Boomshots

Category: Dancehall

  • Reasoning With Di Teacha: Part 1 of 2

    Reasoning With Di Teacha: Part 1 of 2

    As New Album Drops, Kartel Speaks On Music, War, and Life Pon Di Gaza

    Adidja Palmer is a study in contradictions. According to a recent survey commissioned by the University of the West Indies, the DJ known as Vybz Kartel is dancehall’s most popular artist. On the other hand, his one-time mentor Bounty Killer recently said the biggest regret of his career was helping to “buss” the young lyricial prodigy from Portmore. “Kartel is the worst thing to happen to dancehall music,” Killer said of the artist who inspired his recent tune “Ungrateful Hell Bwoy” (a response to his former protege’s scathing “Bownty’s Killer”). After Kartel and Mavado’s epic confrontation at Sting 2008, anticipation is building for this year’s lyrical contest between di Teacha and the Warlord. But Kartel’s complexities don’t stop there. When we spoke last week by telelphone, the man behind controversial tunes like “Rampin’ Shop” and “Virginity” had just completed a back-to-school book giveaway, and was organizing a new juggling called the Schoolyard riddim, encouraging students to stay in school and out of trouble. Yet even as the Gaza vs Gully rivalry continues to simmer in the streets, the prolific, provocative lyricist insists on absolute artistic freedom, no matter the consequences. So who is the real Vybz Kartel? And what is di Teacha really teaching? Tune in and decide for yourself…

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  • DUNGLOAD Screechy Dan & Red Fox “Fall In Love”

    Flatbush Connection Links Up To Represent For The BK Dancehall Massive


    All through the 90s, Screechy Dan & Red Fox kept Brooklyn’s dancehall scene on the map along with producer Sting Intl and sparring partners like Bajja Jedd, Nikey Fungus, Rayvon, and a Boombastic youth named Shaggy.

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  • DUNGLOAD Aidonia “Bolt Action” mix

    Federation Sound, Business Class, & Equinoxx Longside J.O.P. So Sick!

    Pree the preview, then click through for the brand new mix from the DJ who spits strictly rapidfire lyrics. (more…)

  • 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…)

  • HEAR THIS: Early B “DJ Origination”

    Special Request To The Original Doctor, Going Down In Dancehall History

    One more reason to remember September 11: Seven years after Peter Tosh’s 1987 murder in Kingston, the foundation dancehall artist Early B The Doc was killed by a stray shot in a Boston dancehall session 15 years ago today. To call Early B a dancehall legend doesn’t nearly do the man justice. He was a DJ’s DJ, a styistic innovator, a mentor and sparring partner of Super Cat the Don Dada, and a vast repository of information who crammed as much raw data into his lyrics as possible. He was also an ardent student of the culture he chronicles in this 1983 cut on the Sonic Sounds label. “Now I dedicate this style to all the DJs over the years who have been champions, from Daddy Roy straight down to King Yellowman, from Josey Wales and Chaplin and even I Early B the Doctor. Laaaaaawd.” Let it go… (more…)

  • WATCH THIS: Sean Paul “Press It Up”

    New Single From Imperial Blaze Is All About Dutty Dancing

    Sean Paul’s latest video just dropped and this one’s all about the fatulous buffulous eye candy on display… (more…)

  • WATCH THIS: Spragga Benz “Livication”

    Spragga Puts Trust In The Most High, Says to H.I.M. Leave All Vengeance.

    A spiritual tune from a consistently top-notch DJ who suffered a life-changing tragedy just over a year ago. On August 23, 2008, Spragga’s first-born son Carlton Grant Jr., aka Carlyle, was shot dead by police in Kingston, Jamaica . “By right the whole place shoulda red,” Spragga chants as Stephen “Ragga” Marley beats the Binghi drum. “But me still ah hold a higher meds.” Let it go…

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  • NYC Labor Day Weekend Recap

    Beenie Man Mashing Up On Da Reggae Tip Hammerstein Ballroom

    Shout To LonestarSound. (more…)

  • HEAR THIS: Steely & Clevie Top 12

    From Studio One To Studio 2000, Dancehall’s Dynamic Duo Did It All


    Steely’s untimely death this week leaves an enormous void that can only be filled by more tunes. At times like these all we can do is say a prayer for the man’s family and loved ones, and honor his legacy by returning again and again to the music he loved so deeply. (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…)

  • HYPE TV Top 20: Jah Cure On Top

    What’s Really Poppin’ In Yard? Jah Cure & Phyllisia’s Duet “Call On Me”

    The rootical singer Jah Cure has been “Longing For” a big hit tune ever since becoming a free man two years ago, and now the Danger Zone artist has reached the top spot on the Hype TV Charts with “Call On Me,” his sultry duet with Phillisia. (more…)

  • WATCH THIS: Charly Black Interview

    Reasoning With A Rising Star Backstage at Reggae Sumfest 2009