Ever since Kool Herc brought Jamaican sound system culture to the Bronx and birthed a billion-dollar industry called hip-hop, dancehall reggae has been the ghost in the American urban music machine. From island-flavored beats to yardie slang, Jamaican music has always exerted a profound if under-recognized influence on genres ranging from rap to R&B, rock, and pop. EDM? That was invented in Jamaica too.

Whether it was Yellowman and Run-D.M.C., Shabba Ranks and KRS-ONE, or Super Cat and Biggie Smalls, collaborations between dancehall and hip-hop artists have been going on for a long while now. These things go in cycles—the last big explosion began around 2002 when Sean Paul, Elephant Man, and Wayne Wonder flooded the airwaves with raw uncut dancehall.

via Reggae Is Running Things In 2013.

He laughs at the very idea of being a ladies’ favourite and seems genuinely perplexed as to how this happened.

But Tarrus Riley can’t deny his huge fan base, garnered thanks to romantic songs including Love’s Contagious, Stay With You and the female empowerment anthem, She’s Royal. And while he appreciates his loyal female following, the Jamaican reggae star insists it wasn’t his intention to woo women through his music.

via Living the life of Riley.

Destiny Morgan is taking it a step at a time as she prepares herself to add her flavour to reggae/dancehall’s legacy much like her parents.

The 12-year-old singjay is the daughter of Pashon Minott, recording artiste and daughter of dancehall’s godfather Sugar Minott and Peetah Morgan of reggae band Morgan Heritage.

via Peetah Morgan + Pashon Minott = Destiny.

FILM director LaToya Vereen hopes her debut French-made production — ‘?’ (question) — will have a positive impact on the local industry.

Her work is one of several scheduled to be shown at the Jamaica International Reggae Film Festival at the Island Village in Ocho Rios, St Ann, which began on Thursday and continues until tomorrow.

via Jamaica, Jamaicans on show at film fest.

Roots reggae singer Jah9 has announced the official release of her latest single, Steamers a Bubble. It will receive the classic treatment and will be released exclusively on vinyl, with added dub versions.Steamers a Bubble is done on the Apartment riddim, originally recorded in 1982 by the Roots Radics band for producer Franklyn ‘Ben Up’ Irvin Shambala/Hit Bound Records.

In its 2013 incarnation, the riddim has been aptly renamed ‘Inna Di Yard’. It pulls significance from the many groundings with legendary guitarist Chinna Smith at his world-renowned St Andrew Park compound. The numerous visits, reasonings and jam sessions on this compound also spawned the ‘Inna Di Yard’ music-documentary series a few years ago.

via Jah9 releases ‘Steamers a Bubble’.

“When Beyoncé sampled Pon De Floor it was already in the clubs two years earlier and I told her that,” Diplo admits.

“She said to me ‘No, but do people know this s***?’ So I was like ‘fine go ahead’. I don’t care, I’m in my own world.”

Diplo’s musical world is a collision of electro, dancehall, hip hop, South American Baile-funk, reggae, dubstep and house.

via Exclusive interview with in-demand producer Diplo of Major Lazer.

Havana in the 1950s was Las Vegas with beaches. Affluent North Americans escaped to Cuba to indulge in cigars, sex, rum, and affordable luxury. Leading hotels and casinos boasted of dance halls and large orchestras. Modeled after popular New York orchestral combos, these tourism-generated bands infused popular music from the United States with the instruments and rhythms of Cuba, Africa, and the Caribbean.

The result was explosive. The mambo quickly busted out of the glitzy cabarets and into the buzzing streets of Havana. Small, private social clubs, of the type immortalized in the 1999 documentary Buena Vista Social Club, began springing up on every street corner. Organized by neighborhood, by occupation, and by social status, these clubs helped nurture a strong community-based sense of the new Cuban music.

via How Reggae Defeated Mambo – Reason.com.

Dancehall music has had its fair share of highs and lows since the 1990s. The most notable of those ‘highs’ are perhaps Shabba’s double Grammy Award wins and Shaggy’s diamond-selling record, despite many other gains by several artistes.

As far as low moments are concerned, there appears to be stiff competition between Shabba’s fall from grace, the backlash Bounty Killer faced after appearing in a music video with a naked man (an occurence he was taken to task about by Beenie Man) on the highly successful Hey Baby collaboration, and Buju Banton’s incarceration on drug charges.

via Is Dancehall killing itself?.

Based on New Times’ reporting, a federal judge in Tampa last week tossed out one of two convictions that sent reggae giant Buju Banton to prison in 2011. The decision — which hinged on juror misconduct dug up by the newspaper — is just the latest plot twist since the Grammy Award winner was rounded up in a government drug sting four years ago. It also opens the way for an appeal.

Jonathan Mannion

Buju Banton

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The news was bittersweet for the 39-year-old star and his camp. “He was disappointed that he wasn’t granted a retrial on all counts” Banton’s attorney, Imhotep Alkebu-lan, tells New Times. “He’s still on the hook for ten years.”

via Buju Banton Is One Charge Away From Emancipation, Thanks to New Times.

The combined lyrical prowess of dancehall’s biggest divas will pique ideas of girl power in dancehall at Reggae Sumfest’s Dancehall Night, July 25.

As the premier reggae festival readies for the staging of its 21st show, audiences are in for a female-powered line-up with the panache to please and tease its fans.

Dancehall Night 2013 is being fuelled by the talent of Lady Saw, Spice, Macka Diamond, Danielle D.I. and Baby Tash.

via Girl Power Drives Reggae Sumfest’s Dancehall Night.