When the fad goes fizzle

Reggaeton may be running out of gasolina.

Radio stations that flocked to the thumping Latino hip-hop style have seen their ratings slip in recent weeks. In at least three markets — Las Vegas, Dallas and Miami — stations that gambled on the music’s growing popularity have since switched back to more traditional musical formats. And in perhaps the most worrisome sign yet, turnout was disappointing for a reggaeton concert last month at the Forum in Inglewood, headlined by Daddy Yankee, the genre’s superstar, and rapper Snoop Dogg.

Junior Kelly’s Tough Life by Elena Oumano

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With the lion’s share of today’s reggae driven by dancehall’s digital beats, and holier-than-thou mic rockers like Sizzla courting hip-hop heads with cynical pussy shout-outs, you just know some in the “conscious” roots contingent are struggling to regain a sense of self. Not Junior Kelly. Tough Life—Kelly’s best effort since 2001′s Love So Nice (led by that title track’s rare public admission of romantic vulnerability)—proves he’s his own man, no retro-minded clone.

Dancehall days

When it comes to dancehall, there aren’t many sound systems that warrant as much respect as Stone Love. SL has, in fact, ruled the worldwide dancehall scene for the last 30 years; they’ve shaped dancehall culture, set DJ trends, and can control a reggae crowd like nobody else. So when local promoters manage to book DJs from the Stone Love sound system, people on both sides of the Detroit River come out and show much love.

Clement “Coxsone” Dodd’s Studio One genius

When people think reggae, the first name that comes to mind is Bob Marley. Far fewer know the name of the man who not only gave Marley and the Wailers their start but who was perhaps more instrumental in laying reggae’s solid foundation than any other individual: Clement “Coxsone” Dodd. A sound-system innovator, record producer, and the first black studio owner in Jamaica, Dodd parlayed entrepreneurial acumen and impeccable taste into one of the largest legacies in recorded music at Studio One, his studio and label. Studio One played a central role in the Jamaican ska, rocksteady, and reggae booms of the ’60s. And much of that music is now being reissued by the Rounder imprint Heartbeat.

Montego Bay became soca city

Montego Bay was transformed into a dancing city for just over five and a half hours on Sunday night, when thousands of revellers made the western city’s leg of the Supreme Ventures of Jamaica Carnival a memorable soca blast.

The crowd, which swelled to Red Stripe Reggae Sumfest proportions as the night progressed, had Byron Lee and the Dragonaires working overtime as the dancing mass of human traffic took almost three hours to cover the just over half a mile ‘Road March’ journey down the Hip Strip as the enticing mix of soca and reggae flavoured music erupted from the three trailers unleashing music.

Dancing Against the Beat

The girl in the flounced white micro-mini and green glitter tube top writhes to the dancehall beat throbbing through the Q-West nightclub. She drunkenly gyrates in a motion that sends her skirt riding up high enough to show her panties, if she were wearing any.

Grenadian elders have condemned Passa Passa, performed to the fast, rhythmic percussions of the reggae style known as dancehall, charging that its strip-tease eroticism exploits directionless island girls. In this nation where many parents have gone abroad to find work, they say, the young women lack moral guideposts, leaving them susceptible to attention-getting stunts.

A critical look at dancehall culture

The launch of Donna Hope’s book, Inna di Dancehall: Popular Culture and the Politics of Identity in Jamaica, took place on Friday afternoon at The Old Dramatic Theatre, University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona.

The formal introduction to this latest body of research exploring the sociopolitical meanings of our most contemporary music culture was a study in interesting surprises, contrasting features of endearments while at the same time highly engaging and absorbing.

Mad about Matisyahu

Call it the Matisyahu effect. Roger Steffens saw it up close and personal.

The Los Angeles-based author/photographer/archivist has been documenting reggae music for 30 years, from the back roads of its Jamaican birthplace to the major stages of Europe and the U.S. But Steffens was surprised by what happened when he got to introduce reggae’s latest sensation, the white Lubavitch Hasidic Jewish singer/rapper named Matisyahu, at February’s annual Bob Marley Day celebration at the Long Beach Arena, a major event on Southern California’s world-music calendar.

Mad Cobra slithers almost alone

The cobra is not by nature a chummy creature; keeping its belly close to the ground. And snipers are famed for going it alone, waiting and waiting ­ and waiting in the right place for the right shot at the right time.

It is no surprise, then, that deejay Mad Cobra goes it almost totally alone on the Snypa Way double disc album, with only two combinations, Nuh Ratings with Stacius and Complaint with Vybz Kartel and Beenie Man, among the 30 tracks in these ‘featuring …’ heavy musical days.

The Wailers jam Down in the District 2006

It’s spring again, and that means it’s time for college students to awaken from their nest of Natty Light cans and pizza boxes and emerge from their humble abodes. It’s also time for outdoor music.

MSU will kick off its own string of warm-weather music Thursday with the Down in the District concert. The event takes place from 8 p.m. to midnight in the usual location: The Cotton District, between Maxwell and Nash streets.