Boomshots

Author: Boomshots

  • HEAR THIS: Vybz Kartel “Tomorrow People”

    HEAR THIS: Vybz Kartel “Tomorrow People”

    The World Boss Channels Ziggy Marley

    Described by Chronixx as a “fearless creative soul in this earth,” dancehall’s incarcerated World Boss, Vybz Kartel continues to amaze. In the past he has recorded cover versions of dancehall classics by the likes of Shabba Ranks and Grindsman, but today his cover of Ziggy Marley’s “Tomorrow People” hit iTunes. This song is perhaps even more unexpected than Kartel’s cover of The Beatles “In My Life“—since that was clearly labeled as a personal tribute. But this note-for-note cover of the 1988 breakout single from Bob Marley’s firstborn son makes a bold statement that Kartel is more than capable of performing in the reggae idiom. Depending on your age, intellect, and musical point of view, the idea of Vybz Kartel singing “if you don’t know your past you don’t know your future” may strike you as ironic, profound or both. Audio After The Jump… (more…)

  • Chronixx Bigs Up Vybz Kartel, Burns Out Ignorant Bloggers and VICE Media

    Chronixx Bigs Up Vybz Kartel, Burns Out Ignorant Bloggers and VICE Media

    Was Di Steam Ministah Misrepresented On Noisey Jamaica?

    “I will never dignify untrue and twisted publications made by a media who only seek to create headlines which drag artistes and their supporters through the valley of disunity and division,” said Chronixx in a new Instagram post. “It is all a part of the overall effort to divide our music, divert our creative focus and incarcerate the legends of our music- ‘To divide and rule is their only plan,’ he continued, quoting Sizzla Kalonji and Jah Cure. ‘I a nuh fool.’” The post was apparent response to media reports that Chronixx compared Kartel to a “cannibal” in a recent TV program called Noisey Jamaica. “Vybz Kartel himself has done a lot of good things in life, I must say,” Chronixx was quoted as saying in the program, which aired on the new network VICELand. “Gangsterism, cannibalism… because Vybz Kartel over time became a cannibal. When you listen to his music it is very cannibalistic.” Chronixx took to IG to clarify his remarks and to castigate “ignorant bloggers” and media outlets that sow discord rather than overstanding. Full Statement After The Jump… (more…)

  • WATCH THIS: I-Octane “Nuh Badda Dan Jah” Official Music Video PREMIERE

    WATCH THIS: I-Octane “Nuh Badda Dan Jah” Official Music Video PREMIERE

    Octane Comes Before The Almighty With A Humble Heart

    You have some bwoy who feel like they’re wicked and dreadful. They march through the streets with the tallest tall-up and claim to run the road like tire. I-Octane’s thought-provoking tune on Good Good Production’s Cure Pain Riddim points out the folly of mortal men who seek comfort in mass destruction and exalt themselves because they have the power to brutalize their brothers and sisters. At the end of the day, who is really badder than God himself? Today Boomshots proudly premieres the visual interpretation of this tune, a hard-hitting video that might just have the power to change lives. Video After The Jump… (more…)

  • WATCH THIS: Dre Island “M-16” Official Music Video

    WATCH THIS: Dre Island “M-16” Official Music Video

    Rise The Machine And Rinse It Clean

    Dre Island is a youth we’ve been checking for from time. He rolled into 2016 as one of Mass Appeal’s 16 Artists to Watch and today he drops what may be his most anticipated release yet, the first video off his “Now I Rise” project on E5 Records. Big up the Mass Appeal massive every time. In comes a musical thing called M-16 so just rock and come een. This yah one badder than a laser beam—Zeen? Video After The Jump… (more…)

  • British Police Try To Ban Bashment

    British Police Try To Ban Bashment

    Cops In Croydon Claim Sean Paul’s Music Causes Crime

    Police in Croydon have reportedly instituted a ban on dancehall music—known in the UK as “bashment”—claiming that it causes crime and disorder. The latest Clash Music Reggae and Dancehall column reports that police in the London borough wrote a letter criticizing at least one nightclub for playing “what this borough finds unacceptable forms of music.” Dice Bar owner Roy Seda says he has had undercover cops in his club monitoring the music and has been forced to sack DJs for playing dancehall, even though customers often request songs by artists like Sean Paul. “They think I’m a racist,” he told a local newspaper. “All I can say is I am really sorry but the Metropolitan Police has told us [not to play bashment] and, if we do, I will lose my license. Someone has to stand up and say this isn’t right.” Full Story After The Jump… (more…)

