New Zealand born, Canadian resident Grafta aka Oliver Penny has carved out a niche for himself in the global dancehall community, splitting his time between riddim building, mixing work and selecting.

Starting out in his home country, Grafta’s appearances at a slew of parties, running dancehall club nights in Auckland, involvement with the Yung Shottaz and shows down-country saw him become a central figure in the Aotearoa dancehall scene.

Highlights include support for Mykal Rose, playing the Heavy Weight stage at Sound Splash festival in 2008, running the Sure Fyah club night, co-promoting Daybreak events and co-hosting Base FM’s new release Dancehall Reggae slot, the Jugglin’ Show with FJ.

In 2009 the move to Canada was made and Grafta took up residency in Vancouver, BC. Immersing himself in local club nights and holding down his own rooftop patio party, Unwind Thursdays as resident host DJ.

Currently Grafta can be found behind the decks at various spots in and around Vancouver playing everything from reggae classics, dancehall throwbacks to modern day hits.

Production-wise, he stays busy working with Jamaican labels Pressure Dem, One Way Records and more recently Zimbabwean label I.M.P, riddim building, mixing and mastering.

Recent releases include:

  • Triplelan – Bend Down
  • Yung Tripp & Richie Loop – Boom Boom official remix for the Remixes album (Flex Up Records)
  • Israel Starr – Roll Out from Dancehall Vol.1 (Bless Up Records)
  • Hardio – Jamaica (Pressure Dem Records)
  • Hardio ft Hyah Tone – Loud Party (Pressure Dem Records)

More info:
Grafta SoundCloud
Grafta Instagram

Top Ten

Aidonia & Govana – Breeze (4th Genna Music – Jag One Productions, 2017)
Ridiculously catchy with an equally ridiculous video. And while this dropped last year, still running things hard.


Govana – Baked Bean (Quantanium Records / RMG / 21st Hapilos Digital, 2018)
Govana making his break for it under the wing of Aidonia, while holding his own infectious vibes.


Ding Dong – Flair is in the Air (Romeich Entertainment, 2018)
What’s a dancehall list without… err dance, and or Ding Dong and Ravers Clavers.


Popcaan – My Type (Jelly Records, Kalex Productions and Unruly Entertainment, 2018)
Poppy going all out showing his sensitive side? You decide.


Global Warming Riddim (White Gad Records, 2018)
Big appearances from Busy Signal, Bounty Killer, Future Fambo, Zj Liquid, Beenie Man and Chris Martin plus more and even a tune from Chase Cross that I don’t mind. With a bit of luck he won’t go back to his odd dancehall rap career(?). White Gad Records going seriously big on this. Most cuts on this are summer anthems already. Cups up!


Zinc Roof Riddim (TJ Records, 2018)
TJ turning up big with the grimey submarine Zinc Roof riddim. Obviously Addi with Under Water is the big tune on this, but I highly rate the Tifa, Ishawna, Kim Kelly and of course the huge tune and play on the Kartel cut ‘Under Fire’ from Spice. The ladies repping seriously hard on this.


Shenseea – Pon Me (Dunwell Productions, 2018)
Amongst Shenseea’s recent output comes Pon Me, a throwback killer with a modern touch. Listening on a decent system comes as standard.


Konshens – Bassline (Subkonshus Music, 2018)
While very similar to the previously mentioned Pon Me, Konshen’s ode to the bassline is very welcome and again, a sound system killer. So yeh, LOUD.


Protoje – No Guarantee feat. Chronixx (Overstand Entertainment/In.Digg.Nation Collective, 2018)
Two names that’ll be very familiar here and kinda shooting fish in a barrel BUT, massive tune.


Kabaka Pyramid – Borders ft. Stonebwoy (Ghetto Youths International and Bebble Rock Music, 2018)
Rounding this out with a tune with a timely message.