Boomshots

Search results for: “best of the best”

  • The Worst of the ‘Best Of The Best’ Instagram Comments After Epic Mavado Fail

    The Worst of the ‘Best Of The Best’ Instagram Comments After Epic Mavado Fail

    How Them Fi Deal With The Gully Gad So?

    This past Memorial Day Weekend the Best Of The Best music festival put on their 11th annual stage show at Miami’s Bayfront Park. Just like every year the show kicked of in the early afternoon and went on until midnight presenting many of “the best of the best” acts in the reggae and dancehall fraternity. Over they years BOTB has brought some amazing musical moments. However this year’s show ended on a rather sour note. When midnight rolled around without Mavado—the show’s headliner—setting foot on stage to perform. Acts billed for this year’s show included the likes of Jahmiel, Spice, Konshens, Aidonia and Christopher Martin—not to mention veteran acts like Barrington Levy, Mad Cobra, Josey Wales and Brigadier Jerry. However the Gully Gad’s non-performance was a major disappointment to say the least. During the final hour of the show, MC and promoter Jabba paced the stage as Mavado’s band tried to set up as the final moments ticked down. Then at just a few minutes to midnight he called Mavado to the stage, then after a few moments returned to the stage to announce that due to Miami Police and  curfew regulations Mavado would be unable to perform. Confused?! Most of the thousands of patrons in the park were definitely unhappy. (One eyewitness spotted a heated argument going down backstage after the unpopular announcement.) Everybody including artists, promoters, and fans and patrons (who paid as much as $170 for VIP tickets) wasted no time taking to social media to vent their frustrations. Team Boomshots was in the park too. Here’s how the drama unfolded. More After The Jump… (more…)

  • Beres Hammond & Cocoa Tea Headline 10th Annual Best of the Best Music Fest 2016

    Beres Hammond & Cocoa Tea Headline 10th Annual Best of the Best Music Fest 2016

    Miami’s Premiere Reggae Festival Celebrates Its 10-Year Anniversary

    For the past decade, Best of the Best has been transforming Miami’s Bayfront Park into a massive party. Although the early years were characterized by a wide-ranging blend of reggae, dancehall, soca, hip hop and R&B, in more recent years the promoters have focused on Caribbean sounds. Over the years BOTB has emerged as Miami’s premiere reggae festival, and this weekend’s 10th anniversary staging looks to be no exception. Looking for news for Best of Best 2016? Boomshots is the right place for press and information on this year’s event in Miami, Florida. As an official media partner of BOTB 2016, we’ll keep you updated with the movements. Follow boomshots on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter. Full Rundown After The Jump…
    (more…)

  • Shabba Ranks to Headline Best of the Best 2015

    Shabba Ranks to Headline Best of the Best 2015

    Miami Welcomes The Big Dutty Stinkin’ Dancehall Emperor

    There are few entertainers in any genre who can match the raw energy of Shabba Ranks live on stage. But when A$AP Ferg shouted out Shabba a couple of years ago many younger fans had never seen the dancehall legend do his thing live. This Memorial Day weekend May 24 in Miami, everyone will get the chance to witness the Dancehall Emperor ripping up Best of the Best alongside the likes of Capleton, Beenie Man, and Lady Saw. Shabba’s prediction: “Underpants wet, sweat man come fi sweat, money get!” Video After The Jump… (more…)

  • Jabba Pledges Best of the Best 2014 Will Be 100% Caribbean, Says Reggae and Hip-Hop “Come In Like Oil and Water”

    Jabba Pledges Best of the Best 2014 Will Be 100% Caribbean, Says Reggae and Hip-Hop “Come In Like Oil and Water”

    Promoter Promises to “Learn From His Mistakes” at BOTB 2014: Reggae & Soca—but NO Hip-Hop

