Jamaican singer and We The Best signee Mavado's collaboration with Nicki Minaj, "Give It All To Me," is a fantastically fun blend of raucous celebration and intimate come-ons. A highlight from DJ Khaled's just-released album, Suffering From Success, it now has the perfect party video to match its vibe.
Nicki comes through to rap her typically killer, patois-tinged verse ("Got the coupe black and blue, yup, it's bruised up/I'm like 'who's up?'/Girls is used up/These bitch niggas my sons/I tied my tubes up") from the front seat of her car and later joins Mavado's beachfront cabana bash, where romance, tension and good times are all afoot.
Chants of free 'World Boss' and a number of persons displaying the 'Gaza' symbol, characterised the scene at a section of the Kingston Public Hospital for a few minutes yesterday.
This as embattled dancehall artiste Vybz Kartel had been taken to the hospital to seek medical attention, reportedly for chest pains.
Patients, visitors and employees at the downtown Kingston institution reportedly flocked to an area which led to the X-ray department, to get a glimpse of where the artiste had gone.
One witness said that Kartel was dressed in an orange T-shirt, a pair of washed-out jeans pants and orange shoes. He was also sporting "a freaked-out hair style", the witness shared.
A staff member at the institution, who identified himself as Bugs, said the artiste was hugged by a woman and Kartel allegedly told her, "You know a long time mi nuh get a hug".
When asked why Kartel had come to the hospital, Bugs said that the artiste had chest pains and had come for an X-ray.
The man also said that Kartel was later whisked away from the institution in a grey Nissan motor vehicle with a Department of Correctional Services license plate.
Commissioner of Corrections, Lieutenant Colonel Sean Prendergast, declined to state what medical treatment the artiste had gone to the hospital for, but said the artiste was moved to the institution for treatment following a routine sick parade.
According to the commissioner: "He was being seen by one of our doctors at Horizon during a sick parade we have once a week. He was subsequently referred for outside treatment for a medical complaint".
Kartel, who is being accused of the murder of Clive 'Lizard' Williams, was remanded on his last appearance in the Home Circuit Court on June 7.
The artiste, along with his other co-accused, has been ordered to return to the court on November 18, when it is expected that their trial will begin.
Popular reggae artist, Sizzla Kalonji, has created a stir among the Rastafarian community with his controversial new song, 'Dem Betta Know' on the Body Bag Riddim. His violent gunman lyrics have some questioning whether he is a "wolf in sheep clothing". Some of the lyrics include "dem better know, seh dem brains fi blow", as well as "mi nuh tek chat from bwoy, pull gunshot pon bwoy". Sizzla who exploded on the reggae scene with positive songs such as 'Dry Cry', 'Give Me A Try', 'Be Strong', 'Solid As A Rock' and 'Thank You Mama' have some of his fans suprised and dissapointed at his current direction while others have come to the painful realization that "rasta stop preach love long time."
Dancehall Duo RDX who have been nominated for three awards in Jamaica's Youth View Awards, will also be apart of the star studded lineup set to perform. The dancehall duo who are famous for highlighting dance moves and delivering hit singles, will be delivering an unforgettable performance at the awards show which will be held this Saturday February 2, 2013 at the National Indoor Sports Complex.
RDX who never shies from controversy, looks forward to demonstrate and make it clear to their critics, that they are indeed the #1 Reggae/Dancehall Duo, and that their musical creativity and dance skills remain intact. The high energy duo will be perform a slew of hits and have asked that all their fans and supporters come prepare to Jump, Broadout and Kotch amongst other of their renowned dance moves.
Whilst the group is humbled by the nominations and is aware that they have been absent physically from the local party scenes, they will be trying to balance appearances both locally and internationally in a mist to please their huge fanbase.
The single "JUMP" which garnered over 2.5 million views on Youtube kept the dynamic duo busy all year. As a testament to their success, and to show the impact the single has had in the dancehall arena, Jamaica's Youth View Awards has nominated the single "JUMP" in three different categories.
"JUMP" is nominated for "Favorite Local Chart Topping Song of 2012"; "Favorite Local Music Video of 2012" and "Hottest Summer Song of 2012".
The Duo who is elated by the nominations says "its a good look to see local groups recognize good music and that hard work does pay off". The creative duo who has always challenged the music industry has delivered other smashing singles such as "Broad Out", "Shining Star" and others which have been receiving heavy rotation.
From Chris Blackwell to David Rodigan to Sun Araw, Jamaican music has long been peppered with incongruous white men, the latest of which is New York-based producer Dre Skull. With his generous beard and decidedly non-trustafarian shaved head, he looks like he might serve you a chai latte from a trendy coffee cart. Yet he's crafted some of the most emotionally rich dancehall tracks of the last few years, most recently creating the backdrops for Snoop Dogg's transformation into Jah-praising alter ego Snoop Lion.
One of the chief attractions of dancehall is the psychedelic chaos of its productions' overlapping airhorns, gunshots, and random toasting, but Dre's skill is in pulling back these deranged fripperies and drawing out the latent melancholy and moodiness of the genre.
He started in performance art, making collaborative live pieces that collaged audio and riffed on pop culture. But Dre soon became disillusioned with that world, and wanted to start making pop, rather than referencing it. "There's something compelling about song structure; maybe it taps into some sort of architect that humans are predisposed towards being," he says. His early productions – mostly rap music – wangled numerous meetings with the likes of Bad Boy Records, but nothing ever came to fruition. "I realised I wanted to not just wait for someone else to give me the blessing to be participating; I decided I really wanted to start my own record label and be the one in control of the music I was making."
