Q&A: Diplo On The Joys Of Dancehall, Kanye West, Social Work, Owning A Label, And Twitter Where do we even start with someone like Diplo? Wes Pentz is a DJ at his core, but he’s also a producer (having worked with Lil Jon, Kanye West, and most notoriously M.I.A.), the founder of left-field record label [...]

Reggae Rising festival in jeopardy The sun may be setting on the Reggae Rising music festival. Eight months ago, when the Humboldt County Planning Commission denied the three-day festival a permit for August 2010 citing poor planning, event organizer Tom Dimmick pledged the annual party on the Eel River would return in 2011. Dimmick, however, [...]

Corporate Jamaica’s embrace of dancehall artistes Last week’s conviction of dancehall star Buju Banton on drug and gun charges, which could see him facing a minimum of 15 years in jail, tugged at the heartstrings of most of the country who had hoped that he would avoid a guilty verdict. For some time now Corporate [...]

Dragons’ Den has made me £30m fortune Levi Roots came to this country unable to write his name and has served more than one jail sentence. Today he is a TV star who has been to No 10 and met Nelson Mandela – and all thanks to his grandmother’s secret recipe. HE’S the reggae musician [...]

Stop the soca, chutney invaders As judges in the Power Soca and Groovy Soca contests we are clear in our minds what we are looking for. Nothing that is calypso or remotely resembles that genre gets past us. I am not a chutney soca judge but I can guess that they too have clear guidelines. [...]

Al Campbell is ‘Man from Studio One’ It’s been a while since singer Al Campbell graced the Jamaican stage, but he is very much active on the music circuit internationally. Japan, Italy, France, USA, Germany are among some of the countries where he has been plying his trade. The last time Campbell performed in Jamaica [...]