Tag: Spragga Benz

  • Murda She Wrote October 2020

    Murda She Wrote October 2020

    Unruly Boss Covers Reshma B’s Column on Tidal

    At the end of each month, the Reggae Girl About Town rounds up the top tunes for her “Murda She Wrote” column on Tidal. If you’re looking for October’s wickedest selections, you’ve come to the right place. This month’s lineup features certified Boomshots by Popcaan, Chronixx, Spragga Benz & Konshens, and Skillibeng. It’s Murda!

    Jamaica is a small island with an outsized impact on the world. “We likkle but we tallawah” is the local phrase that sums it up best. “Likkle” means “little,” of course, while “tallawah” is a patois term describing someone who’s “strong-willed, fearless and not to be taken lightly.” All of which is a good description for Popcaan, the 5-foot-6 musical giant who looms larger than ever over the global dancehall scene.  Music After The Jump… (more…)

  • Etana, Ed Robinson, Nadine Sutherland, Keisha Martin, Richie Lou and Nello Vibes Headline The Lawman Lynch  Foundation Music For Life Benefit Concert

    Etana, Ed Robinson, Nadine Sutherland, Keisha Martin, Richie Lou and Nello Vibes Headline The Lawman Lynch Foundation Music For Life Benefit Concert

    Reggae Artists Come Together to Raise Money for Underserved Children

    On Saturday, May 5th, 2018, the Benjamin Banneker Auditorium, brought together a diverse crowd for a great cause.  Music for Life is a philanthropic event launched by The Lawman Lynch Foundation in 2008, in Jamaica. The original mission of this organization was to raise funds to benefit marginalized children pursue education. This mission expanded over the years to include,  scholarship provisions, nutritional and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) programs for students of the Caribbean.  More After The Jump…

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  • Easter Bun Playlist

    Easter Bun Playlist

    A Multi-Genre Playlist With Songs About Infidelity

    Easter represents a religious holiday with many associated traditions such as Easter eggs, baskets and bonnets. In the Caribbean, “Bun and Cheese” usually consist of one slice of a sharp, cheddar cheese encased between two slices of sweet, fruit bread. Besides a delicious holiday pastry, “Bun and Cheese” is an analogy for a love triangle and the term “Bun” itself  connotes cheating. There are a plethora of songs that describe various aspects of “Bun,” such as the physical attraction, excitement, lust, spontaneity, the heartache, the mental anguish, the retaliation and the irreversibility. This is a dancehall, reggae and rhythm and blues playlist of 11 songs that address the aforementioned phenomena. Playlist After The Jump

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  • A Musical Response to Injustice

    A Musical Response to Injustice

    Lyrics for a Perilous Time

    This is a reflective Sabbath, with the killing of two African American males by police officers. What followed was an uproar on social media and peaceful protests across the United States. The recorded narratives of “what happened” reveal the loss of human life for trivial reasons such as a routine traffic stop or walking. This highlights an overt disparity in law enforcement in the United States.

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  • Dada Playlist: 10 Songs Dedicated to Fathers

    Dada Playlist: 10 Songs Dedicated to Fathers

    Boomshots Magazine Presents Multi-genre Playlist for Father’s Day 2015

    In honor of the wonderful fathers who present themselves as role models for their children, Boomshots Magazine brings you the finest selection of tunes dedicated to Dada. This 10 song playlist covers several genres including reggae, hip hop, gospel, dub,  rhythm & blues and jazz. Countdown After The Jump… (more…)

  • HEAR THIS: Spragga Benz ft. Bobby Shmurda & Red Square Crew “Switch It Up”

    HEAR THIS: Spragga Benz ft. Bobby Shmurda & Red Square Crew “Switch It Up”

    When It Comes To Bad Man Ting, Real Recognize Real

    This tune arrived in our inbox with the following message from the Red Square crew, which we are reprinting here verbatim: “ITS HARD TO BE FROM THE INNERCITY AND SING ABOUT LAYING IN SUNRAYS ON DAFFODIL FIELDS”….EVERYTHING DO HAPPEN ACCORDING TO THE SUPREME DESIGN…. ‘AT THE HEIGHTS OF HIS HIP HOP CAREER AND IT WAS AT THIS TIME THAT “BOBBY SHMURDA” SHOWED DANCEHALL MUSIC REAL LOVE BY COLLABORATING WITH SPRAGGA BENZ AND UPCOMING RED SQUARE TALENT… AND…ON AN AUTHENTIC DANCEHALL RIDDIM AS WELL… I HOPE THAT WE CAN STAND IN SOLIDARITY NOW THAT HE IS IN A DARK MOMENT AND PRAY THAT JAH GUIDE THROUGH HIS ORDEAL…MEANTIME FULLJOY THE MUSICAL VIBE AS RED SQUARE PRODUCTIONS PRESENT THE “BACK BITE” RIDDIM WITH THE FIRST SINGLE.. “SWITCH IT UP”..ft..BITTAH SOSICKA..+..BRIGGY BENZ..+..KWALIT-E REDSQUARE..+..BOBBY SHMURDA..+..SPRAGGA BENZ Not much more to say, but let the music play. Audio After The Jump… (more…)

