Boomshots

Category: Outernational

Crossover and outside of core

  • Lucky Dube’s Killers Convicted

    They tried to run, but they could not hide. Even their last, desperate escape attempt—using a brick to bash a police officer as their prison van arrived at Johannesberg High Court a few days ago—proved unsuccessful. And so Sfiso Mhlanga and Mbuti Mabe were back in court with their own heads bandaged. Their accomplice Julius Gxowa, who did not try to escape, avoided getting his head busted up. But all three faced charges of murdering the South African reggae star Lucky Dube during a botched carjacking last October 16, 2007. (more…)

  • REMIX: Mavado & Busta Rhymes “So Blessed”


    Busta Rhymes just linked up with Mavado for the remix to “I’m So Special.” Like Jay-Z, G-Unit, Wyclef, Uncle Murda, Lil Kim AND Foxy Brown, Busta’s feeling the Gully God. But don’t call Busta a waggonist. He may have trimed his locks, but he’s always kept in touch with his Caribbean roots by showing love to the reggae massive—from “Wicked Act” on Buju’s Voice of Jamaica album to “Change Like The Weather” on Bounty Killer’s My Xperience album (remember the video with Spencer Christian? maaad) all the way up to Sean Paul’s “Gimme The Light” remix and how could we forget “Make It Clap”? But out of all the jewels the God MC has dropped over his long career, this is the first time we’ve heard Bussa Buss singing. Maybe he should change his new album title to Back On My BoomShots?

    Run the track…

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

  • Rihanna Affidavit

    The year was 2006, Rihanna was 18 years old and performing in Jamaica for the first time. She had no drama with Chris Brown, just a song to sing. Can it be that it was all so simple then? Let’s go to the video tape:

    While you listen to the girl sing, check out the full text of the police affidavit about the events of February 7, 2009. (more…)

  • VIDEO CLASH: Serani “No Games” Old to the New

    The official video for Serani’s smash debuts on MTV next week. We’ve got it now:


    Question: Do you like the new official Universal Music Group video better than the yard version of the “No Games” video? (more…)

  • The Post Reggae Era

    Remember that LKJ poem “It Noh Funny“?

    “People sayin’ dis, people sayin’ dat / bout the youth of today / how dem gone astray / And it noh funny”

    Well people have been saying this and that about the decline of reggae music lately. Despite the efforts of dancehall bashers, fossilized old-school devotees, the government, the church, and assorted gay-rights organizations, despite declining record sales, the theft or embezzlement of Jamaica Broadcasting Corporation’s entire record collection, and widespread abuse and exploitation, reggae isn’t dead. No, it’s just been appropriated by R&B and hip hop. Or, put another way, Jamaican music’s influence is so pervasive as to be almost imperceptible. And it no funny. (more…)

  • REMIX: Biggie & Busy

    Biggie Smalls & Busy Signal “Dead Wrong / Too Much Gun” The Remix

    March 9 is not a day to celebrate. Today marks the 12th anniversary of Biggie Smalls’ murder in Los Angeles. Our thoughts and prayers are with Christopher Wallace’s close friends and family. Unbelievable was deep, and Notorious was heartbreaking, but as Jay-Z put it, “This ain’t a movie, dog.”

    (more…)

  • K’Naan To The World

    Marley connoisseurs have been up on K’Naan for years now, but now that the poet/emcee/self-proclaimed “visual stenographer” is finally getting his shine, the rest of the world is starting to catch up. (more…)

  • Mavado on Hot 97

    The Gully God passes through the #1 Hip Hop station in America to chop it up with Angie Martinez and promote his new album, Mr. Brooks: A Better Tomorrow. (more…)

  • Reggae Grammy Rewind

    “Reggae Get The Grammy.” All These Years Later… do you still feel happy?

    “They nominate five ah we,” Yellowman chants over a bouncy Junjo Lawes riddim track. “Steel Pulse Black Uhuru and me / Peter Tosh and also Jimmy.”

    (more…)

  • Spear Burning Over Yonder

    Photograph excerpted from SOUL REBEL: An Intimate Portrait of Bob Marley © 2009 by David Burnett. All rights reserved. Published by Insight Editions. Used with permission. www.InsightEditions.com

    This past Sunday, while 19-year-old Chris Brown was chilling in the L.A. County Jail and 20-year-old Rihanna was recovering from her injuries at a local hospital, 63-year-old Winston “Burning Spear” Rodney was at the 51st Annual Grammy Awards collecting the Best Reggae Album Grammy for his latest release Jah Is Real.
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  • WATCH THIS: Jay-Z feat. Santigold “Brooklyn”

    Santigold & Jigga Go Hard For BK With A “Boom Bye Bye like Buju.” Brap.

    It should have come as no surprise when Jay-Z jumped on that Mavado track. First of all, Brooklyn is damn near Jamaica’s 15th parish, and its dancehall scene is a cosmos unto itself—impossible to overlook. Ever since Jay came out with that rapidfire diggity-Das-EFX flow, we knew he had to have heard those sound system cassettes that used to pass hand to hand from Jamdown to BKNY: (more…)

  • WATCH THIS: Busy Signal “Smoke Some High Grade”

    Busy Signal Blazes Up The Maddest T-Pain Remix

    Can’t believe it? It ain’t nuttin new. Alliance pass through…
    (more…)