Tag: Jabba

  • Busy Signal “Fresh From Yaad” Album Review

    Busy Signal “Fresh From Yaad” Album Review

    The Newly Energized Entertainer Hints That A Busy Signal U.S. Tour Is In The Works

    Reanno Gordon, Busy Signal continues to stand out as an artist in 2017. He stepped out onto the musical scene in 2002, modeling his career after international reggae icon, Bounty Killer.  Now he has an even clearer vision for his future with his new VISA status. In January, Busy Signal visited New York for a quick media run with  Ebro Darden, Laura Styles, Funk Masterflex,Bobby Konders and Jabba for Hot 97 FM and Reshma B for Boomshots TV (four-part interview at the end of article) to discuss his new EP, Fresh From Yaad.  Following this, Busy embarked on an European Tour and this week he revived up his fans in the U.S. with a tweet:  “Coming to a city near you. Wherever in world you are! ASAP- Turf President.” In light of the impending tour, this article will serve to give an in-depth review of the Fresh From Yaad EP. Album Review After The Jump

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  • WATCH THIS: Shabba Ranks Rules On Da Reggae Tip 2014

    WATCH THIS: Shabba Ranks Rules On Da Reggae Tip 2014

    Beenie, Shaggy, Sanchez, and Spice Help the Hot 97 Crew Kick off Labor Day Weekend 2014

    This past Friday, just like every other Friday before a Labor Day Weekend in recent memory, a galaxy of reggae and dancehall stars descended on Hot 97’s annual showcase On Da Reggae Tip. Just as in years past, the event was hosted by Bobby Konders and Jabba, whose Sunday-night reggae show has been a fixture on New York’s No. 1 hip-hop station since 1992. And as like in year’s past, there were a few surprise guests from the worlds of R&B, hip-hop, and classic dancehall waiting in the wings. But some things this year were very different, starting with the venue. Instead of the ornate but overcrowded Hammerstein Ballroom, where the perennially sold-out show has always been held, ODRT2014 took place at a much larger outdoor venue, JBL Live at Pier 97 on the edge of Manhattan’s Hudson River. As the sun set on a perfect late-summer evening, the show kicked off with blossoming pop stars like teenage sensation Samantha J, and Tessanne Chin, the Jamaican-born crooner who won the last season of NBC’s The Voice, as well as dancehall acts like Tifa, currently riding high off her single “Bak It Up” and Kranium, the Brooklyn-based DJ whose keep-it-on-the-downlow single “Nobody Has To Know” has made him a name to know. < Full Review And Videos 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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  • Jabba Pledges Best of the Best 2014 Will Be 100% Caribbean, Says Reggae and Hip-Hop “Come In Like Oil and Water”

    Jabba Pledges Best of the Best 2014 Will Be 100% Caribbean, Says Reggae and Hip-Hop “Come In Like Oil and Water”

    Promoter Promises to “Learn From His Mistakes” at BOTB 2014: Reggae & Soca—but NO Hip-Hop

    For the past eight years Best of the Best has been a fixture of Memorial Day Weekend in Miami, a big outdoor reggae and soca show that normally features top hip-hop acts as well. But this year, Reshma B caught up with Jabba who explained that this year he’s “learned from his mistakes” and made BOTB 2014 a 100% Caribbean festival. That’s right, for the first time the festival will feature reggae and dancehall and soca but NO hip-hop. “Me get back to my roots,” say Jabba. “This year we involve more soca into the show more than just keep mixing the hip-hop and the reggae, because it come in like oil and water. We notice it’s eight years going in. When I first begun I just, you know, coming from a big urban radio station, I feel like hip-hop is part of my culture as well. Because you done know is a Jamaican man who started hip-hop in the Bronx—Kool Herc big up yourself anywhere you deh. So I felt like I can take that mission to a next level and just know say, Hear wah gwan now, let me mix up hip-hop onto reggae on the next level like it’s never been done before. And big respect to all the rappers, but it come in like the worst idea we coulda ever do. But you learn from your mistakes. Because when you come to a Caribbean culture festival, nobody no wan’ hear say “Yo, turn the motherfuckin mic up!” and  “Where’s my niggas at?” You understand?” Video After The Jump… (more…)

  • Dawn Penn, Chaka Demus & Pliers, Beenie Man and Elephant Man Shell Down BET Awards

    The Award Show’s First Ever Dancehall Showcase
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    Year in and year out, the BET Awards have become known for show-stopping performances. But the water-cooler talk this year isn’t about the latest hip-hop posse cut, it’s about the awards’ first-ever mashup of reggae and dancehall superstars. Opening with Dawn Penn’s Studio One classic “No No No” the set segued into Chake Demus & Pliers’ “Murder She Wrote” which had the venue of rap and R&B superstars  skanking and raving as Jabba punctuated their precise singer and DJ routine with his energetic exhortations. Next up was Beenie Man doing “Who Am I” and “Rum and Red Bull” and then Elephant Man came through in a zebra-print jacket to shut the whole show down in true Energy God style and fashion. As Elephant Man put it: “Feel good fi know seh BET Awards a request Elephant Man U have a million artistes dem can call but dem call Ele.” Witness history in the making. Video After The Jump… (more…)

  • Best of The Best 2009

    Bounty, Beenie, Ross & Jeezy rip Miami’s biggest reggae/rap stage show.

    The Doctor meets The Bawse: All photos by the man called Wayne Lawrence. (more…)