Boomshots

Tag: Shottas

  • 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…)

  • The Ten Best Jamaican Movies

    The Ten Best Jamaican Movies

    As The Harder They Come Celebrates Its  Anniversary, We Run Down Some Yardstyle Cinematic Classics

    Today marks the 40th anniversary of the official U.S. release of the Jamaican cult classic, The Harder They Come. Our heartical bredrens at Complex have just published a definitive history of the making of the film, which you can read right here. (After which you can peep the trailer below) As a celebration of the film’s legacy, Synocto Pictures is screening it in theatres across the U.S. in a fully restored and re-mastered version. If you’ve only seen the first film ever made in Jamaica on a small screen, find a theater near you, roll up, and roll out. After that we predict you’ll be in the mood for more yardstyle cinema. So we’ve helpfully curated a list of all killer no filler feature films with Jamaica and the Jamaican diaspora as a setting or a subject, complete with web streaming links so you can get right to the Lights… Camera… Action! Seen?

  • HEAR THIS: Mad Coba & Yami Bolo “War Mongers”

    DJ Tells Gunmen “Too Much War… Cool Star” In Timely 1995 Selection

    Mad Cobra was 18 years old when he made his name on the dancehall scene with 1990 hits on the Penthouse label like “Yush” and “Gundelero.” By 1992 he had reached the top of Billboard’s rap chart with the international hit “Flex,” and since then The Big Snake has maintained his standing as one of the top year-to-year artists in dancehall. So it was a huge shock to learn last week that he had been shot in the chest near his home in Braeton, Portmore. (more…)

  • WATCH THIS: Buju B “Sensimilla Persecution”

    “Why They Fighting Sensimilla Making Way For Coke To Come?”

    While Buju’s legions of detractors celebrate his arrest this weekend on cocaine trafficking charges, those of us who actually listen to his music—all of his music—have been left in a state of shock, grappling with the possibility that his booming voice may be silenced. Who’s gonna tell those “Untold Stories” now? (more…)

  • HEAR THIS: Wyclef & Mavado “Hold On” (Crossroads)

    Refugee Warrior And Gully Gaad Link Up To Make Conscious Thug Music

    Wyclef and Mavado have been building for a while now & this mournful yet uplifting tune is the best thing they’ve done together so far. Pree this… (more…)

  • Spragga Speaks On His Son Carlyle & Life Fest

    Tomorrow, May 2, 2009, would have been Carlton “Carlyle” Grant Jr.’s 18th Birthday. The firstborn son of the veteran dancehall star Spragga Benz, Carlyle was a talented youth with a world of possibilities before him. (more…)