Pinchers

Though his given name, Delroy Thompson, apparently stems from a pair of pliers, the Jamaican artist's dancehall delivery remains entirely fluid and expressive, marked by gentle melodies that calm rather than clang. Departing from common practice in the idiom, Pinchers rejects slackness in favor of messages meant to uplift, inform, and delight, even while his signature recording "Agony" hovers at the uneasy junction of the earthy and the enlightened.