Video: Busy Signal, “Nightshift/One More Night”

This video is the best underdog-gets-girl movie since that Patrick Dempsey film from the ’80s where he’s like, a nerd, then turns cool thanks to that popular chick. Extremely appropriate for a combo track with Busy interpolating The Commodores and Phil mofo’ing Collins to a reggae track. Also weird: now we are wondering what goes on in our office building afterhours when we’re not here. Is Sal the door guy getting it in? Okay, we’re not gonna think about that for now. (via Imagelala)

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Ghetto Palms 84: New Leftside / Busy Signal / NeoPoco

Truthfully, I was planning to do some kind of Ghetto Palmes d’Or like last year but at the critical moment of reflection I found myself kayaking down a semi-tropical backwater in Jupiter, Florida trying to decide if the prehistoric-size bird flapping away from me was a stork or a heron. By the time I got back to the fortress of palmitude here in BK—which is where I left the recording equipment and also my work ethic—it just felt more appropriate to just dive right back into new stuff. Retrospection floats.

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Busy Signal, “Pon Me (Pon de Floor Riddim)” MP3

It came out so long ago we can’t remember if we heard anyone chat over Major Lazer’s indefatigable “Pon de Floor,” but chances are whoever did sucked yakballz compared to Busy Signal’s ferocious take. We didn’t think it could get any spazzier but Busy’s frenetic, wine-instructive cadence chops it up like a top chef and gives a song that ran our summer a brand new life. If “Pon de Floor” was the audio embodiment of Skerrit Bwoy daggering a lady off a ladder, this would be his Evel Kneivel/Man on Wire feat, a wild skydive of a thing.



Download: Busy Signal, “Pon Me” (via Imagelala)

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Busy Signal, “Nuh Fraid of Them” MP3

Busy’s take on Drake’s all-star monster “Forever” cites many vessels of technology, but mostly it just got us wondering who was the first person to namedrop Twitter in a song. Pretty sure Nore was early in the cut with his verse on Cassie’s “Must Be Love” remix in first quarter ‘09 (She hit me on Twitter/then I gave her my email/Told her that my love come free/Just like Gmail—a verse that we’re almost positive happened in real life). Surely Puff has mentioned it somewhere, or has an archived verse of Biggie shouting it out that he plans to release on another “duet” album in 2012. But Busy’s Twitter check is the best thus far, coming amidst a barrage of brags til the beat drops out and he goes Whoa, as if he can’t believe he’s even uttered its consonants. The real wild thing about this is that he released this song via his Twitter, which further proves our theory that life in the internet is just an elaborate labyrinth made of mirrors—and if we take a wrong turn we will be eaten by a super-scary fanged clown in giant rubber shoes. Then our bones will get ground up and made into cat food. Shout to Poquito and Mochipet back home.



Download: Busy Signal, “Nuh Fraid of Them” (via The Heatwave)

Video: Busy Signal, “Hott Ed Medley”

FADER Issue 56 cover star Busy Signal put an album out last year that was so full of jams we had to ban it from office play because people were getting hurt trying to dagger the recycling bin. Less than a year later he’s put out a slew of even more dangerous songs and someone decided to make a video for a lot of them all at once. Surprisingly, where we would have shot the whole thing on green screen and inserted found photos from Flickr in the background, they actually went for different concepts for each segment and made them all look pretty good. To get most of the songs on the medley—”Da Style Deh,” “Picante,” “Up In Her Belly,” “Decide Fi Answer,” “My Money,” “Hustling” and “Question”—just scroll through this. (via Heatwave)

Gabriel Heatwave’s UK Funky Bashment Mixtape MP3

It was only a matter of time before the hottest dance music in London, with its African influences and syncopated jangling, began drifting into reggae territory. On Gabriel Heatwave’s mix for XLR8R, he shows exactly how made for each other UK funky house and bashment are with a vast selection of Jamaica’s hottest deejays (i.e. our girl Natalie Storm, above) and Britain’s most solid emerging funky scions. Not to go heavy on the “heatwave” references but this mix is extra hot fire, let’s face it, you always wanted to hear “Ramping Shop” interpolated with DJ Shredda’s garage-esque synth stabs. Tracklist after the jump.

Download: Gabriel Heatwave’s UK Funky Bashment Mixtape (via The Heatwave)

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Ghetto Palms 72: Go-Go Club Riddim / Busy Signal Part 2000

I try to keep some biodiversity going in this Ghetto Palms ecosystem. If I feature dancehall riddims a few weeks in a row, I know I must come back with a cumbia or a kuduro blend, and I’ve made a conscious effort to shine a light on undocumented scenes and avoid repetition. Inevitably though, there are certain artists and producers who I’ve featured again and again, either because their music so encapsulates the ethos of this palmcast or because they just come with quality shit that consistently.

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Video: Douster, “King of Africa”

In our latest issue, available for free right here, we feature French by way of Buenos Aires producer Douster, whose eclectically composited club jams have been all up in our iTunes since early this year and who has a healthy obsession with both Lost and dinosaurs (who doesn’t). And apparently that obsessive behavior has spread to YouTube, as his latest video for the brand new “King of Africa” edits together documentary footage of people dancing, little kids doing the Harlem Shake, George Bush, The Lion King and some chubby pre-teens to good comedy effect. Douster also put the track up on Soundcloud, and while we were there, we grabbed a couple other recent favorites, the first heavy metal xylophone remix we can recall hearing, and twitchy redo of all-time fave Busy Signal. If you’re dying to get the jump on this kind of stuff, we recommend following Douster’s Twitter. And ours. Why not!

Douster – King of Africa by douster

Slap And Dash ft. Spoek – Move too fast (Douster remix) by douster


Download:Busy Signal, “Da Style Deh (Douster Dagga Remix)”

Ghetto Palms 67: Busy Signal vs. Poirier / Natalie Storm / Lots of Women

This blend started out with the Natalie Storm 45 “God Bless Me” on the Cheez Trix riddim—which, if you’ve been reading the FADER blog you know was produced by Nats herself. A move out of the deejay booth and behind the boards seems like a natural step for her since the whole Badda Badda Gals modus toppa-randi is about the daughters doing it for themselves. It also just happens to be one of the nicest dancehall beats I’ve heard in a while, capturing the polyrhythmic crack of ’90s dancehall without actually being a thief-ed and recycled version of a ’90s classic. Nat’s version might be the best (I might be biased) but like any good riddim, the Cheez Trix invites a ton of strong versions, not surprisingly showcasing some of the top non-badda badda affiliated female DJs, ie Macka Diamond and newcomer Tiki.

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Jahdan Blakkamoore, Bazooka Shot Mixtape

We’d like to think that if this was 2004, people would be going nuts and spending actual dollars on this mix like it was Piracy Funds Terrorism (did people spend money on that?). It doesn’t have the same balls to the wall range, but it does have balls to the wall bass and dancehall experimenters taking the Busy Signal route and voicing over just about anything the Dutty Artz crew can think of. Jahdan Blakkamoore doesn’t get quite as weird as Busy on any of these tracks, but he does get on a couple well known instrumentals (and Joker’s “Digidesign”) as well as a bunch of songs with laser noises. Less heavy than his upcoming Buzzrock Warior, but the perfect way to ride out the rest of your Summer.

Download: Jahdan Blakkamoore Bazooka Shot Mixtape

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