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  • New Artist Azia Crosses Cultural Barriers

    New Artist Azia Crosses Cultural Barriers

     Haitian Artist Azia Releases Powerful Music for Change 

    We met up with new artist, Azia during her Labor Day Weekend Tour, which included a series of shows at local venues in New York City and a live performance on the Haitian Allstarz and WBAI 99.5 FM truck, at the West Indian American Day Carnival. We started off our interview with a brief conversation about fashion and we quickly moved into an in-depth conversation about life, music, politics and societal dividers. It was clear that the 22 year old,  Virginia State University alumnus, mastered the art of communication and now wants to use music as a platform to educate and empower. In this article, check out the World Premiere of her video for “Pull Up On Ya,” followed by an up-close and personal interview.   More After The Jump…

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  • HEAR THIS: Elesia iiMura ft. Agent Sasco “Come for Me”

    HEAR THIS: Elesia iiMura ft. Agent Sasco “Come for Me”

    Dancehall Heat From Down Under

    Born and raised in Australia, Elesia iiMura  moved to Japan with her rock star father as a teenager. Making music was pretty much her destiny. Today Boomshots premieres Australian  artist ELESIA iiMURA’s new song “Come For Me.”  Produced by Travis Lee, ELESIA’s sultry pop vocals ride over the bouncy dancehall-fused beat and Jamaica’s own Assassin a.k.a. Agent Sasco delivers a powerful guest feature. Last year ELESIA and Assasin collaborated on his single “Crazy” and she played his love interest in the song’s video. A new visual for “Come For Me,” shot on location in Kingston, Jamaica, will soon premiere on MASS APPEAL For now, get familiar with the tune. Audio After The Jump…
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  • WATCH THIS: Freezy “Split In Di Middle” Official Music Video

    WATCH THIS: Freezy “Split In Di Middle” Official Music Video

    The Boomshots Choice for Top Club and Carnival Banger

    When this song comes on, there is a cheerleader reaction.  First you see a lunge followed by a series of forward tumbles, handstands and splits. Anywhere this song plays – whether at a dance party or behind a carnival truck, there is the same response. Rising star, Johnick “Freezy” Leo, from Saint Lucia has created a song, which sends people into a soca frenzy.  The tanatalizing, Khrome produced, Malay Way riddim, in conjunction with Freezy’s commanding vocals  interpolated with Creole makes “Split In The Middle” Boomshots Choice for Top Carnival Track. Now we present the video for this great Dennery (Kudoro) track, directed by Acid Kreationz. More After The Jump…

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  • IShawna Still Fighting For “Equal Rights”

    IShawna Still Fighting For “Equal Rights”

    The Battle of the Bow Cats Rages On

    Dancehall has long had  love/hate relationship with oral sex, but ever since Ishawna dropped her Ed Sheeran remix “Equal Rights and Justice,” a topic that’s been kept under cover for many years is not front and center. In an in-depth piece for Pigeons & Planes, the Reggae Girl About Town explores changes in social attitudes by-way-of song lyrics and insightful anaylsis.  “Most people think of dancehall as a very free and sexually charged genre, but Jamaica’s strong conservative Christian tradition extends to the music, particularly in “Bowcat” lyrics,” Reshma B writes. The story traces the origins of the Bowcat concept back to Shabba Ranks and traces it forward to Vybz Kartel and Wayne Marshall who sang: “Why you chewin’ it when you should be screwin’ it? I know you never see a curry or a stew in it!” With such a long-standing tradition Ishawna’s song was nothing less than a lyrical revolution with bars like ”Boy, me nah go compromise / Me wan’ feel how your head feels between mi thighs.” Coming 21 years after Lil’ Kim’s “Not Tonight” —the song where Queen B declared “You ain’t lickin’ this, you ain’t stickin’ this!”— “Equal Rights” has stirred up more backlash than Kim did in the ’90s.  Audio After The Jump… (more…)

  • WATCH THIS: IamStylezMusic “Hey Mama Africa” Official Music Video

    WATCH THIS: IamStylezMusic “Hey Mama Africa” Official Music Video

    New Visuals From The Back To My Roots Album

    The last time we heard from IamStylezMusic, he was dropping a dancehall remix of John Legend’s “Light Up The Night.” After that international look the native of Portmore Jamaica decided return to the foundation with a new album called, Back To My Roots. “I did this album because I strongly believe the best way to make people fall in love and appreciate me as an artist was by doing a solid relatable body of work,” says the artist. “As for my inspiration, most of it came from me just self-searching. Finding and expressing myself in this album was a very important ingredient for the storyline.” Today we get the video for “Hey Mama Africa,” a song that walks the line between dancehall and Afrobeats with strong radio potential. Turn it up. Video After The Jump… (more…)

  • OkayAfrica Raises The Bar With D’banj, Sister Nancy, Rayvon and The Compozers in New York City

    OkayAfrica Raises The Bar With D’banj, Sister Nancy, Rayvon and The Compozers in New York City

    Okayafrica’s “Riddim and Beats” Fused Several Musical Genres 

    On Thursday, August 10, 2017,  Okayafrica, a company which fuses music, fashion and culture, presented “Riddim and Beats” at Lincoln Center. The diverse crowd awaited the excited line up, which included D’banj, Sister Nancy,and The Compozer.  More After The Jump…

