Local selectas confront dancehall’s gray-market For DJ Smoke One, collecting dubplate “specials” is a passion. Over the last six years, he’s meticulously built up his collection of unique versions of dancehall reggae hits personally voiced by top artists like Junior Reid, Cutty Ranks, Sizzla, Louie Culture, Ninjaman, Luciano, Yami Bolo, and Yellowman. He’s traveled to [...]

The reggae messenger Luciano believes music can make a better world. In his native Jamaica, Luciano is a bona fide superstar. Now, the leading light of roots reggae in its modern post-dancehall incarnation is bringing his conscious sounds to Australian shores for the first time.

Sean Paul Gets Serious About Jamaican Violence Reggae superstar SEAN PAUL is set to launch a one-man campaign to stop youth violence in Jamaica on his new album. The GIMME THE LIGHT singer insists his upcoming dancehall release won’t be full of party anthems, but will deal with issues that concern him about his native [...]

60 SECONDS: Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry is a Grammy award-winning dub and reggae artist and producer who’s worked with Bob Marley, King Tubby and the Mad Professor. Also known as The Upsetter, he has a reputation for being a bit mad and claims he burned down his old recording studio. He now lives [...]

Ready for soca battle When Marcel Bennett started winning singing competitions at primary school it was a clear indication that his future would play along to the musical notes of his dreams. The reigning Junior Soca Monarch whose stage name is Young Marcel took home last year’s award with his infectious tune “Running Red.”

Can you hear the sound? An integral part of the music, sound systems are the lifeblood that pushes the vehicle of the music industry. More than just bringing the right vibe to a party, sound systems have propagated the spread of reggae and dancehall music. Coppershot Disco for instance has played across the globe with [...]

No woman, no cry It’s a lament and a cry of defiance rolled into one that has become a classic. Bob Marley’s No woman, no cry, is a song everyone relates to regardless of what they know of reggae and Rastafarians. But why then did Marley, the most prolific song writer of the 20th Century, [...]

Glory Days Lovers wake up to Boris Gardiner Boris Gardiner’s music transports you to the happy side of love. It’s a place that the three-second pop hits of today couldn’t drag you to kicking and screaming. Think it’s a lie? Try comparing a modern hit to yesteryear’s I Wanna Wake Up With You. The song [...]

The melody connection “Sometimes I feel like I am living in my father’s body.” This sentiment speaks volumes of the spiritual connection Kernal Roberts has with his legendary father, the late Aldwyn “Kitchener” Roberts, whom history will remember as the grandmaster of calypso. It seems Kernal is possessed by the musical spirit of his father, [...]

Forwards, boos for sale Has your expensive hairdo ever come under attack from an overzealous, torch-wielding fanatic, because of a song that deserves to be the theme song for demons? If this is so, you may have experienced a ‘bought forward’. It has long been rumoured that many artistes ‘buy forwards’ or distribute torches and [...]