Veteran deejay Spragga Benz scores first No. 1 album on Billboard
Dancehall artiste Spragga Benz scored a No. 1 album with Chiliagon. (Photo: bbc.co.uk)
For the first time in his more than two-decade career, deejay Spragga
Benz has scored a No. 1 album. Chiliagon, which was
released via Easy Star Records, is the new No. 1 title on the Billboard Reggae Albums
chart.
Chiliagon has 15
songs, most of which are collaborations. It is the follow-up album to Spragga’s
2010 effort Shotta Culture that
failed to chart.
This is the second time that Spragga has charted an album on the reggae
chart. In 2000, Fully Loaded, which was
a VP Records release, reached No. 6.
Spragga reigned supreme in the 1990s, churning out a barrage of hits,
including Dedicated (with Wayne Wonder), No Way, Peace, and Rasta Run The World.
A brief stint with US-based major label Capitol Records in the mid-1990s
saw Spragga scoring radio favourites stateside, including A1 Lover. The label also released the album, Uncommonly Smooth, which featured collaborations with high
profile acts such as Ben E. King.
Spragga gained traction in the hip hop world when he teamed up with then
girlfriend, American rapper Foxy Brown, on the Billboard R&B Hip Hop
charting single Oh Yeah. His
biggest hit to date is a guest feature on Kevin Lyttle’s Turn Me On, which reached No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart
in 2004.
Other albums released by Spragga include Jack it Up (VP
Records), Thug Nature (Empire Musicwerks) and Live Good.
