In 1998, German sing-jay Gentleman flew to Kingston, Jamaica to further his career in reggae. Seeking recording opportunities, Gentleman called several Kingston based producers via contact information gleaned from the island’s Yellow Pages but only one expressed interest in working with the Cologne-based artist: Richie Stephens. The CEO of Pot of Gold Productions, Stephens, 45, [...]

The ‘Drop it Like it’s Hot’ rapper has been working with producer Diplo – who has previously produced tracks for Beyonce, M.I.A and Usher – and exploring a new musical direction. Diplo told MTV: “Snoop Dogg is an icon, man; he’s bigger than the music. What we’re doing is a reggae record. “It’s all reggae [...]

A friend describes vacationing with her family as housekeeping in a different environment. She’s constantly chasing after the kids with a bottle of sunscreen, picking up after them, and worrying about snacks and the next meal. But I’m sitting on the circular balcony of my split-level, two-bedroom, Mediterranean-style suite, listening to the waves and the [...]

You could hear it on mainstream radio in 1978, courtesy of The Police, and if you’re in Britain, you can hear it on the airwaves today, in the music of Birmingham-born MC Lady Leshurr: reggae’s influence on British music.”As long as there’s been reggae, there’s been reggae in the U.K., and that influence has played [...]

The 2012 staging of Western Consciousness is more than a month away but promoter Worrell King is already grinning from ear to ear as he has landed one of reggae’s premier acts, the dazzling crooner Beres Hammond. “Yeah, man … me have Beres … Beres sign,” an elated King told The Gleaner earlier this week. [...]

I’m on a boat ride from Jakes Hotel to The Pelican Bar, a slapdash, ramshackle, barely held together joint that rests on a sandbar nearly a kilometre from Jamaica’s quiet south shore. The Caribbean is all silver-green and the surf is gently rolling three passengers and a guy who calls himself Captain Joseph. As he [...]

With the apparent declining stronghold that Reggae music has within Jamaican culture, one of its premiere disciples hopes the local industry will help that change for the better. Internationally acclaimed Reggae superstar, Damian ‘Jr. Gong’ Marley addressed the local and universal state of Reggae music during an interview on CVM’s OnStage this past Saturday. Marley, [...]