Boomshots

Tag: Inner Circle

  • HEAR THIS: Inner Circle ft. J-Boog & Jacob Miller “I’ve Got The Handle”

    HEAR THIS: Inner Circle ft. J-Boog & Jacob Miller “I’ve Got The Handle”

    The Bad Boys of Reggae Link With J Boog

    Fresh off a successful tour with SOJA, California-born and Hawaii-based reggae artist J Boog, releases a track with reggae’s “Bad Boys” Inner Circle and their late great vocalist Jacob Miller. Having topped the reggae charts for consecutive years with his 2011 full length release Backyard Boogie, J Boog has since graced the world stage with some of reggae’s most popular talent. In this track he updates a classic Heptones selection alongside the voice of the “Killer” Miller. Audio After the Jump…

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  • HEAR THIS: Jacob Miller & Ray I “Natty Christmas” LP

    HEAR THIS: Jacob Miller & Ray I “Natty Christmas” LP

    Sounds Called Bruk Pocket Day We Never Feel No Way

    There’s nothing quite like Christmas in Jamaica, but no matter where you are celebrating this day, you can do it inna rub-a-dub style. And there’s no better way to do that than with the rockers master Jacob Miller alongside the Inner Circle Rhythm Section plus rootical DJ chanting courtesy of the man called Ray I. Reggae musicians have blessed the world with plenty of great holiday selections, but nothing quite tops this 1978 vinyl LP. Click forward for nuff more Yuletide selections and bless up yourself. Audio After The Jump… (more…)

  • Jacob Miller: Rockers Forever

    Jacob Miller: Rockers Forever

    Thirty Five Years Ago Today Reggae Music Lost A Great Soldier

    On this day in 1980 legendary #reggae singer Jacob “Killer” Miller died in a tragic car accident on Hope Road in Kingston Jamaica. “I was sitting with my father in Hope Road when he heard the news on Sunday,” recalls Rohan Marley. “Jacob and my Father always spend time together on Sundays.” Miller was one of reggae’s greatest performers. His merry, manic brilliance shines through clearly in the crucial 1980 concert doc Heartland Reggae, particularly the performance of “Tired Fe Lick Weed In A Bush” during which he puffs a huge spliff on stage while using his microphone to taunt the cops at the venue before somebody hands him a police cap and he starts chanting “Babylon, Babylon falling down.” Jakes spent just 27 years on earth but the #Rockers music he made with Inner Circle and Augustus Pablo shall live forever. In fact, one of his classic cuts with the Bad Boys of Reggae, “Tenement Yard,” is enjoying a major resurgence 40 years after its release.  Audio After The Jump… (more…)

  • WATCH THIS: Inner Circle ft. Chronixx & Jacob Miller “Tenement Yard (News Carryin’ Dread)” Official Music Video

    WATCH THIS: Inner Circle ft. Chronixx & Jacob Miller “Tenement Yard (News Carryin’ Dread)” Official Music Video

    In comes the official music video for the big bad certified Boomshot, Inner Circle featuring the young general Chronixx alongside Jacob Killer Miller with the musical thing called “Tenement Yard (News Carryin’ Dread).” The video was directed by produced by Inner Circle and directed by Gil Green for 305 Films. Forty years after Jakes first sang it, Chronixx message is essentially the same—but instead of watchy watchy tenement yard dwellers, it’s watchy watchy cellular phone owners. No more long talkin’ let’s get to the photos by (by Bones Vision) and peep RGAT‘s behind the scenes report.  Video After The Jump…
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  • Reasoning with Tony Rebel before Rebel Salute: “I Rebel against things that are Wrong”

    Reasoning with Tony Rebel before Rebel Salute: “I Rebel against things that are Wrong”

