My Thanksgiving weekend starts after class today– and after I turn in this 25 page paper on Jamaica’s Cockpit Country– so I’m taking off to Puerto Rico, because nothing says Thanksgiving like visiting a U.S. territory. In light of my good mood, and Sizzla’s sweet styles and Vybz Kartel’s Christmas cheer, I’m giving up this new Sizzla “Precious Gift” single just because it’s good vibes. Soon come.
Rasssssssclottttt!!! Where did this youtuber find time to animate a brain spewing smiley face man on ClipArt for Vybz Kartel’s Israel Riddim counterdiss “Rifle Shot?” Call it dark humor but it somehow lightens the load of Kartel’s multi-distructive “Rifle Shot” track that disses not one but THREE collaborative efforts at once: Mavado and his “War is in the Air” track, Stephen McGregor and Big Ship and also Aidonia and his dancehall outcasts. From early yesterday Busy Signal posted from his twiiter saying, “mi nu ina nuh war ting nuh bwoy cyaa draw mi out.mi waa dem leff mi name outta dem loose rhyme. mi jus waa mek good tune,” which is basically asking for disaster since Kartel is operating at threat level Orange.
Mavado apparently invited Vybz Kartel to his Dec. 5th Birthday Bash this year in order to make peace. His manager claimed that too many youth had been getting caught up in the Gully/Gaza war and it needed to be squashed. After a failed peace treaty in 2007, and an expectation ( and fear) that at this year’s Sting more then just a few words would be exchanged, a peaceful public exchange could smooth over a lot of unnecessary violence taking place in Jamaica. Will Vybz show up? No word yet but it seems a little ironic that the video for Kartel’s School Bell Medley dropped the same weekend as Mavado’s proposal on behalf of Jamaican youth.
Just got back from the Port Maria Magistrate where I oversaw some of my first Jamaican court cases thanks to a lawyer friend of mine. While most cases were primarily traffic related or civil suits, I noticed everyone showed up for their case but dem police men who were no where to be found. Almost all cases were postponed for six months. Just a thought.
Headed back into Kingston we stopped to get fried chicken and I heard a Death Cab for Cutie song on the radio which seemed really awkward against the background of banana trees and aluminum sided homes. It’s hard to imagine any other soundtrack for Jamaica then the sounds of dancehall and reggae. Coincidentally when I reached Kingston the “Unknown Number” riddim had dropped just before the weekends start and it gave a slightly better track from Lisa Hype, but a lot more good shit from Vybz and Sheba– who’s witty foreplay keeps me interested– Blak Ryno, Shawn Storm and Merital Family. Download it here. (via Tuff Chin.)
This video’s been around for about a week now but I thought better post it for two reasons. First, because it features a cameo from Gaza’s it-girl, Lisa Hype, who’s in heavy circulation within Jamaican media at the moment. Why didn’t I post a video from Lisa Hype then? Well because the reason she’s circulating in the media has more to do with the camera phone shot of her giving a blow job then it does with her busted “Bleachin Fit Me” track.
Secondly, I’ve also been urged by some people to delve a little deeper into the politics surrounding the dancehall scene and it’s interweaving with Jamaican politics. While I have to admit at the end of the day I don’t really wanna talk about politics in Jamaica because that’s what I spend most of my days reading and writing about. Rather it makes sense to me that I find escape in the music, where I don’t have to think of the dirty ass gully’s that sweep from uptown to downtown crowded with slop (courtesy of KFC et al), and the baby mama’s getting slapped on the street by their men (which happened today) or the countless conversations about where all the money is going (tourism) and where are all the jobs are (abroad) and who is investing in Jamaica’s future (up for sale). It’s not a surprise that people always blame the music though, because it perpetuates the bad shit that truly does happen and that nobody wants to talk about. Can it be trivial, misogynistic, ignorant and bloody? Of course, but it reflects issues that a lot of people deal with day to day in an ever expanding sea of ghettos. On that note I thought while Vybz Kartel certainly has a bad attitude, maybe the bad reputation should be up for debate and this “Letter to the Editor” from The Gleaner on Monday is a good place to start. (via Tara Plays Fair)
Since music nerds are only “cool” on the internet, I hide pretty comfortably behind my computer screen unworried about posting ANOTHER Busy Signal track ’cause nerd’s sometimes get unnecessarily excited when Busy Signal sings Every girl hav my name a call, dem ex boyfriend a no threat to me, dem gyal dey love the swagger dats all, a mi a want de all of dem over Drake’s “Forever” beat…. just let me have this, k?
