Bosstones Throwdown and Long Live Desmond Dekker! A not-so-subtle subtheme of the Mighty Mighty Bosstones’s reunion in their hometown this week is the veneration of a ska, rocksteady, and reggae trailblazer for Bob Marley. The Bosstones’s latest radio cut, “Don’t Worry Desmond Dekker,”‘ references the onetime welder who sang the classic “Israelites” and was named [...]
Bounty dismisses – ‘never-see-come-see’ Beenie After a display of musical versatility by Javaughn, who sang of Peer Pressure and played keyboards, drums and bass guitar, the regal prowl of Etana as she sang of the Wrong Address and encouraged all to hold on their Roots, the extended reggae rockers of Rootz Underground came to ‘Welcome [...]
The Boys of Birmingham It’s easy to assume that reggae music is a product of Jamaica alone. The island has produced all of the genre’s biggest names for the past 40 years, and it’s still ground zero when it comes to discovering what’s hot. Reggae music was undoubtedly born in Jamaica, but if you branch [...]
Rootz Underground hits with Hammerz Reggae band, Rootz Underground, has broken new ground with the shooting of Hammer, the video for the next single off their soon-to-be released debut album Movement!. Produced by Shannon Hart and directed by Luciano Blotta, the video for Hammer is a symbol of the message of Rootz Underground, whose lyrics [...]
Strictly the Best, Vol. 37 and 38 In a genre as singles-driven as reggae, mixtapes rule. Compilations are the next best thing, though, so VP Records churns them out liberally: The Reggae Gold series is its annual crossover-friendly collection (translation: hip-hop remixes and liberal doses of Sean Paul), while Strictly the Best titles serve up [...]
Sean Kingston’s ‘Beautiful Girl’ is mommy Janice Turner meticulously prepared tripe and beans for her celebrated son, Sean Kingston, last Saturday and if and when he desires ackee and saltfish, stew peas or pig’s tail, she will don her apron without hesitation. Two months ago, Turner, daughter of the legendary Jack Ruby and mother of [...]
Africa is Blacks’ Mecca, says Reggae star A leading Reggae superstar Jepther McClymont known in show business as Luciano or Jah Messenger has described the continent of Africa as the Mecca for all black people both home and abroad. “The continent to me is I and I greatest heritage we have now especially for those [...]
Detour to dancehall As reggae’s best-selling living artist, Shaggy took a detour from the mainstream this year. After multiple crossover hits, “Church Heathen” signalled a departure from the formula-though mixing Gregorian chants into a dancehall record was always going to raise eyebrows. Predictably, it failed to match past chart successes, but it was an overdue [...]
‘Many Moods Of Moses’ Being the King of the Dance-hall is not an easy throne to keep, with competition stiff and naysayers trying to take away your crown. STAR Artiste of the Month Beenie Man is confident in his stance as king of the entire dancehall movement, not allowing anybody to take away his crown.
Cocoa Tea After more than 30 years as a reggae musician, Cocoa Tea should be either a cutting-edge groundbreaker or a standard-bearing legend. As Biological Warfare disappointingly makes clear, he’s neither. The dancehall vibe he’s worked with for most of his career has seen him occasionally flirting with progressive electronic sounds that threaten to push [...]