Elephant Man, “Vampires and Informers” Mini Album

Photo by Christopher Harty

I mentioned a fluctuation in Jamaican sound in my post for TheFADER.com the other day. Prodigal Entertainment just released a grimy track by Wiley called “It’s Wiley” on their soon to be released Showa Eski Riddim and it had me thinking how good the mish-mashing off Jamaican sound is with other genres when it’s done well. Prodigal gave Showa Eski just the right rhythmic wax and wane on this bouncy crossover beat and Wiley navigates it with the ease of an MVP.

Wiley, “It’s Wiley” (Showa Eski Riddim)

Then I discovered the dubmatic clash of dancehall and heavy bass in the new Elephant Man, “Vampires and Informers” mini album from Subatomic Sound System (New York) and Peoples Records (Jamaica). The mix features 8 tracks from the riddims of Subatomic Sound System, Stereotyp, Dubblestandart, Kush Arora, & Ming (of Ming+FS). You can get the entire album on Itunes or Amazon, but peep the preview mix below.

Vybz Kartel Counters with “Cake Soap”

Slight criticism came down on Vybz Kartel after he mentioned washing his face with cake soap– a detergent soap that contains bleach– in his “Straight Jeans and Fitted” song a few months back. Now Kartel has fired back with a followup track, remixing the verse, and like he does so well, confronting the conflict with… skin care remedies?? In “Cake Soap” he argues for cake soap’s soothing qualities (among other things):

“Hear me now, gyal from every area,
me a waan fi clear it up, how deh gyal love me so,
inna my, inna my, inna my skin,
deh girl dem a say dey have dem ice cream,
straight jeans and fitted in white t’s,
she say teacha ya skin feel nice eeeh”

Tell me if I’m wrong on that translation. And yes, “eeeh” is a word.

On another note, I like this riddim. It has an epic ‘charging bull’ quality to it.

Vybz Kartel, “Cake Soap” (Blue Bamma Riddim)

Get it here.

New Artiste Series: Khalij

Photography from Kingston Style

I first heard roots artiste Gregory Walker, aka Khalij (pronounced Kol-iJ) at Rooftop bar in Northside Plaza when a local selector dropped his dubplate to a packed crowd. It got me thinking about how often these new artistes get radio and club play, if ever, when they’re just breaking out on the scene. While Khalij’s positive-minded first single “Stand Tall” has slowly been leaking onto radio, both locally and abroad, he’s had more then a few mountains to climb since he began his journey into the music world. I took a moment to speak with him in his Dun Robin community about the struggles of being a new artiste and how one goes about planting their roots in Jamaica’s quickly evolving music industry.

Read the article after the jump.

Busy Signal/Dj Khaled “My Way” Mixtape

Thought it was curious to see a tweet from DJ Karim today that Busy Signal was releasing a mixtape with DJ Khaled. Especially after the release of D.O.B. in June through VP was met with low record sales. Then I popped over to the Rhona Fox site and signed up to get the mixtape, listened to all thirty tracks and realized it’s a complete pop mixtape. Check it out:

Track 9

Track 20