Alkaline

Earlan Bartley, performing as Alkaline, emerged in dancehall reggae by fusing aggressive hip-hop textures with forward-thinking beats and an audacious visual presence. After early Jamaican successes, he progressed to major projects, most notably the 2021 album Top Prize.

Born in Kingston on December 19, 1993, Bartley started composing rhymes at age 14. While still in high school at 16, he issued his debut single under the Alkaline moniker. By 2013 he had notched Jamaican hits including “Church Folks,” “More Than a Friend,” “Ready,” and “Obeah,” drawing notice for his bleached skin, blonde dreadlocks, and purported eyeball tattoos—later disclosed as contact lenses. Although his sexually explicit lyrics sparked frequent debate, Alkaline remained both productive and widely embraced, delivering more than 55 tracks from 2013 through 2017, many grouped together on mixtapes.

In March 2016 he unveiled his debut full-length album, New Level Unlocked, which became the first dancehall release to top the American reggae charts in five years. The project also performed strongly in the U.K., even as security concerns forced the cancellation of several British tour dates that year. Subsequent collaborations placed him alongside A Boogie wit da Hoodie and Keith Sweat, while remixes paired him with Stefflon Don and Akon. His follow-up album, Top Prize, arrived in May 2021 and rose swiftly on the Billboard Reggae Heatseekers chart.