That pumped up the expectations for "Mr. Lex," which features "Ring Mi Cellie" -- where Lexxus brags about how dancehall bad girl Lady Saw wants to shag him -- as well as the follow-up, "Call U," where he duets with Saw herself.

So how'd she react to being, uh, mentioned in "Ring Mi Cellie"? Lexxus bursts into giggles.

"The first time she hear it, it was like, 'Oh! So you tellin' people I wanna screw you?'" he says. "That was just fun, though. She's cool about it."

Another new track that's got people buzzing is "Cook," an ode to a home-cooked meal that advises the ladies to get busy in the kitchen if they want to get busy with Mr. Lex. Currently blowing up in England, the tune "came about simple" after a female friend gave him a ride home one evening.

"I was like, 'Yo, why don't we tear up some food. Let's stop at a market,'" he recalls. "But she said, 'Naaaaah, mon.' She lemme know she nuh cook. She said, 'I ain't cooked for four years now.'

I said, 'Whaaah? I said, 'Where yuh eat?" and she said, 'Popeye's. McDonald's,'" he says with a laugh. "And then instantly, the song came to me. And I had to go to her and apologize, I said, 'Yo, baby, I did this song…' But when she see me now, she just smiles. She say, 'You go ahead.' For real."

But his serious side shows on the conscious-flavored "Di Message," which features roots saxman Dean Fraser and Lexxus' boast that he's right with God. (The Good Lord also appears in a voice-over on the otherwise sober "Divine Reasoning," reminding Lexxus to wear protection.) No Rastafarian, he still wants to show he's in touch with the spiritual side of Jamaican music -- "Maybe inna future, me have dreadlocks. For now, that's a no."

And he wants to show both sides to American listeners, although his own struggles have taught him that opening peoples' ears is never a gimme.

"I dunno, man," he admits. "This is a very untamed business. Today people love you, tomorrow people just don't. What I can do is, continue to strive with my performance, continue to make good music that people on this side can relate to. Right now, it's just…I don't think it depend on me alone. It depend on me, the rest of artists, the producers, the people that write for reggae, yunno, the sound system players, the radio personalities. It's up to every one of us to come together and work somethin' out."

But when Lexxus suggests that another thing that could help reggae break big in the States is if "more reggae artists start getting' actin' roles," you just know he's got a certain someone in mind.

"Yeah, I'm still dreamin' about walkin' up in me office one day, and see a fax from Quentin Tarantino or Spike Lee, sayin' 'Hey, I got a role for you,' yunno," he says, cutting loose with yet another infectious laugh.

"That's me next dream now, it's like the next quest. So put it down, yunno?"
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Dan LeRoy is the music and entertainment writer for the Charleston Daily Mail. He serves as an associate editor for Grafitti, a statewide entertainment newspaper, and has also written for several music-related publications including Launch.com, Boston Rock, and Lexicon.