Producer balances art and commerce Ansel Collins’ Double Barrel is one of those roots reggae staples that musicians and roots music lovers have no problem returning to again and again. Still in the biz, Collins is looking to put out a new album, composed of soul-stirring organ work and haunting vocal-free arrangements like Emperor Dessalines [...]
Beenie Man hunts Hit List for Mafia House Productions Rising deejay Hit List has been making a name for himself on the stage show circuit. His high energy performances and chart hit Please Stop the Killing (currently riding all major local charts) haven’t gone unnoticed. Reports are that dancehall kingpin Beenie Man has been hunting [...]
Luciano teams up with Jewish DJ sensation Roots singer Luciano will shortly collaborate with Hasidic DJ Matisyahu, one of the hottest acts currently on the international music scene. The track is slated to be included on Luciano’s upcoming disc for VP Records. The ‘Messenjah’ and ‘Matis’ first met in the summer of 2005 when the [...]
Trials of a Hasidic Rapper Music fans seem thrilled with Chabad-Lubavitch singing sensation Matisyahu; his new album, “Youth,” debuted at number four on the Billboard 200. Critics, on the other hand, are a tough bunch: Some complain that he’s not black, while others say he has betrayed his Jewish ideals. On the day after his [...]
Montserrat’s Kulcha does reggae too Caribbean musician Kulcha Don is dispelling the myth that only Jamaican, Puerto Rican or Bajan-bred artists can create the ubiquitous dancehall and reggaeton sounds that blare these days from car and home sound systems. But Kulcha Don, born Reinford Gibbons on the small island of Montserrat, is breaking such stereotypes [...]
JASMINE’S JUICE I ended the week at Damian Marley’s historical show at Brixton Academy which was a real party, but not as heavy as the after party organised by Radio 1Xtra at Mayfair Club Isis where we danced with Damian and his crew, as well as Fat Joe (fresh from his new job as Pimp [...]
Independent Online Edition > From Jamaica to the world: The legacy of a legend As one of Bob Marley’s former bandmates sues his estate for £60m in royalties, Steve Barrow explains what happened to the other members of the reggae legend’s inner circle The Wailers The line-up of the group that signed to Island included [...]
Mikey Cambpell – Still at the Controls http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/lifestyle/images/20060318T160000-0500_100894_OBS_MIKEY_CAMBPELL___STILL_AT_THE_CONTROLS__1.jpg” alt=”” /> In the late 70s the refrain Dread at the Control Tower assumed cult status in what was arguably radio’s last golden pre-cable TV and Pre- Internet reverie. Michael Campbell, the man behind that refrain and one of Jamaica’s most innovative and original radio personalities, is [...]
First Born’s ‘Uplift Yourself’ tops reggae chart in Jamaica Guyanese reggae singing sensation group, First Born, has made it to the top of the MiPhone/Mega Jamz98FM Top 20 Reggae Chart in Jamaica with the song, “Uplift Yourself” featuring Fantan Mojah from its ‘Irits’ album, recorded by Vizion Sounds. The record company told The Scene that [...]
More German sounds in the dancehall Jamaicans have by now become more than accustomed to the presence of a German in the dancehalls, in the person of DJ Gentleman, who all would say has acquitted himself well over the past couple of years. Now another German artiste is seeking to make a name in the [...]