Boomshots

Category: Reasoning

  • Ancient Future Is Now

    Ancient Future Is Now

    Diggy British Scores Big as Ancient Future debuts Pon Top of iTunes Reggae Chart

    “Sharp like the thorn crown pon Christ head,” Protoje spits on “Protection,” the opening track of his new album Ancient Future, “And you know the flow Hardo like slice bread.”  True, that. The artist’s third album, which dropped today and shot to the top of iTunes reggae chart, marks a quantum leap in his lyrical prowess, not just in terms of flows and patterns but also in thought-provoking ideas (“drastically free from hypocrisy I say yeah”). Anybody sleeping on this youth needs to wake up fast. Between Protoje’s endless cascade of pause-and-rewind punchlines and Winta James’s sophisticated soundscapes, the album stands out as a breath of fresh air in the modern Jamaican music scene—which has elders like Sizzla so deeply vexed. In Jamaica many reggae lovers use the term “Ancient” to describe artists of the 70s and 80s, and Protoje clearly taps into that era for inspiration. Mark you, this remarkable album is not a throwback, but rather a leap forward—hence the second half of its aptly chosen title. As Ancient Future week continues on Boomshots, Reshma B quizzes Diggy about the levels of meaning behind his tune “Stylin.”  Video After the Jump… (more…)

  • Protoje in the UK: Reasoning with Diggy British

    Protoje in the UK: Reasoning with Diggy British

    Kick Off Ancient Future Week With a “Bubblin’” Selection and Reshma B’s Epic Interview

    “We radically transforming the landscape of Jamaican Music on March 10th,” reads the official IG feed for the man called Protoje aka Diggy British. Well, so much for managing expectations. But that’s Protoje for you. Every since he first began bubbling under the reggae radar around 2010 or so, it was clear he was on some next next level movements—even if, especially if, they weren’t perfectly in tune with what everybody else was doing at that moment. He was always himself up on stage, never playing a role, never pretending to be too cool, fearlessly blending sincerity and complexity and militancy and rock-solid roots and dub sonics. Long before folks were chatting about a “reggae revival,” Diggy was quietly putting in work. From the Seven Year Itch to the Eight Year Affair it’s been a long journey. Recently he and several other like-minded bredrens formed like Voltron and started making noise as a collective, combining old school musical values with state-of-the-art social media savvy to wage asymmetrical musical warfare. Then last year Diggy and his longtime parring-p Chronixx dropped a certified Boomshot known as “Who Knows.” From that point it was on and popping. “Now is our time to govern the music,” Diggy told us late last year. We’re expecting big things, so we’ve declared Ancient Future week on Boomshots. Keep it locked. Audio & Video After The Jump… (more…)

  • Legalize it! Wiz Khalifa, Queen Ifrica, Jr. Gong, Chronixx, Sizzla, Tarrus Riley and Lee “Scratch” Perry Chat ‘Bout Ganja Legalization and the Healing of the Nation

    Legalize it! Wiz Khalifa, Queen Ifrica, Jr. Gong, Chronixx, Sizzla, Tarrus Riley and Lee “Scratch” Perry Chat ‘Bout Ganja Legalization and the Healing of the Nation

    Could Legalizing Ganja Really Make It The Healing of The Nation At Last?

    Four decades ago Peter Tosh sang “Legalize It” and countless Rastafarians have suffered at the hands of the law for the sake of the holy sacremental herb. Now the Jamaican government is taking steps to decriminalize ganja with an eye to full legalization and industral production of medical marijuana. At this historic moment the Boomshots crew caught up with a few musicians in Jamaica who have been spreading the message on behalf of the “Healing of the Nation” to get their views on this big news for the Legalization movement Video After The Jump… (more…)

  • Jah9: Jazz on Dub

    Jah9: Jazz on Dub

    Roots Reggae Queen, Jah9 is all set and ready to deliver a Holistic Dub Experience to her New York fans at Milk River Restaurant & Lounge tonight!