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  • Flexing with Mad Cobra at Reggae Sumfest 2017

    Flexing with Mad Cobra at Reggae Sumfest 2017

    Ewart Brown Nuh Press People Button

    During the early 1990s Mad Cobra was one of the hottest new stars on Kingston’s dancehall circuit. And then his 1992 hit single “Flex,” recorded for Shang Productions and distributed worldwide by Columbia Records, made him an international star. Suddenly the voice of the youth born Ewart Brown was heard round the world on mainstream radio, becoming part of global pop culture, and yet he never lost his hardcore appea thanks to lyrics like “Press trigger we nuh press people button.” It’s been a long time since the Snake  touched the stage at Reggae Sumfest, so Mad Cobra returned to Montego Bay for the 25th anniversary edition, delivered a jolt of that hardcore 90s dancehall energy. After blazing the Catherine Hall stage Cobra took time out to kick it with the Reggae Girl About Town. They remarked on Sumfest’s renewed energy, and on the enduring power of his song “Flex.” Then Cobra explained why he used his time on stage to take a stand against domestic violence and child abuse. Real people, real talk, real things. Video After The Jump…
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  • Navino Next Level: New Label, Music, and Outlook

    Navino Next Level: New Label, Music, and Outlook

    Rising Star Overcomes Challenges and Sees Growth In Popularity

    With great vocals and song concepts, rising talent from St. Mary, Jamaica, Ricardo “Navino” Fraser, is steadily gaining momentum. Recently signing to Real Live Records and releasing  the songs “Sup’n Like Suh,” “Yuh Fi Bruki, “Shallow Grave,” and “Never Touch Yet, ” Navino is seeing a steep rise in his music career. With the lyrical artillery to keep up with the best in dancehall and  new management, his fan-base is growing at a record fast pace. More After The Jump…

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  • HEAR THIS: Jahmiel “U Me Luv”

    HEAR THIS: Jahmiel “U Me Luv”

    Jahmiel Releases Sexy Summer Song

    Jahmiel received rave reviews for his Reggae Sumfest 2017 performance, described by Billboard Magazine writer, Pat Maschino as a “well paced, focused and razor sharp performance.” This artist continues to supersede our expectations and his new love song shows us a softer side of this “Great Man.” In the spring, Jahmiel collaborated with Shensea for a Troyton Music produced song about challenges of relationships, in “Tell Me.” This summer the versatile artist surely knows where his heart resides, in a love ballad entitled “U Me Luv.”  Jahmiel delivers poignant lyrics over a sensational beat produced by Dunwell Productions. More After The Jump…

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  • Damian Marley Speaks on Jay-Z Collab and ‘Stony Hill’

    Damian Marley Speaks on Jay-Z Collab and ‘Stony Hill’

    Reasoning With Gongzilla

    Just before his big Stony Hill release event at the 40/40 Club in NYC, Damian Marley sat down with Reshma B for an exclusive discussion of his new album and his recent collab with Jay-Z. He reflects on the certified classic status of his song “Welcome to Jamrock,” breaks down the science behind his “Hunting Season” freestyle, explains the cause that makes rude boys “Roar,” and discusses his plans to bring “Medication” to the world. You don’t want to miss this one. Video After The Jump…
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  • Chronixx Celebrates ‘Chronology’ at Celebrate Brooklyn!

    Chronixx Celebrates ‘Chronology’ at Celebrate Brooklyn!

    Reshma B Kicks It With The Chron Dada

    It still seems strange to call Chronixx’s album Chronology a debut. From Start a Fyah to Dread & Terrible to Roots & Chalice, the Steam Ministah has put in much work over the years. But last Friday, the artist’s first official album was released to digital streaming services everywhere and topped the iTunes Reggae chart. A fitting place to celebrate the moment was at the Celebrate Brooklyn! festival in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park where a massive gathering took place last night, filling the outdoor venue to capacity with many more listening outside. Chronixx and the Zinc Fence Redemption band rose to the occasion, delivering a blazing set of hits, punctuated with speeches like this one: “Dancehall was the only platform for artists who chose to talk the truth. Because every other music was purely entertainment, and the music coming out of the ghettos in the 1960s started to become very rooted in spirituality. The modern world didn’t like it, the radio didn’t play it, so you had people in Jamaica who created a thing called the sound system—which is still the only good system on this planet. Every other system shall fail. And the only system… Cause in the beginning was the word, and a word is a sound. So the sound system is the first system God create. You see it? And every other system shall fall and leave the sound system.” After a performance to remember, Chronixx sat down backstage to reason with Reshma B.  Video After The Jump… (more…)

  • WATCH THIS: Chronixx “Likes” Official Music Video

    WATCH THIS: Chronixx “Likes” Official Music Video

    Like it or Love it, Chronixx Keeps His Culture In New Visuals
    Chronixx carries us on a journey through music in the video “Likes” from his forthcoming debut album Chronology. Directed by Joachim Maquet (@alleyesonit), the video was shot in London on the UK portion of his fore-running Chronology tour. Known for his intimiate performances and high-quality visuals, this video also features scenes from the sold-out Brixton Academy show. The upcoming U.S. tour with Nas and Lauryn Hill this Fall will not be one to disappoint! Video after the jump…
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