Boomshots

Category: Dancehall

  • HEAR THIS: Bosco & Speakerfoxxx “9mm” PREMIERE

    HEAR THIS: Bosco & Speakerfoxxx “9mm” PREMIERE

    ATL Bad Gyals Mash Up King Tubby x BDP—Buk! Buk! Buk!

    DJ Speakerfoxxx is known for dominating the wheels of steel with addictive Southern rap blends, but in her downtime she likes to chill out with some Junior Reid. “I love reggae music,” says the certified A-Town mixmaster. She and her homegirl Bosco, who made waves with last year’s Boy EP on Fool’s Gold Records, recently linked up at Atlanta’s legendary Stankonia studio to bust out a nine-shot mixtape that targets the sweet spot between Santigold, Missy Elliott, and Black Box. Don’t get it twisted: Girls In The Yard is not a reggae mixtape but the first single, “Beemer” (produced by Mr. 2-17) reworks the hook from Beenie Man’s “Sim Simma.” A few tracks later Speakerfoxxx flips an ill King Tubby loop as Bosco gets her Blastmaster on, resulting in a musical thing called “9mm”—which we proudly premiere today pon Boomshots. Can she sing her song?  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…)

  • 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…)

  • Phife Dawg’s Dopest Reggae & Dancehall Quotables

    Phife Dawg’s Dopest Reggae & Dancehall Quotables

    Man Like Mutty Ranks Inna The Area

    I woke up this morning in a pretty good mood until I heard the news that Phife Dawg had passed away. Although we all knew the 45-year-old “funky diabetic” had been battling health issues for years—he even addressed the fact in his touching music video “Dear Dilla”—the news still came as a shock. When I had the privilege of kickin’ it with A Tribe Called Quest last November, Q-Tip was mad late but Phife’s sense of humor shone through. While Tip was Tribe’s undisputed front man, sonic visionary, and certified genius, Phife was always my favorite. The group got better and more cohesive as he came into his own as a microphone controller. There was something about his hardboiled wit, the bluntness of his boasts, and his take-no-prisoners approach to competition—”steady eating booty MCs like cheese grits”—that never failed to bring a smile to my face. Plus the fact that he was always spitting some type of random patois. I knew that ATCQ were reggae fans, not just because of their “Chase Vampire” remix of “I Left My Wallet in El Segundo” but also because Jarobi used to hang out during my reggae sets on the rooftop of a five-story NYC club called Mars back in the day, but nobody repped Caribbean culture like Malik Isaac Taylor aka Phife Dawg aka Mutty Ranks, the Trini yute from Queens. Much will be written about this vastly under-rated and endlessly entertaining MC, but I’d like to focus on some of my favorite instances of the Five Foot Assassin coming with that Roughneck Business. Audio After The Jump… (more…)

  • HEAR THIS: Beniton “Work” InstaMix

    HEAR THIS: Beniton “Work” InstaMix

    The Man Called Jack Frostt Nah Ramp With Lazy People

    Since its release in January, Rihanna’s “Work” off her eighth studio album “Anti,” has seen a fair share of underground street mixes from the likes of A$AP Ferg and Dave East. However, neither rapper was successful in making a lasting impression on the final product. This isn’t because the aforementioned recording artists’ lack talent, but moreso because “Work” is a dancehall record and out of their lane. Much like the original version of “Work,” the spinoffs that circulate the net lack authenticity—that is until Jamaican deejay Beniton aka Jack Frostt stepped inside the booth to add some real island flavor to the mix, a necessary ingredient that could only be provided by someone who is of the culture, rather than a fan who simply enjoys the music.  Audio After The Jump… (more…)