    Jazz and Dub blends together for a musical massage with an extraordinary sound. The slow sound waves of dub, allow the lyrics to ride over the beat, in a synchronized fashion. This speed enables the listener to focus on the lyrics, so it comes as no surprise that, Janine “Jah9” Cunningham, entitled her East Coast Tour, “Jazz on Dub.” The tour to promote her debut album, “New Name” hits Brooklyn, New York tonight. More After The Jump…

    (more…)

  • Mystic Reflections with Hempress Sativa

    Mystic Reflections with Hempress Sativa

    Kerida Chaka Johnson aka Hempress Sativa, followed in the path of her father, Albert “Ilawi” Johnson’s (original selector for Jah Love Muzik) musical footsteps to become a singer/songwriter. However, she’s clearly her own entity, with a deeply spiritual mind and focus.   More After The Jump…

    (more…)

  • Reasoning with Tony Rebel before Rebel Salute: “I Rebel against things that are Wrong”

    Reasoning with Tony Rebel before Rebel Salute: “I Rebel against things that are Wrong”

    The Rebel With a Cause Looks Back Over 22 Years of Roots & Culture

    No meat, no alcohol, but plenty vibes. No hip-hop, no EDM, but nuff niceness. No stampedes, no slackness, but total niceness. Over the past 22 years, Rebel Salute has stuck to a winning formula and evolved into the people’s choice as Jamaica’s top-ranking reggae festival. Last year the Rebel Salute stage transformed Bounty Killer into Rodney Price as he delivered one of the greatest performances of his career. This year the Boomshots crew dropped by Flames Productions HQ in Kingston, Jamaica to reason with Mr. Tony “Fresh Vegetable” Rebel who explained how a humble birthday celebration grew into a musical phenomenon—complete with its own foundation that awards scholarships to educate Jamaica’s youth. Check the reasoning as Rebel tells Reshma B about the roots of Rebel Salute, right down to the great food (and brain food) availabe at the show. And if you can’t make it there in person, Rebel breaks down the best way to enjoy the show from the comfort of your own yard… Video & Full Lineup After The Jump… (more…)

  • Chronixx Talks “Tenement Yard” Collab with Inner Circle’s Roger Lewis

    Chronixx Talks “Tenement Yard” Collab with Inner Circle’s Roger Lewis

    “Re-Presentation” of Jacob Miller’s 1975 Classic Set to Debut Monday on Mass Appeal

    Forty years ago, the late great Jacob “Killer” Miller released “Tenement Yard”, his first hit with the Inner Circle band. “Dreadlocks can’t live in a tenement yard,” the young Rasta rebel sang, lamenting all the “watchy watchy” people chatting his business in one of Kingston’s inner city communal housing schemes. Four decades later a new Rasta rebel steps up on the said Inner Circle riddim, and delivers his message, with what amounts to a whole new song subtitled “News Carrying Dread.” Not only are the rhythm track and the message of the new tune in tune with the original, a sample of “Jakes” voice also rings throughout. The 2015 release, which marks the first time the reggae supergroup has re-presented a song by their foundation vocalist, will premiere this Monday on Mass Appeal. Late last year Boomshots caught up with Chronixx and Inner Circle co-founder Roger Lewis at the band’s state-of-the-art Circle House Studios, where the song was made. “Me find Jacob, Red Hills Road,” Says Roger Lewis with conviction in his voice. “All my life I tell you—and I don’t say this becauxse Chronixx is here—I don’t see a youth who touch me like Jacob.” The good vibes are clearly mutual between the veteran band and the young singer. “We always have a great respect for the Inner Circle family, even before we really met up physcially,” says Chronixx. “Is a great thing. Is a very very great thing. To see say them music can still be revamped. Because we are the originators, I and I, from that time till this time.” Check the full reasoning with Rob Kenner and Reshma B. Video After The Jump… (more…)

  • Chris Blackwell Speaks on “Countryman”

    Chris Blackwell Speaks on “Countryman”

    Island Records Founder Reflects on a Friend Who Had Nothing And Still Had Everything