  • Full Moon Playlist

    Full Moon Playlist

     

    Ten Scary Selections for Your Halloween Party Playlist

    With fall comes one of the most festive holidays, Halloween. Elaborate costumes emulate scary and fictional characters; superheroes and sexy alter-egos. Children trick or treat for sweet candies and visit pumpkin patches. However, the holiday was created to remember the dead saints or “hallows.” This Boomshots full moon playlist highlights songs that comment on the dead rising theme in reggae, dancehall and soca. The playlist contains ten tunes, some focusing on the Halloween/horror theme, while others go beyond the theme and comment on social issues, and a few are highlighted for a wicked production. Audio After The Jump

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  • A Love We Can Feel: Respect To John Holt

    A Love We Can Feel: Respect To John Holt

    Early Sunday morning, Reggae Legend, John Kenneth Holt, died at the age of 67 in London. Even after collapsing onstage during a performance at this summer’s One Love Festival in the UK, he insisted that his health was fine and said “I’ll be back.” Born in Kingston, Jamaica in 1947, he entered talent competitions at an early age, throughout the island. Holt recorded his first single, “I Cried A Tear,” a song about lies and heartbreak, in London, 1963. This melancholy first tune, foreshadowed numerous follow up hits. More After The Jump…

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  • Gunman World: Inside Jamaica’s Shotta Culture

    Gunman World: Inside Jamaica’s Shotta Culture

    Exclusive Excerpt from Mass Appeal Mag Cover Story by Rob Kenner, Photography by Ruddy Roye

    Jesquan Spence was not quite two years old when he saw the police kill his father. “The soldiers come in and take ’way the phones and say everybody fi sit down,” says the child’s grandmother, Michelle Davis, recalling that fateful Monday, May 24, 2010. “Then some police come in. Them say, ‘How many man in here?’ And them point ’pon me son.”

    Jesquan’s dad, Errol Spence, was 22 years old, the only adult male in the Tivoli Gardens household where 17 family members and neighbors had been waiting out a government-imposed state of emergency for a week. Michelle Davis and Jesquan’s mother Jesean Williams will never forget the cops’ chilling words: “Them turn to us and say, ‘You know the good haffi suffer for the bad.’”

    “But me no badman,” Errol Spence protested as three heavily armed police officers ordered him out of his seat and walked him into the kitchen. “Dat you say?” one of them replied. “You gwan dead today.” Continues After The Jump… (more…)

  • Spragga Benz’s Bongo Bash in Jamaica

    Spragga Benz’s Bongo Bash in Jamaica

    The Dancehall Icon Celebrates A Career Without Compare

    With 22 years in the music industry, Carlton Errington Grant aka Spragga Benz, tours the world, on long journeys from his home in Dunkirk, Kingston, Jamaica. However, despite his worldwide success, the dancehall icon remains deeply rooted to his humble beginnings with LA Benz sound. This weekend,  he will return home for his Bongo Bash at “LA Benz Corner” in Duhaney Park, Lessing Avenue, Kingston 20 on Saturday, May 31, 2014.  Ricky Villa, owner of LA Benz, who has now passed on, encouraged Spragga to first enter the studio and this followed with a big break, when he voiced some dubs for Buju Banton. More After The Jump…

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  • Miley Cyrus Inna Dancehall Style

    Miley Cyrus Inna Dancehall Style

    When Pop Culture Gets Down and Dirty, Dancehall Doubles Down

    Who can forget the most provocative performance of 2013? Miley Cyrus at the MTV Video Music Awards, fully equipped with a foam finger, wagging tongue and twerking dancers in oversized teddy bears costumes. Robin Thicke wore black and white pin stripes which became “Blurred Lines” when Miley let him know the time was 6:30pm. 2 Chainz and Kendrick Lamar kept the twerking vibes flowing and the conglomerate made for a memorable performance. Check The Dancehall Remixes after the Jump…

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  • The Evolution of Lieutenant Stitchie

    The Evolution of Lieutenant Stitchie

    Interview & New Music From The Dancehall Governor Turned Gospel Artist

    Twenty-five years after he became the first Jamaican dancehall star to drop an album for a major U.S. record label with his debut album The Governor (Warner/Atlantic), Lieutenant Stitchie continues to govern our thoughts. He delivered an electric performance at Rebel Salute, 2014 and released his autobiography, Power of Determination, contiguously. The book release event attracted such celebrities as Maxi Priest (Click on images above in photo gallery).  In the days leading up to the publication of his book,  I conversed with Stitchie and his friends regarding his journey from humble beginnings in Kingston, Jamaica, to having his voice heard around the world. Exclusive Interview After The Jump…

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