A Brief History of Dancehall Apologies
Beenie Man Is Not The First Reggae Star To Reach Out To Gay Listeners—And He Won’t Be The Last Late last week, Beenie Man made headlines around the world by releasing a statement on YouTube that was billed as a “video statement” but has been universally described as an “apology.” Listen keenly and see if […]
Interview: Reasoning With Rodigan Part 1
Sir RamJam Talks About Getting Sampled On Dubstep Tracks And Bigs Up The Late Great King Stitt 2012 has been a great year for David “RamJam” Rodigan, the veteran UK selector and radio personality. Last month he won Irish & Chin’s World Clash, defeating Bass Odyssey in the final round. The month before that he […]
HEAR THIS: Skrillex ft. Jr. Gong “Make It Bun Dem”
Damian Marley Connects With The Bad Boy of Electronic Dance Music. Ooh-Wee. Yesterday the multi-Grammy-winning EDM producer Skrillex dropped an unexpected treat—a new song with multi-Grammy-winning dancehall star Damian Marley, aka Big Gong Zilla. Maybe some reggae purists will wrinkle up their face at this outside-the-box collabo, but this track sounds like the future.
HEAR THIS: Beenie Man ft. Malica “Reminisce”
Something Fresh For Spring From K.Licious Music Group’s Brand New 1st Quarters Riddim Tony “CD” Kelly is back with what the game’s been missing. The Grammy-winning producer who helped turn dancehall music into pop culture—from Patra and Mad Cobra to Beenie, Shaggy and Sean Paul is also the CEO of K.Licious Music Group. Fresh for […]
Fuzzy Jones Gets His G.O.O.D. Music Debut
That’s The Late Great Don Of Dubplate Intros Nicing Up Kanye West’s New Single “Mercy” Kanye West has the internet going nuts with his latest G.O.O.D. Music release, “Mercy.” Aside from Yeezy himself, the song features Big Sean, Pusha T, and 2 Chainz. But the voice you hear at the top of the track may […]
HEAR THIS: Nicki Minaj f/ Beenie Man “Gunshot”
Barbz Sends For The Girls Dem Sugar To Nice Up Roman Reloaded As a Trini gal growing up in Queens, Nicki Minaj always had nuff respect for dancehall giants like Beenie, Bounty, and Lady Saw. She even reps Gully and Gaza just like her Young Money bredren. But action speaks louder than words, so we […]
Drake Says “Free Up Werl Boss”
Even Though He Says “Mavado Is Family,” Drizzy’s A Big Dancehall Fan Who Rates Vybz Kartel Said Speed During a recent pass through London, Drizzy Drake sat down with Kiss FM to share his views on two of dancehall’s most wanted. We already know he checks for the Gully Gaad. But now it looks like […]
Snoop Dogg’s Top 5 Reggae Jams
Why Are People So Shocked That Snoop Would Dabble In Reggae? Doggy Dogg’s Been At It For Years Yesterday Diplo had the blogs burning up with news that he’s working on a reggae album with Snoop Dogg. “Snoop Dogg is an icon, man,” the Major Lazer producer told MTV. “He’s bigger than the music. What […]
WATCH THIS: I-Octane “Zion Awaits” Live Acoustic Version
MTV Iggy Picks I-Octane To Represent “The Future of Music” I-Octane’s sophomore album Crying To The Nation recently got a big co-sign from MTV Iggy, an online portal focused on highlighting “The Future of Music.” The Jamaican singjay was invited to do an exclusive acoustic performance in New York City, where he unleashed unplugged versions […]
HEAR THIS: Lady Leshurr “Lego”
The Best Spitter In the UK Rips Grime, Garage, and Drum & Bass Beats. It’s a Brummy Fing, Innit? If you ain’t heard of her already then note the name. From up norf in BUR-MING-UM (Birmingham) UK, The pint-sized lady was the only female repping on the Bass culture discussion which panel explored the influence of […]
WATCH THIS: Bruce Springsteen & Jimmy Cliff “The Harder They Come” Live Video
The Boss Brought Out The Original Starbwoy For His Headlining Show At SXSW Photograph by Erin Fotos We’ve always liked Bruce Springsteen—he’s unpretentious by rock-star standards, his Born To Run album is a straight-up classic, and his E-Street band was no joke. Now we’ve got another reason. During his headlining set last week at SXSW […]
HEAR THIS: Nas “The Don”
Heavy D Flips a Classic Super Cat Sample, Salaam Remi Tees It Up and Nastradamus Spits Fire It’s well known that Salaam Remi and Nas have a very special creative chemistry—as seen when the producer and MC collaborated on classics like “Made U Look.” What’s less well known is that both are big reggae fans. […]