    Most reggae fans know the Reggae Cult Classic film Countryman, but it’s less well known that the star of the film is real person. The 1982 film, which will be streamed online next Friday night, December 5th—following an exclusive BoomshotsTV chat with one of the original cast members, veteran Jamaican actor Carl Bradshaw—was directed by Dickie Jobson, and stars a Rastafarian Indian Tamil fisherman who lived in the seaside community of Hellshire outside Kingston, Jamaica. Island Records founder Chris Blackwell, who backed the film project, reflects on the man he knew, a real Rastaman who truly undersood the meaning of the term Thanksgiving, and embodied it in his simple life and his every word and deed. Video After The Jump… (more…)

  • Lee “Scratch” Perry Wants You To Stop Smoking Ganja

    Lee “Scratch” Perry Wants You To Stop Smoking Ganja

    The Reggae Pioneer Tells The Fader About New Music, Old Studios, and Negative Influence

    Lee “Scratch” Perry, who crafted sounds for Bob Marley, Peter Tosh and countless others while releasing genre-formative albums of his own, is relaxing in a grand old English guest house in Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire. He has just gotten through performing at the Lakefest Music Festival and is wearing a full red suit covered with dollar, pound, and Euro signs written in Magic Marker; his baseball cap is adorned with metallic badges, a large circular mirror, and a pinecone-shaped chunk of crystal perched on the brim. When he speaks, his words, like his clothes and his tunes, are freewheeling, arcane, and ceaseless. From a small settee, he holds forth on a wide range of subjects, including his new signee, Iguana, his return-to-form new album Back on the Controls, which he recorded in a replica of his legendary Black Ark recording studio, and why he feels guilty about the marijuana culture his art helped to spread to the masses. Video After The Jump…

    (more…)

  • His Imperial Majesty

    His Imperial Majesty

    On November 2, 1930, the official crowning of a monarch occurred in Ethiopia

    Peoples of African descent, come from a lineage of kings and queens, as referenced in the bible. On this day, November 2,  in 1930, Emperor Haile Selassie I and his wife, Empress Menen Asfaw were formally crowned with regalia, together in Ethiopia.
    More After The Jump…

    (more…)

  • Gunman World: Inside Jamaica’s Shotta Culture

    Gunman World: Inside Jamaica’s Shotta Culture

    Exclusive Excerpt from Mass Appeal Mag Cover Story by Rob Kenner, Photography by Ruddy Roye

    Jesquan Spence was not quite two years old when he saw the police kill his father. “The soldiers come in and take ’way the phones and say everybody fi sit down,” says the child’s grandmother, Michelle Davis, recalling that fateful Monday, May 24, 2010. “Then some police come in. Them say, ‘How many man in here?’ And them point ’pon me son.”

    Jesquan’s dad, Errol Spence, was 22 years old, the only adult male in the Tivoli Gardens household where 17 family members and neighbors had been waiting out a government-imposed state of emergency for a week. Michelle Davis and Jesquan’s mother Jesean Williams will never forget the cops’ chilling words: “Them turn to us and say, ‘You know the good haffi suffer for the bad.’”

    “But me no badman,” Errol Spence protested as three heavily armed police officers ordered him out of his seat and walked him into the kitchen. “Dat you say?” one of them replied. “You gwan dead today.” Continues After The Jump… (more…)

  • Reasoning with DJ Khaled: “I’d Love to Make a Record with Bounty Killer and Mavado”

    Reasoning with DJ Khaled: “I’d Love to Make a Record with Bounty Killer and Mavado”

    Live From We The Best Studios in Miami, Khaled Talks Mavado, Killer, and Rinses Some Dubs

    You already know that all DJ Khaled does is win, win, win no matter what, but did you know the founder and CEO of We The Best Music, who has produced some of the biggest anthems in the history of hip-hop, has deep roots in the dancehall soundclash game. Long before he got down with Terror Squad or YMCMB or became president of Def Jam South, the Miami-based hitmaker was cutting dubplates and flying down to Jamaica to compete in clashes like Fully Loaded. Boomshots made the link with Khaled from those days so you dun know our interview is gonna be different than all the rest. Reshma B went deep with Khaled, discussing his work with Mavado, his deep roots with Bounty Killer, and how he’s navigating the friction between the Gully Gad and the Warlord. Khaled even dips into his dubplate collection to brandish some exclusive tunes for the Boomshots massive. Videos After The Jump… (more…)