Boomshots

Category: Reasoning

  • EXCLUSIVE: Vivian Blake Speaks

    Back In Jamaica, The Former Shower Posse Boss Is Making Movies.

    “No interviews please” Vivian Blake returning to Jamaica on January 29, 2009.

    After spending eight years in U.S. prison on federal racketeering and drug charges, Vivian Blake was escorted back to the land of his birth by U.S. Marshalls along with 51 other deportees just over seven months ago. The former Shower Posse Boss spent his time behind bars developing his skills as a writer, and plans to tell his stories on the big screen. In his first interview since coming home, he tells Boomshots.com about his plans for the future. (more…)

  • Better Days: Reasoning With Steely & Clevie

    Remembering Wycliffe “Steely” Johnson Aug. 18, 1962 – Sep. 1, 2009

    Two The Hard Way: Steely & Clevie did it real big during dancehall’s digital era.

    Even after reading the sobering words of his musical sparring partner Cleveland “Clevie” Browne in this Sunday’s Jamaica Observer, the untimely death of ace Roots Radics keyboardist and pioneering dancehall producer Wycliffe “Steely” Johnson still comes as a terrible shock. The 47-year-old musician, composer, and groovemaster has played such a vital role on so many classic reggae recordings—from Gregory Isaacs’ immortal “Night Nurse” to the ubiqitous Punany riddim to “Sorry” (by “the other Foxy Brown”) to dancehall blasters like Tiger’s “When” and Shabba Ranks’s “Ting a Ling” even soulful cuts like Beres Hammond’s “Double Trouble” and the hit remake of Dawn Penn’s “No No No”—that it’s hard to imagine Jamaican music without him. [UPDATE: V.P.’s new Reggae Anthology pays tribute to Steelie & Clevie] (more…)

  • WATCH THIS: Charly Black Interview

    Reasoning With A Rising Star Backstage at Reggae Sumfest 2009

  • Tarrus Riley Spreads The Reggae Virus

    “Much Better Than The Swine Flu” says Tarrus, a Singer On A Mission

    Today’s Sunday New York Times calls Tarrus Riley a “Reggae Singer With A Legacy, A Following, And A Mission.” I know this because I wrote the blasted piece. (more…)

  • HEAR THIS: Queen Ifrica “Mek Me Grow”

    The Fyah Muma Is Not Rampin’ With Kartel’s “Virginity” Argument.

    In keeping with a long dancehall tradition, Vybz Kartel has made a habit of pushing the envelope of lyrical propriety. But even for Di Teacha, “Virginity” was a highly controversial track. (more…)

  • Mr. Cee Says Squash The Beef

    A Hip Hop Legend says “Caribbean Music Can Be A Monster,” However…

    I got a chance to reason with a Hip Hop Legend last Friday, the one and only Mr. Cee. Depending on the depth of your knowledge of hip hop culture, you may know Cee as Big Daddy Kane’s DJ, or as the man who recorded the demo tape that got Biggie Smalls his deal with Puff Daddy. Or you may just know him as the influential radio personality at New York’s #1 radio station, Hot 97 FM. Besides playing great hip hop and R&B, Cee has been influential in helping break many dancehall records on the international market. Hot 97 plays more reggae than most of the urban format stations in America. So I had to ask him the $64,000 question:

    You were involved in hip hop before it was a major major money industry. Do you feel like reggae can ever reach that same level of prosperity internationally? It seems like it always stays in the grassroots and in the underground moreso than rap.

    AND THIS IS WHAT HE SAID. “I know that reggae probably can be just as lucrative or just as successful as hip hop is, or maybe even beyond. I know that it could. But the one thing that’s the biggest downfall for reggae right now…

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  • WATCH THIS: Reasoning with Sean Paul

    The Dutty Don speaks about his latest album, Imperial Blaze.

    Another Boomshots.com Xclusive. Sean Paul on artists fighting against artists: “This little sticks and stones shit with music,” says the multiplatinum, chart-topping, Grammy-winning DJ. “I don’t cater for it.” (more…)

  • Mutabaruka Distressed Over Daggerin’

    Dub poet sez: “Some wild beast animal ting ah gwan inna Jamaica.”

    “This no civilized Rasta,” says the bare-footed dub poet famous for classics like Outcry and Dis Poem. (more…)

  • Bunny Wailer Show Them How Fi Rule Dancehall

    Original Wailer says Beenie, Bounty, and Sean Paul are “Lollipop Stuff.”

    When it comes to living legends, nobody can test Neville Livingston a.k.a. Bunny Wailer. At age 62, Bunny’s the last man standing from the original Wailing Wailers trio that put reggae music on the map internationally. Jah B recently announced plans to offer his entire back catalog for online download in association with Zojak World Wide, and as part of the promotional push, he took time out to reason with Boomshots.com. Needless to say, it was a lively conversation (check VIBE’s August issue for more highlights). Meanwhile, here’s a little taste of his thoughts about the state of reggae music. Who the cap fit, let them wear it. (more…)

  • Ziggy Marley Responds To The Buju Controversy… “We Don’t Put Down Our Heroes”

    Bob’s firstborn son speaks out in defense of his father

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  • HEAR THIS: Queen Ifrica “Lioness On The Rise”

    Queen Ifrica at Flames Yard Kingston, JA. Photography by Wayne Lawrence.

    Born Ventrice Latora Morgan in Spanish Town, Jamaica, Queen Ifrica aka the Fyah Muma is the daughter of ska legend Derrick Morgan. She grew up in the Rastafarian community of Montego Bay, and burst onto the local music scene in 2007 with a humorous tune called “Below The Waist” that she followed up with a string of hits that established the DJ’s name as a force to be reckoned with. While putting the finishing touches on her long-awaited debut album, Ifrica recently released an EP called Road To Mobay, which includes a new song that might as well be her official anthem called “Lioness On The Rise.” As she says in the tune, “When the roll is call up / we’ll be standing tall up.” Run the track…

    [audio:https://www.boomshots.com/tunes/LionessOnTheRise.mp3]

    After vibesing the new music, we linked Ifrica for some reasoning. Come in Fyah Muma…. (more…)

  • Damian Marley and Nas on Rap Radar

    Junior Gong and Gods’ Son in the lab working on their album, Distant Relatives. (more…)