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With no live shows or tours to be staged amid protracted lockdowns, Jamaican artists have gone fully into writing and production mode with over two dozen albums expected to be released in 2021 by some of the island’s biggest names.
Ten years after Rastafarian attorney-at-law Miguel Lorne outrightly blamed former Island Records’ boss, Chris Blackwell at a university symposium, for ‘mashing up’ The Wailers group by devaluing Bunny Wailer and Peter Tosh’s equal role in ascension of the trio, the actions of the now 83 year old, is once again under the microscope.
Director of the Institute of Caribbean Studies at the University of the West Indies (UWI) Dr.
While Gwen Stefani’s Slow Clap track which she released on Thursday, is being praised by her die-hearted fans, as, among other things a ‘masterpiece’, ‘amazing’ and other superlatives, there are some who are dismissing the song as ‘trash’.
Four months after he was castigated by Piers Morgan, for his verbal onslaught on English cricketer, Ben Stokes, retired West Indies batting superstar now Dancehall deejay Marlon Samuels, is having the last laugh as he celebrates the former television host’s downfall.
Even as the Government of Jamaica rolls out its COVID vaccination initiative, Spragga Benz and Buju Banton are continuing to rain “fire” on the State’s attempts to inoculate at least 60 percent of the island’s population.
Head of the Institute of Caribbean Studies at the University of the West Indies (UWI) Dr.
The Jamaica Music Society (JAMMS) membership, has reported a significant jump in new membership, particularly since the organization forged stronger ties late last year with UK-based Performance Rights Organization Phonographic Performance Limited (PPL), to collect royalties wherever Jamaican recorded music is played internationally.
General Manager of the Jamaica Music Society (JAMMS) Evon Mullings, says the international market is not buying into the new-era (Trap, Hip-Hop, Island Pop) music coming out of Jamaica, based on royalty payments he has seen coming into the country, since deepening collection ties with UK-based Performance Rights Organization Phonographic Performance Limited (PPL) late last year.
Director of the Institute of Caribbean Studies at the University of the West Indies, Dr. Sonjah Stanley Niaah, has called for the relevant authorities to move with alacrity to establish a proper Museum of Jamaican Music in Kingston, even if it means turning to crowd-funding to accomplish the milestone, to elevate the current museum from the small space it occupies at the Institute of Jamaica.
The fizzling out of the Montego Bay-based 6IX was a topic of debate recently, on the Let’s Be Honest Podcast, among the likely reasons being whether Alkaline had “written off” their careers; they lost the Gaza fans who had aligned themselves with them, or their novelty had worn off.
When Popcaan tweeted about the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website’s tongue-in-cheek advice to teachers on how to educate students about a zombie pandemic, he received a flurry of reactions, some ranging from amusement, to ridicule to actual seriousness.
Sequences of Usain Bolt puffing away on a cigar whilst cavorting and imbibing with his friends Ian ‘Pepe’ Goodison, Ricardo ‘Bibi’ Gardner, his manager Nugent ‘NJ’ Walker and others, in his new Say Less music video, has not gone down well with many of his Jamaican and international followers.
Four years after releasing her The Way I Are (Natural Woman) song, Reggae singer Etana, is being labelled a fifth columnist, after seemingly making a full about-turn with her once-Afrocentric image, donning instead Eurocentric wigs, lash extensions and heavy makeup.
In what many may see as an uncharacteristic move, Bounty Killer has become the second Dancehall stalwart, after Shaggy, to urge his fans to take the COVID-19 vaccine, in stark contrast to the anti-vaccine sentiments of Sizzla, Buju Banton, Spragga Benz, Tony Rebel, Chronixx, Kabaka Pyramid and even Reggae legend Lee ‘Sratch’ Perry.
Taje ‘Silent Ravers’ Pinnock is claiming that he has not been dismissed, nor has he even been contacted by Raver Clavers head, Ding Dong, about his appearance in a sexually explicit video.
Jamaican artists such Jada Kingdom and Dexta Daps, are, to their own disadvantage, mislabeling themselves as Dancehall artists, when in reality the songs that they are putting out are all totally R&B and Hip Hop, according to two Dancehall pundits.
Usain Bolt says the feeling of being placed in the same league with Reggae icon Bob Marley as two Jamaican legends is one he still finds “indescribable”, despite his fame and fortune.
Six months after he was lampooned in a Sportsmax column, about his “laborious months of campaigning” in 2017 to become a professional footballer being nothing more than a “glorified publicity stunt”, track icon, now Dancehall music producer, Usain Bolt, is insisting that if he had remained in Europe, he would have reaped success.
Even as Esyde artist Skillibeng continues on what many are describing as a prolific song-releasing streak, Dancehall pundits have expressed concern that he seems to be inadvertently impairing his potential cross-over song Crocodile Teeth from making its mark, by constantly overshadowing it with new, not-as-good releases.