The label is Mixpak, which puts out artists as varied as raucous house producer Dubbel Dutch, all-girl Japanese punk band Hard Nips, and – most successfully – recently incarcerated dancehall megastar Vybz Kartel. In 2009 Dre emailed Vybz his Smoke Machine riddim, and within 24 hours he'd turned it into the stunningly sincere Yuh Love. Dre flew out to Kingston to record more, and ended up with an entire album, Kingston Story. "It was amazing: we'd record four songs in six hours, and it was the first time he had heard the tracks," he remembers.
Dre has recorded with other big dancehall names such as Beenie Man, Mavado and Popcaan, the latter two appearing together on the Snoop Lion record. Dre was recruited for the project by Diplo, with the pair swapping sketches with fellow producer Ariel Rechtshaid before 17 days' writing and recording in Jamaica. So was Snoop in his element? "There did seem to be some sort of clouds in the studio, I'll say that."
New York based reggae artiste Lady Taz is seeking her big break on
the local market with the recent release of the video for her single
Everyday.
Lady Taz, born Tazurdee Fortunato, is originally from Milwaukee, but
was strongly influenced by Jamaican culture and music by relatives.
Singing reggae music from a tender age, Lady Taz explains how she came
to love Jamaican music: “As a child I got a taste of Jamaican culture
and music from my Jamaican relatives. They would always talk about
Jamaica and it always sounded so mystical. Then they started giving me
Jamaican music as gifts whenever they would visit and I was hooked. The
music was so powerful and touched me in a way no other music had done
before. Reggae became an outlet for me to express my emotions and
creativity. Once I began singing, it was like a force had captured me
and gave me a release. The best part of performing is giving others the
opportunity to feel my joy and pain through my voice and my
interpretation of this powerful music. During my journey as an artist I
have learned to embrace the Jamaican culture and I learned to love and
appreciate the energy of Jamaican music”.
Lady Taz’s new video for Everyday was shot on location in Port Royal,
where her family has roots, and captures the historic and romantic feel
of the town. The track which was produced by
TheBadGuyz/BrassGatesMusic, is a fun composition to emphasize her
competence as a reggae singer with her own edge and style.
Following on the release of Everyday, the singer says she has several
hot tracks to release for the Jamaican market: “We have a lot of buns
in the oven and some of the tracks are reggae while others are
dancehall. I try to constantly show my versatility as an artiste and
also reflect the flavor that people are interested in hearing. It’s my
way of showing the world that in my heart, I am Jamaican”.
Lady Taz is also set to release her first mix tape locally aptly
titled “Jamerican”. The compilation features dance worthy tracks that
explore this Reggae-Soul Princess’ personal brand of Jamaican/American
fused music. Already burning the music critics’ ears for its fervent
spice, “Jamerican” is set to drop in early February.
Portmore, St Catherine-based recording artiste Black-er is overjoyed with the response to his latest combination single, Bun Him Part Two (Jacket Daddy) with dancehall superstar Macka Diamond.
"Yea man, Black-er and Macka are at it again with a next big hit. Right now, Jacket Daddy ah talk about in the street, and the man dem start the foolishness again, and ah try blame me for telling dem woman fi gi dem jacket. Here we go again," Black-er said, laughing.
The song, produced on the Birchill Records label, has been getting favourable airplay on IRIE, HITZ and ZIP over the last couple of weeks.
"The controversy start already because it tied into Macka's new book weh she ah say she no know who the father of her baby is, so she have to give it to a man that can mind the child because dry bread alone ca'an feed a child. The people can relate to it because ah something that happens in our society every day. just check the DNA, ah nuff jacket out de, so da song ya must hit," he said.
There are plans to shoot a video for the single at the end of this month when Macka Diamond returns from her book tour.
In the meantime, Black-er is also promoting another single called Bun Factory. "The song ah go hard pon the radio, so mi have two song weh a gwaan, Muschette a beat it on IRIE, it ah play pon HITZ 92, pon Suncity Radio, this week. Johnny Kool endorse it, so it is a great look. Black-er is back!" Black-er said in a release.
Black-er's name popped up recently in the news when Mr Vegas did a song which suggested that his babymother, Shelliann McBayne, decided to cheat on him because of Black-er's infamous Bun Him collaboration with Macka Diamond several years ago.
Black-er felt that he had to respond, and so Bun Factory was born. However, he turned down Mr Vegas' invitation to appear in a video to promote Vegas' Bare Tingz.
Black-er is now the host of a cable programme called 'Blacker's Top 20 video countdown' on LINKS TV on Flow channel 394 which airs every Saturday between 2 and 4 p.m., with multiple repeats during the week.
It is one of the highly rated programmes, regularly on Flow, outstripping other programmes in terms of sheer viewership.It is one of the highly rated programmes, regularly on Flow, outstripping other programmes in terms of sheer viewership.
Volkswagen AG released a teaser of an ad called “Sunny Side,” which it plans to run during the Super Bowl XLVII broadcast on Feb. 3. In the 1 minute, 40 second video, reggae singer Jimmy Cliff performs a cover version of the Partridge Family theme song “Get Happy.”
The German car maker has developed a reputation in recent years for creating Super Bowl ads worth watching. In the past these high-stakes commercials have been designed to promote new vehicles like the redesigned Beetle and Passat. This time the marketing theme applies to the company’s entire fleet.
“It is definitely meant to be a brand piece,” said VW spokesman Corey Proffitt. The ad is also in part a continuation of the “Smiles” campaign that began last fall just prior to the presidential election, he said.