  • WATCH THIS: Keznamdi “Herbs” Official Music Video

    WATCH THIS: Keznamdi “Herbs” Official Music Video

    Kez & Keida Work The Ital Steamer

    Ever since RiRi and Drizzy touched up the Pot O Gold “Sail Away” riddim with the chart-topping tune “Work,” Jamaican artists have been inspired to reimagine the tune in their own style and pattern. The latest “reworking” is a wicked ganja tune called “Herbs” by the rootical DJ Keznamdi.  “I wanted to put a little more roots in there, so you see a lot more Jamaican culture,” he told The Fader, who premiered the video earlier this week—which features noted herb advocate Keida in a crucial supporting role: keeping the ital steamer hot. “Marijuana advocacy is very special to me,” says Kez, “so whatever way I can get the message to people I try to.” Video After The Jump… (more…)

  • Dre Island “M-16” Video Shoot Behind-The-Scenes

    Dre Island “M-16” Video Shoot Behind-The-Scenes

    The Official Music Video Premieres Tomorrow on Mass Appeal

    Named one of Mass Appeal’s “16 Artists To Watch in 2016,” the Jamaican artist and producer Dre Island is known for a lyrical attack that’s both “hard and heartical, streetwise and sensible.” On “M-16,” the first track from his highly anticipated Now I Rise project, Dre uses his rapid-fire lyrics like an automatic weapon to inspire his listeners to eradicate the negative energies that support and uphold the Babylon system. Tomorrow he will premiere the music video for the track, directed by Steezy for RD Studios, on Mass Appeal. In the meantime, pree this mini documentary about the track, produced by E5 Records, and check Nickii Kane‘s behind-the-scenes photographs from the video shoot at Old Theatre in Harbour View, Jamaica. Photos After The Jump… (more…)

  • WATCH THIS: Jahmiel “Where Were You” x “Great Man” Official Music Video PREMIERE

    WATCH THIS: Jahmiel “Where Were You” x “Great Man” Official Music Video PREMIERE

    Oh Why Oh Why? You Get a Fight When You Start Try

    The road to “overnight success” is usually longer than it seems, and it’s not without pitfalls and stumbling blocks along the way. Just ask Jamiel Foster, aka Jahmiel, a youth known to true dancehall fans as one of the music’s most promising new voices. After years of tirelessly writing, voicing, and promoting his music by all means necessary, last year’s tune “Gain The World” for Quantanium Records elevated Jahmiel to stardom. Ever since we caught his show-stealing guest spot on this year’s Rebel Salute, we’ve been big supporters of the artist. We know he’s not frightened fe Benz and Beamer—but what about badmind and bandwaggonist?  Videos After The Jump… (more…)

  • WATCH THIS: Mighty Mystic “How Many Miles” Official Music Video PREMIERE

    WATCH THIS: Mighty Mystic “How Many Miles” Official Music Video PREMIERE

    The Never-Ending Journey of Love and Loss

    “This song symbolizes that there is no length of time, distance or space one is willing to travel to get back to or find the person they love—no matter the cost,” says Mighty Mystic, the Jamaica-born, Boston-based reggae singer who released his third album The Art of Balance earlier this year. True to the album’s title, this song is a complete departure from the previous single, a light-hearted ganja tune “Something Bout Mary,” although it’s also about a powerful male-female relationship. “When my brother played the first note on the keyboard it sent chills down my spine and immediately felt pain,” relates the singer, who parents named him Kevin Holness (his brother is actually the newly elected Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness). “I’m not talking ’bout stubbing your toe pain—I’m talking ’bout a deep pain like losing someone you love type pain. So on the heels of that emotion I wrote ‘How Many Miles.’” Today Boomshots premieres the music video, directed by Marlon O, which Mystic describes as “a mysterious reflection of the song.” Video After The Jump… (more…)

  • HEAR THIS: Drake ft. Popcaan “Controlla!”

