For Sizzla Kalonji Every Day Is Mothers’s Day
Who bigs up the mothers of creation more than Sizzla? From his mid ’90s breakthrough album Black Woman & Child straight straight through to his latest cut on Breadback Productions’ crucial “Long Life” Riddim, Sizzla represents for the divine empresses every time. (more…)
Ragga Marley Takes It Back To The Motherland In His Epic New Video
Walking back through Goree Island’s infamous Door of No Return, Stephen Marley flips the script on his epic video for “Made In Africa,” the opening track from his Grammy-winning album Revelation Part 1: The Root of Life. Shot on location in Ethiopia and Senegal, the cinematic video blends historic and modern footage to majestic effect. If this is the Root, we can’t wait for the fruit. (more…)
Sir RamJam Talks About Getting Sampled On Dubstep Tracks And Bigs Up The Late Great King Stitt
2012 has been a great year for David “RamJam” Rodigan, the veteran UK selector and radio personality. Last month he won Irish & Chin’s World Clash, defeating Bass Odyssey in the final round. The month before that he was invited to Buckingham Palace to be proclaimed a Member of the Order of the British Empire in recognition of his work as a reggae disc jockey. Not bad for a man who never intended to pursue a career in music. But Rodigan has always been a music lover, and a passionate historian and educator about Jamaican music. In this first of a series of exclusive interviews, the legendary selector and radio presenter speaks about how he’s connecting with a whole new generation of reggae fans since having his unmistakable voice sampled by dubstep producers. He also recalls the first time he saw Jimmy Cliff perform live, and pays respects to the original reggae DJ, the late great King Stitt aka The Ugly One—Who was, among other things, one of the unheralded pioneers of rap music. OK, let’s get to it. (more…)
The Rising Reggae Star Performed Some Tracks From His New Album Last Night
Romain Virgo stopped by SOB’s in lower Manhattan last night for the first monthly Tree of Life reggae Showcase—and boy did he ever nice up the place. After touching signature hits “Live Mi Life” and “Caan Sleep” Romain belted out the title track from his sophomore album The System and soon had the whole place singing along. Then he did an acapella version of “I Know Better” and just in case anybody in the building failed to acknowledge to miss his awesome vocal chops, he went on to sing a couple of Alton Ellis classics. Not only has the young singer’s voice matured, but his swag tun up too. This new album is gonna be a killer. (more…)
Reshma B Interviews Busy In Penthouse Studios, Kingston Jamaica
Today Busy Signal dropped his critically acclaimed album Reggae Music Again. You already know Busy is a versatile artiste. He’s equally adept at reggae, dub, and he can even do country—but don’t worry dancehall massive, Busy is not turning his back on the raggamuffin style. In fact he’s already working on a new dancehall album for the summer, tentatively titled Lyrics Museum. And word on the street is that there may be a crazy dancehall remix on the way from one of our favorite cuts off Reggae Music Again. For the full story check out the Reggae Girl About Town‘s exclusive interview after the jump.
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Rita Marley, Chris Blackwell, Director Kevin MacDonald, Jah Cure & Many More Turn Out For The Big Show
Last night history was made in Kingston, Jamaica as the documentary “Marley” was screened for free in Emancipation Park one night before the rest of the world got to see the critically acclaimed film. Rita Marley, Cedella Marley, Rohan Marley, Chris Blackwell, Neville Garrick, and reggae star Jah Cure were just a few of those in attendance for the big show. And Boomshots was in the house.
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Executive Producer of Marley Documentary Speaks On His Vision For The Film, And Its Biggest Surprise
The long-awaited, critically acclaimed documentary Marley had its L.A. premiere last night, with a Jamaican debut scheduled for Thursday April 19th in Kingston’s Emancipation Park. And then on April 20—which also happens to be both America’s unofficial ganja holiday and Stephen Marley’s birthday—Marley will debut at select theaters and on demand. Just hours before the premiere Boomshots caught up with the co-executive producer of the film, to reason about the challenge of choosing the right director and to share his own personal hopes for the film. Ziggy even revealed what he considers the movie’s biggest surprise.
One good thing about music, when it hits you feel no pain. And when the long-awaited documentary Marley opens on the official stoner holiday of 4/20, many of his fans will be feeling no pain either. But as great as the movie may be, it all begins and ends with the music. So thanks to our friends at Complex we are proud to bring you this exclusive preview of the official two-disc soundtrack from Marley, the movie. (more…)
Pree The Title Track From Busy’s Refreshingly Rootical New Album
“A different vibe is in the air” for real. Busy’s gone back to his roots with his much buzzed-about new album, impacting itunes on April 10. The title track says it all, the DJ is singing and the vibes are right. (more…)
Check Out This Inteview With The Director Of The New Documentary, Which Debuts On 4/20
The long-awaited documentary Marley hits theaters and VOD outlets in just over two weeks. But we know you don’t want to wait in vain. So just to hold you over, here’s an interview with director Kevin MacDonald (who also directed The Last King of Scotland). He says his goal was to get beyond the legend and show us the Marley the man. “I think people have a very wrong idea of Bob,” he says. “Yes he smoked a lot of herb, as they called it in Jamaica. But he was also incredibly hard-working. In one way he’s a very conservative role-model because he shows that you have to work very very very hard to be successful. Everyone thinks he just smoked and the inspiration came to him and he strummed his guitar. No–he worked hard hard hard…. I think the reason the original Wailers split up—which was him, Peter Tosh and Bunny Livingston—is that the other two weren’t that ambitious. Bob was ambitious. He worked incredibly hard to get where he got to.” (more…)
Rootical Richie Sends Greetings To All Raggamuffins
You can always count on Richie Spice to sing something positive for the youths. So imagine how happy we were to hear this brand new musical biscuit from Bulby and the Fat Eyes family. Richie sounds nice and spicy singing over the riddim track from Half Pint’s dancehall anthem “Greetings.”
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MTV Iggy Picks I-Octane To Represent “The Future of Music”
I-Octane’s sophomore album Crying To The Nation recently got a big co-sign from MTV Iggy, an online portal focused on highlighting “The Future of Music.” The Jamaican singjay was invited to do an exclusive acoustic performance in New York City, where he unleashed unplugged versions of the album’s title track as well as “L.O.V.E. You,” and “Zion Awaits.” Octane also talked about being raised by a single mother and pursuing his dream of making a career in music. “I don’t really put myself in a box,” he explains. “I am a reggae artist. I come from a reggae genre, a dancehall genre, but I’m just doing music. I try to do my flavor, my style.”
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