    For the past eight years Best of the Best has been a fixture of Memorial Day Weekend in Miami, a big outdoor reggae and soca show that normally features top hip-hop acts as well. But this year, Reshma B caught up with Jabba who explained that this year he’s “learned from his mistakes” and made BOTB 2014 a 100% Caribbean festival. That’s right, for the first time the festival will feature reggae and dancehall and soca but NO hip-hop. “Me get back to my roots,” say Jabba. “This year we involve more soca into the show more than just keep mixing the hip-hop and the reggae, because it come in like oil and water. We notice it’s eight years going in. When I first begun I just, you know, coming from a big urban radio station, I feel like hip-hop is part of my culture as well. Because you done know is a Jamaican man who started hip-hop in the Bronx—Kool Herc big up yourself anywhere you deh. So I felt like I can take that mission to a next level and just know say, Hear wah gwan now, let me mix up hip-hop onto reggae on the next level like it’s never been done before. And big respect to all the rappers, but it come in like the worst idea we coulda ever do. But you learn from your mistakes. Because when you come to a Caribbean culture festival, nobody no wan’ hear say “Yo, turn the motherfuckin mic up!” and  “Where’s my niggas at?” You understand?” Video After The Jump… (more…)

  • Best of The Best 2009

    Bounty, Beenie, Ross & Jeezy rip Miami’s biggest reggae/rap stage show.

    The Doctor meets The Bawse: All photos by the man called Wayne Lawrence. (more…)

  • Reasoning with Skillibeng “I’m Still Trying To Write My Best Song”

    Reasoning with Skillibeng “I’m Still Trying To Write My Best Song”

    “New Flows Always”

    “Victory with an easy entrance” proclaimed Skillibeng on his dubplate for Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness ahead of the landslide victory in the 2020 election. Likewise, Skilli himself has been victorious this year in spite of the global pandemic, establishing himself as Jamaica’s new force, specialising in elevating lyrical standards. Seen by many as a face of the rising Trap Dancehall wave, the 23-year old reflects influences ranging from Vybz Kartel to deceased US drill bastion, Pop Smoke, paying tribute in remix of club-smash “Dior.”

    Born in the eastern parish of St. Thomas, his passionate East Syder fanbase grows exponentially on a daily basis, drawn in by inventive flows and sharp lyricism. The vibrant countryside parish, better known historically for Paul Bogle, the Morant Bay Rebellion and rich Afrocentric traditions, is one of the trending regions for talents in dancehall. Skillibeng is the latest attraction alongside 6ixx’s Chronic Law and the unstoppable OVO-signed, Gaza-alumni star, Popcaan.

    With co-signs ranging from Jamaican pocket rocket Koffee, incarcerated reigning dancehall king Vybz Kartel to rapper Young MA, the lyrical technician is making huge strides in his relatively new career. Since breaking through in early 2019 with the acclaimed Prodigy mixtape, a slew of releases including guest spots on Jada Kingdom’s popular mixtape E-Syde Queen: The Twinkle Playlist, the weed ode “50 Bag” and “Mr. Universe,” along with controversial hit “Brik Pan Brik” sparking debates around Scamming songs (songs about the lifestyle of lottery scammers—an increasingly popular hustle tied to organized crime in Jamaica), all aided the young talent in establishing himself as a forerunner among the new generation.  Marvin Sparks speaks with Skillibeng about his year 2020 rise in lockdown, Popcaan friendship, collaborating with Vybz Kartel, lottery scamming culture and recording a dubplate for the Jamaican Prime Minister. Q&A After The Jump…
    (more…)

  • Shaggy & Sting Win Grammy for Best Reggae Album, And Also Burn Badmind

    Shaggy & Sting Win Grammy for Best Reggae Album, And Also Burn Badmind

    “It’s nice to be nominated… But it’s better to win!”


    Dancehall reggae hitmaker Shaggy was honored twice at the 61st Grammy Awards, held yesterday in Los Angeles. Honor #1: The seven-time Grammy nominee was tapped to host the Grammy Premiere Ceremony, the day’s first round of award presentations, which was live-streamed from the Microsoft Theater, directly across the street from the Staples Center where the televised portion of the Grammy Awards took place. Honor #2: Shaggy’s collaborative project with Sting, 44/876, won the Grammy for Best Reggae Album. It was Shaggy’s second career win (his Boombastic album won the Grammy for Best Reggae Album in 1995) and Sting’s 16th. “They always say about the Grammys that it’s nice to be nominated,” Shaggy said while accepting the award. “I’m telling you right now, it’s better to win!” Interview After The Jump… (more…)