    HEAR THIS: Drake ft. Popcaan “Controlla!”

    The Long Awaited 6 God x Unruly Boss Collab Is Here At Last

    Popcaan and Drake have been bigging each other up for so long it feels like this tune—which leaked today—is long overdue. First Drake started dropping “Y Pree” in his lyrics. Then Drizzy’s boys shot a music video for Poppy up in Toronto. After that the OVO posse jetted down to Jamaica and shot a short documentary, “6 in the 876”—snippets of which ended up on Drake’s acclaimed mixtape If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late. Just the other day Boomshots caught up with Popcaan, and asked him point blank if there would be any unruliness on Drake’s upcoming album Views From The 6. At the time he answered no, but added “anything is possible.” Which makes us think this track—something shimmy joint fe de gyal dem—which leaked unofficially and hit all the blogs today, must have been completed fairly recently. Drake opens his verse with an O.G. Poppy reference “My eye just changed.” Anyway, no more long talking. The ting shot. Wickedness Increase! Audio After The Jump… (more…)

  • Reasoning with Popcaan: “We Godly, But we Unruly Same Way”

    Reasoning with Popcaan:
    “We Godly, But we Unruly Same Way”

    EXCLUSIVE: The Unruly Boss Kicks It With Boomshots

    Long before Andrae Sutherland was known as Popcaan, back in primary school—the Jamaican equivalent of elementary—he wrote a letter to God. He asked the Lord to “open my brain in school” and to let him prosper in life. Moreover he asked God to allow his parents and grandparents and his brother and sister live to inherit whatever he received. While cleaning house recently, his grandmother found the piece of folded notebook paper amongst some books and gave it to him. He posted it on Instagram with a message to his 444,000 followers: “God is real and he did answer that prayer I pray to him a long time ago🙏🏼 #givethanks.” That #GiveThanks hashtag comes straight out of Poppy’s song “Unruly Prayer,” released last May. “Look how much youth deh a jail house,” he sings on the record. “Me never haffi deh a road/Look how much youth deh a grave yard/Me never haffi deh yah don’t… So me haffi give thanks yeah… Tell the devil keep him distance yeah.” Late last month Popcaan posted a 10-minute video to his Vevo channel, the first part of a documentary called “Abundant Life.” Nursing a fat spliff before a roaring bonfire, his intricate braids unbound, allowing his hair to burst forth as an unruly bush, the artist formerly known as the “Raving King” read from Psalms 40 and 59 above the sound of a crackling fire and the throbbing beat of Niyabinghi drums: “I waited patiently for the Lord, and he inclined to me and heard my cry. He also brought me out of the horrible pit and out of the miry clay. He set my feet upon a rock, and established my steps. He has put a new song into my mouth…” Just as we were about to post this interview, the Internet put a new song from Drake and Popcaan into our ears. Read on to find out why this surprise release was really no surprise at all. Kick Ouuuut! Interview After The Jump… (more…)

  • HEAR THIS: Kanye West ft. Rihanna & Swizz Beatz “Famous”

    HEAR THIS: Kanye West ft. Rihanna & Swizz Beatz “Famous”

    Don’t Watch The Swift Diss—Watch The Beat. What a Bam Bam!

    Before anybody knew anything about Kanye’s remarkable TLOP album they heard that he had dissed Taylor Swift. Then the news was all about how you couldn’t find the album anywhere except on Tidal. Well, now that “Famous” is finally available on Apple Music and Spotify we thought we’d take a moment to vibe the tune and reflect on how dope this song truly is. Rihanna’s feature is a strong as anything on Anti and Swizzy kills the ad-libs. Kanye’s raps are on point as ever—the Taylor Swift diss being the least interesting part of this intriguing meditation on the flipside of fame and fortune. But for the reggae massive, what Kanye does with the sample of Sister Nancy’s “Bam Bam” is the highlight. This man gets down on the production like nobody else. Respect.   Audio After The Jump… (more…)