    The Rebel With a Cause Looks Back Over 22 Years of Roots & Culture

    No meat, no alcohol, but plenty vibes. No hip-hop, no EDM, but nuff niceness. No stampedes, no slackness, but total niceness. Over the past 22 years, Rebel Salute has stuck to a winning formula and evolved into the people’s choice as Jamaica’s top-ranking reggae festival. Last year the Rebel Salute stage transformed Bounty Killer into Rodney Price as he delivered one of the greatest performances of his career. This year the Boomshots crew dropped by Flames Productions HQ in Kingston, Jamaica to reason with Mr. Tony “Fresh Vegetable” Rebel who explained how a humble birthday celebration grew into a musical phenomenon—complete with its own foundation that awards scholarships to educate Jamaica’s youth. Check the reasoning as Rebel tells Reshma B about the roots of Rebel Salute, right down to the great food (and brain food) availabe at the show. And if you can’t make it there in person, Rebel breaks down the best way to enjoy the show from the comfort of your own yard… Video & Full Lineup After The Jump… (more…)

  • Chronixx Talks “Tenement Yard” Collab with Inner Circle’s Roger Lewis

    Chronixx Talks “Tenement Yard” Collab with Inner Circle’s Roger Lewis

    “Re-Presentation” of Jacob Miller’s 1975 Classic Set to Debut Monday on Mass Appeal

    Forty years ago, the late great Jacob “Killer” Miller released “Tenement Yard”, his first hit with the Inner Circle band. “Dreadlocks can’t live in a tenement yard,” the young Rasta rebel sang, lamenting all the “watchy watchy” people chatting his business in one of Kingston’s inner city communal housing schemes. Four decades later a new Rasta rebel steps up on the said Inner Circle riddim, and delivers his message, with what amounts to a whole new song subtitled “News Carrying Dread.” Not only are the rhythm track and the message of the new tune in tune with the original, a sample of “Jakes” voice also rings throughout. The 2015 release, which marks the first time the reggae supergroup has re-presented a song by their foundation vocalist, will premiere this Monday on Mass Appeal. Late last year Boomshots caught up with Chronixx and Inner Circle co-founder Roger Lewis at the band’s state-of-the-art Circle House Studios, where the song was made. “Me find Jacob, Red Hills Road,” Says Roger Lewis with conviction in his voice. “All my life I tell you—and I don’t say this becauxse Chronixx is here—I don’t see a youth who touch me like Jacob.” The good vibes are clearly mutual between the veteran band and the young singer. “We always have a great respect for the Inner Circle family, even before we really met up physcially,” says Chronixx. “Is a great thing. Is a very very great thing. To see say them music can still be revamped. Because we are the originators, I and I, from that time till this time.” Check the full reasoning with Rob Kenner and Reshma B. Video After The Jump… (more…)

  • Reasoning with SOJA’s Jacob Hemphill: “If I die tomorrow, at least I got to do this tonight”

    Reasoning with SOJA’s Jacob Hemphill: “If I die tomorrow, at least I got to do this tonight”

    Lead Singer of America’s Top Reggae Band Chats About His Ambition To Follow Bob Marley’s Footsteps

    Tonight in D.C. SOJA will celebrate the release of their latest album, Amid the Noise and Haste. The band has developed a massive international following since being founded in Arlington, Virginia 1997. During a recent pass through NYC, SOJA lead vocalist Jacob Hemphill chatted with Rob Kenner about how he and his friends fell in love with reggae and decided to start what’s become one of the biggest reggae bands in the world. “When I was a kid I grew up in Africa,” he says. Based on his observations there, he says, “I thought black people are happier than white people.” Eventually he came to a larger realization: “Life is not about accumulating crap.” Instead of doing “the reggae move” (“girl song, weed song, etc”) he decided to “do the Bob Marley” and try to change the world. “If I squander this opportunity,” he says, “that’ll be the biggest mistake of my life.” The new album—whose thought-provoking title is taken from Max Ehrmann’s Desiderata—was produced in conjunction with dancehall selector turned pop hit maker Supa Dups, and includes features from Damian Marley, J Boog, and Michael Franti among others. Hemphill says he sees SOJA as distinct from the “California Roots” movement, and speaks of an ambition to be bigger than the genre of reggae, not unlike Bob Marley. Speaking about the group’s perception in Jamaica and the rest of the world, Hemphill said “We haven’t been [to Jamaica yet],” he says, “but those guys have so much love for us.” He also speaks on his sense of mission. “If they shoot me, it’s gonna be 20 times bigger than it ever was before they shot me… If I was to die tomorrow, at least I got to do this tonight.” Video After The Jump… (more…)

