Karen Smith to be Remembered in Upcoming Concert in Miami, Florida
A concert under the patronage of Consul General to Miami, Oliver Mair, will be held next month in Florida to honour the late Jamaican songbird Karen Smith who died last year September from cancer. The concert dubbed, “Fall Musik Fest and Remembering Karen Smith”, will take place at Miami Gardens on Sunday, November 20, 2022 […]
Review: Kabaka Pyramid’s Album “The Kalling”
Many were talented, many were witty, but then there was one. I remember some years ago, the newly coined “Reggae Revival” was in full swing, it ushered in a wave of what we call lyricists and a renewed focus on lyricism, and yes many were talented, many were witty but then there was one, Kabaka […]
Biggest Jamaican Restaurant Franchise in USA Launches Spotify Reggae Playlist Celebrating Jamaica
Golden Krust, the top Jamaican fast-casual restaurant operator and make of Caribbean cuisine in the United States, honored Jamaica’s 60th anniversary of independence by compiling a Spotify playlist of the 60 most influential Jamaican songs in history titled, “incrEDIBLE: Celebrating Jamaica’s 60 Most Influential Songs Of All-Time.” The playlist is just the latest of Golden […]
History Is Not On The Side Of The Jamaican Govt Nor The Broadcasting Commission
This past week I came across a stomach-churning, graphic video of two gunmen literally executing a Chinese businessman at his wholesale/retail establishment in Green Island Hanover. As the horror played out on my computer screen, I was reminded of the words of Cordell Green, the Executive Director of the Jamaica Broadcasting Commission, “the notion that […]
Shaggy’s 4th “Best Of….” Album Certified Gold in UK
Shaggy, who was born Orville Richard Burrell in Kingston, Jamaica, has released four albums featuring collections of his greatest hits. The latest, “Best of Shaggy: The Boombastic Collection,” which includes hit songs from both the artist’s “Boombastic” and “Hot Shot” eras, was certified Gold in the United Kingdom by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), having […]
Squatting And The Need For An Equitable Housing Policy In Jamaica
The year 1975 marked the beginning of what could best be described as the Manley social experiment in Jamaica as the efforts to implement earlier enunciated people-centered policies were on in earnest. At the apex of this were the efforts at addressing the punishing housing shortage that had shadowed the working class and other struggling […]
Broadcast Commission of Jamaica Imposes Ban on Music and Television Broadcasts It Believes Glorify Violence
The Broadcasting Commission of Jamaica has banned all music and television broadcasts that it has determined glorify or promote violence, use of drugs, scamming, weapons, and criminal activity. According to the Jamaican government regulatory authority, its ban is designed to reduce material that “could give the wrong impression that criminality is an accepted feature of […]
New Album from Usain Bolt Named after His 100-Meter World Record
“9.58” is the title of the new upcoming album from Jamaica’s eight-time Olympic champion Usain Bolt. Bolt named the album in honor of his world-record-breaking 9.58-second performance in the 100-meter event at the 2009 IAAF World Championships in Berlin, Germany. He announced his new album via Instagram, posting, “Them think a Joke thing #958 Friday […]
Reggae 101 – Schooling Stoneboy and Jamaicans
In a recent interview with The Cable Lifestyle newspaper, Ghananian Reggae/Dancehall artist Stonebwoy declared that Reggae doesn’t belong to any Caribbean society from its core and that it belongs to Africans. It is not the first time that a “big-name” African artiste has made this claim. In 1992, the late South African Reggae artiste, Lucky […]
This Video by Jamaican American Sean Kingston Joins YouTube’s Billion Dollar Club
The music video for Sean Kingston’s “Beautiful Girls” officially surged past 1 billion views on YouTube on September 8, 2022, making the recording artist a member of an exclusive group of musicians. The video depicts Kingston moving between current times and a retro 1950’s fantasy as he expresses his feelings about the women of the […]