. Blue Ivy Carter coos and crying are featured on the track via recordings of her crying after birth in the song’s outro. At less than a week old, Blue Ivy Carter became the youngest person ever to enter the Billboard Charts.

Glory is a heartfelt track that features both emotion filled verses of appreciative joy and also interjections of personal experiences that have occurred along Jay-Z and Beyonce’s journey to having a child. Pharrell provided a jazzy production that definitely painted a suitable backdrop to the nature of Jay-Z’s lyrics.

What shouldn’t be overlooked, however, is that last year The Game already did a similar dedicative track about the birth of his daughter called California Dream on his RED album.

TEENage Hitlist believes that Glory was a suitable manner for the discreet couple to share their sentiments about the birth of their first child to their fans.