  • HEAR THIS: Inner Circle ft. Mykal Roze & Bizerk “All About The Ball” PREMIERE

    HEAR THIS: Inner Circle ft. Mykal Roze & Bizerk “All About The Ball” PREMIERE

    The Bad Boys of Reggae Kick A World Cup Anthem

    Starting this week the people of planet earth put down their usual obsessions of greed, lust, war, strife, and brutality and turns their attention to soccer, or if you happen to live outside the USA, football. Whether you’re in Brazil for the kickoff, catching the action at your favorite sports bar, or chilling at Circle House in Miami, it’s all about the World Cup, which is—when you get right down to it—all about the ball. The outernationally-minded rootical rhthym section known as Inner Circle aka the “Bad Boys of Reggae” have created a brand new World Cup anthem with a little help from Mykal “Grammy” Roze, former lead singer of Black Uhuru, and a youth named Bizerk, about whom we’ll be hearing more very soon. And the wholw world gets to hear it for the first time right here pon the Boomshots. Kick it.! Audio After The Jump… (more…)

  • HEAR THIS: Inner Circle & Peetah Morgan “Broken Hearted”

    Brand New Lovers Rock Selection from the album Inner Circle Dubets
    Ever since the tragic death of Jacob “Killer” Miller in a 1980 car crash, the legendary Jamaican band Inner Circle has worked with a range of vocalists. But on their upcoming album Dubets, the Bad Boys of Reggae collaborate with a range of great vocalists including the reggae empress Marcia Griffiths, Mr. Rock Steady himself Ken Boothe, Ali Campbell of UB40, and not one but two members of the mighty Morgan Heritage, Gramps and Peetah. Boomshots is proud to premiere the first song off the album, Peetah Morgan interpreting Jimmy Ruffin’s Motown classic “What Becomes of the Broken Hearted?” Sad song + sweet sounds = Total niceness.  Audio & Full Tracklist After The Jump…

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  • HEAR THIS: Inner Circle ft. Touter “Drum Song”

    Keyboard Master Touter Harvey Drops A Dubstep Update of The Jackie Mittoo Classic “Drum Song”

    “Reggae influence a lot of music,” says Bernard “Touter” Harvey, and he should know. He’s played on classic cuts by Bob Marley and Inner Circle, among others. “Look at it this way, reggae have many babies. A man say in Jamaica you have the roots. Every tree have to have roots and it have to have branches. And from branches, sometimes you get seeds. Sometimes even the root push out another plant or a baby plant.” One of the  new musical babies would be dubstep. “Where we used to have dub, now we have drum and bass and dubstep.” The good people at Dubshot Records have teamed with Inner Circle to produce Dub Planet X, a tribute to Jackie Mittoo, reworking some of his classic compositions inna “Steppin Dub” stylee. Audio after the jump.
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  • Buju Celebrates Grammy Win

    Before The Dawn Honor Lifts Spirits As The Gargamel’s Trial Resumes

    Although Buju Banton was not able to attend the Grammy Awards ceremony yesterday in Los Angeles, the reggae star—who is still confined to Florida—celebrated his win to the fullest. A member of Buju’s security team was startled when he heard shouting from Buju’s hotel room in Tampa, where the artist faces jury selection in his second trial on drug charges today. “I thought something was wrong,” the guard told The Jamaica Observer. Instead he found out Buju had won the Grammy for Best Reggae Album. (more…)

  • Serani’s Top 5 Breakthrough Tunes

    “No Games” Singer Picks Landmark Reggae Records For VIBE.com


    With smash hits like “No Games” and “She Loves Me,” Jamaican producer/vocalist Serani has a gift for taking raw uncut dancehall to the pop charts. With his debut album No Games about to drop October 27 on Phase One Records, the new & improved VIBE.com asked him to pick 5 of his favorite hardcore reggae cuts that broke through outernationally, paving the way for him to climb the ladder of success. (more…)