This last weekend was a bag of mixed emotions. Saturday I got my Blackberry jacked from my coat while out dancing with the girls and the same night there was also the opening of brand new club W, at Devon House. Plus, the usual Friday night adventures every which way across Kingston, in which we ended up at same said party as last week in Stoney Hill where, Yo, I met Ching Ching Ching and won a three pack of Magnum for knowing Mavado’s birthday. I mean how do you come to terms with that much fun and misfortune? First, you start by investing in a much cheaper Nokia so when people try and jack you, they look at your phone and say, “next.” Second, you hunt down Mavado’s next best riddim track and it will have you feeling good about the coming weekend even if it’s Monday.
Ed. Note: Read more about the “ISRAEL Riddim” at theFader.com
After yesterday’s exhausting Gully/Gaza post, I got a nice Busy Signal track off the Silver Platter riddim for you. If yeh don know, Busy Signal is really good at writing songs about ladies and after a long ass day, listening to “You Never Knew” is a lot easier then anything about street wars. Get it Here.
Damn! This is a bloody rass clot Christmas. If you haven’t been paying attention to the Gully/Gaza Santa Claus lyrical feud (I don’t blame you if you have other things to do… I’m serious) then you probably just realized that Vybz Kartel has given a rebuttal to the “Gully Christmas” track with his “Gaza Christmas”. I suspect this all spawned from Merital Family’s “My Money (HA HA)” track from the Go Go Riddim because it started the whole Santa Claus theme and provoked Alliance’s Flexx to say “dem nuh gangsta, dem wangsta, dem HA HA HA like Santa” and so on in “Gully Christmas” until Santa is basically drudged through the loins of Christmas sacrilege. Then Vybz Kartel picks up from there with “Gaza man don’t kill Santa Claus, Ba rum ba bum bum” and takes a spin in the ‘ol Christmas sleigh for a Gully drive by. You following me? (HA HA HA) Merital Family’s Santa Claus gets shot down in the Gully so Gaza picks up from there by shooting down the Gully. What the hell happened to Christmas? This is way worse then the Christmas Story‘s “you’ll shoot your eye out” scene. Much worse. So I gave you two choices a) you can download both tracks below or b) you can listen to the new Sizzla “Treat You Like a Man Should” after the jump. It’s like a pick your own adventure, only one is clearly less stressful then the other. Clearly.
Holy crap!! Looks like Ding Dong had a family reunion planned last week and just decided to bring along a video camera– and the “Ding Dong Ravers”– for his “Responsible Parents” track. Really though, how can you resist a lil babe singing the Alphabet song and a bunch of dudes dancing wit their kids in the yard? Everything about this right here is feel good and full bellies. Get the original track here.
So… *half smiles, stretches fingers*… back to hybrid sounds, bastardized tracks, dancehall soundsystems and the depths of Adele’s despair. The Heatwave crew has been stirring their summer coals over there in farin ‘ol merry England, dropping a refix on the remix of the soul lounge sound of Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep”. Heatwave calls it […]
Despite Max Glazer’s exclamation that if all dancehall sounded like Spragga Benz’s ‘Duppy Nuh Frighten Vampire’ he’d “be a happy man”, he also understands the importance of the dapper snap of a good dancehall riddim. Glazer’s newest Flatlands riddim is being featured over on the Federation Sound blog and mingles with a few of Glazer’s […]
When a riddim gets dropped with big dancehall names like Demarco, Mr. Lexx, Vybz Kartel and Beenie Man, such as the Exit 21 riddim, it usually gets at least an extended rotation from local Selectors. These days turn over seems quicker then ever. Watching this riddim be pushed to the sidelines has invoked the dancehall […]
Kiss My Teeth 