Jamaican deejay LA Lewis – best known for meeting Prince Charles, being beat up by Beenie Man, and having his name painted on walls all over Kingston – turns a conceptual artist. Watch »The Seven Star General« announcing the news on yesterday’s edition of Entertainment Report above.
A lot of artist win Grammy and sell platinum records but LA Lewis actually sell his brief!
With appearances by Diplo and London-based art curator Rachael Barrett, the piece even made LA LEWIS trend globally on Twitter (via Ross Sheil). 7 to the world!
Winston Riley, father of the legendary Techniques record label, the »wickedest riddim in the world« (Freddie McGregor on the »Stalag«), the careers of artists like Sister Nancy, Buju Banton, Cutty Ranks, Lone Ranger or Frankie Paul, and the famous Fame FM DJ Kurt Riley, is dead.
Riley died in hospital yesterday from the effects of a gunshot wound he received last year. He was in a coma since he was attacked and shot in the back of the head in November last year.
- Jamaica Observer
Complex magazine published a little feature on Popcaan and Chromatic Sound today. »Pappy« e.g. talks about growing up in Portmore, linking with Kartel and the role of Chromatic and Coppershot soundsystems for his career:
Big up Creep and Niko. Chromatic response for Popcaan still — Chromatic & Coppershot. Them sound deh always support me. Them go out and play me music. They make remix with me and them ting deh. Sometimes I wasn’t even aware of it. Me just hear it.
At the end of January, Popcaan and Chromatic will release the follow-up to their 2010 mixtape »Hot Skull, Fry Yiy, Boil Brainz«, »Yiy Change«.
Boxing Day is Sting Day in Jamaica. And at Sting, almost as important as lyrical fitness are outstanding outfits. At this year’s Sting, Bounty Killer once again proved he got both. Watch his performance pon Youtube and check the Warlord’s war-drobe above.
For a detailed rundown of Sting 2012, head over to the good people at Shimmy Shimmy.
When was the last time a Jamaican artists was featured in three major US print publications within just a couple of days (not to mention Dazed and Confused, Riddim etc.)? Must have been when Sean Paul came out with »Dutty Rock«. (via Peter Dean Rickards)
Looks like besides being a superb self-promoter – you can even follow »all of Vybz Kartel’s Blackberry updates« online now – he seems to have the right team around him to get that kind of main stream attention just before the Dre Skull-produced album »Kingston Story« dropping early next week.
»Kartel has remixed the notion of what it means to be a dancehall star«, said the Jamaican novelist and essayist Colin Channer. »He’s a pop artist in the sense of somebody like Madonna or Lady Gaga, who are aware of how transforming their image makes them attractive to different segments of the public.« (via New York Times)