  • Best 2017 Reggae Album Grammy Nominations Announced

    Best 2017 Reggae Album Grammy Nominations Announced

    Jr. Gong, Chronixx, Join Two Repeat Contenders And One Newcomer

    Critics be damned! Year in and year out, people say this and that about the nominations for Best Reggae Album. It’s true that the UK MOBO Awards are more in tune with the streets. But this year The Grammys mostly got it right. Two of the very best reggae/dancehall albums of the year—Stony Hill and Chronology—were amongst the nominees announced this morning by the Recording Academy via Grammy Awards’ official website. Two contenders return from last year as well as a first-time noimnee. Full Details After The Jump… (more…)

  • This Year’s Best Dancehall Christmas Songs

    This Year’s Best Dancehall Christmas Songs

    Reshma B Selects The Sounds To Get Your Holiday Party Poppin’

    The Reggae Girl About Town’s new Murda She Wrote column just dropped on Pigeons & Planes, and it’s right on time to help your Christmas jam tun up: “There’s nothing better than Christmas in Jamaica—not just because the balmy Caribbean weather beats a polar vortex every time, but because Jamaicans love Christmas with a passion. The parties start in early December and run all the way through the top of the new year… and the most festive thing of all is the music. Over the years, thousands of reggae Christmas tunes have flooded the internet, but here are Murda She Wrote’s picks for the hottest this year. Full List After The Jump… (more…)

  • Kartel Tops Billboard 10 Best Reggae Albums List

    Kartel Tops Billboard 10 Best Reggae Albums List

    The best of times and the worst of times for lovers of Reggae Music

    For the second year in a row Billboard asked Rob Kenner, founder of Boomshots Media, to pick the 10 Best Reggae Albums of the year. The assignment was particularly significant in this year where Jamaican sounds were all over the airwaves, the pop charts and the Grammy nominations, except that most of the records were not done by Jamaican artists. You could hardly turn on the radio without hearing a half-hour block of dancehall-style tracks, all too often classified under misbegotten names like “tropical house” and “Caribbean bass.” With both Justin Bieber and Rihanna briefly sporting dreadlocks and Drake publicly referring to himself as “the don,” it would be difficult for longtime fans of the music not to catch feelings this year….Consider this list a crib sheet to catch you up on everything you missed while tropical house flooded the airwaves.  Full List After The Jump…
    (more…)

  • WATCH THIS: Vybz Kartel “Best Place Pon Earth” Official Music Video

    WATCH THIS: Vybz Kartel “Best Place Pon Earth” Official Music Video

    If You Could Go Anywhere Right Now, Where Would It Be?

    Close your eyes and imagine paradise. What does it feel like? How do you get there? The latest visuals from the Dancehall WorlBoss explore the mysteries of that inner sanctum from whence all men are born—and where many wish to return. An Xtremely X-rated tune, released last August on the artist’s own Adidjaheim imprint and distributed by the mighty 21st Hapilos, “Best Place Pon Earth” is surely one of Kartel’s best tunes of the year. Speaking about one of his favorite topics, the artist sounds like he’s in the zone on this one. Enjoy the video but be prepared for a rude awakening near the end.  Audio After The Jump… (more…)

  • MOBO Awards Announce 2016 Best Reggae Artist Nominees

    MOBO Awards Announce 2016 Best Reggae Artist Nominees

    Will Popcaan Continue His Winning Streak?

    This morning in London the nominees for this year’s MoBo (Music of Black Origin) Awards were announced. Now celebrating its 21st year, the MoBos have often done a better job reflecting the sound of the streets than the Grammy’s, particularly in the Reggae award category, honoring not only the Best Reggae Album (like the Grammy’s) but the overall Best Reggae Artist. Last year’s nominees included UK-based Stylo G, Chronixx, Protoje, Omi [who might have been amused to be included in this category since the Jamaican-born pop artist always made clear that he’s not a reggae artist], with the award going to Mr. “World Cup” himself, Popcaan—who got the nod this year as well. His last trip to England resulted in a MixPak victory at the Red Bull Culture Clash. Check out his competition. Nominee List After The Jump… (more…)

More posts