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)
Ghetto Palms 80: DJ Rekha / RajStar / Exclusive Major Lazer Bhangra Refix
- story Eddie "Stats" Houghton
I’m not sure if this is Desihall III or Indocrunk Part Few, but any way you chop it its been a banner week for weird fusions of Bollywood dancehall and Bhangra-more club, aftershocks from the eruption of daku-consciousness into First World brainspace that was Slumdog Millionaire. First, the reigning queen of bhangra DJ Rekha (full disclosure: my partner from Basement Bhangra) hit me with a preview of her bhangrified dub of Major Lazer’s “Pon di Floor.” Then she texted to say she was backing Wyclef and Cyndi Lauper (??) on the Letterman show, as they performed a track called, yes, “Slumdog Millionaire.”
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posted on Nov 18, 2009 in GHETTO PALMS tags bhangra, caribbean, desi, electronic/dance, GHETTO PALMS
Mavado, “War is in the Air (Israel Riddim)” MP3
- story Erin Hansen
If you don’t know dancehall, naming a riddim “Israel” to spite your arch nemesis and his “Gaza” empire might be so politically mind-boggling that you disregard it as a minor slap on the wrist. For those in the crossfire of the Gaza vs. Gully feud, the Alliance’s Israel Riddim is symptomatic of something much bigger bubbling underneath the dancehall scene’s surface and it’s emphasized best in Mavado’s track, which he earnestly calls “War is in the Air.” Despite this riddim’s dark forecast, it features a more than a few artists who’ve been making waves in the dancehall world, most outstandingly Fagan Fraternity’s Flexx, who popped up on the periphery with his heavy tone and a knack for clever tongue lashings that we can only hope keeps him heavy in the dancehall boxing ring. (via Dancehallzone)
Download: Mavado, “War is in the Air”
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posted on Nov 17, 2009 in MP3 / STREAMS tags caribbean, dancehall, Gaza, Gully, Israel riddim, Mavado, The Alliance
Video: Natalie Storm, “God Bless Me”
We knew Kingston dancehall princess Natalie Storm was awesome (see: talent, starpower, charisma, ill riddim possibly named after snacks), but we had no clue she could also levitate. In her long-awaited video for “God Bless Me” she also proves herself to be the latex queen of the Matrix, stomping out some serious ninja ass and taking over multilingual billboards, too. Big ups to the TNT ladies! (via the Heatwave)
Video: Aidonia, “Evil Head/Isaiah”
- story Felipe Delerme
“So much trouble in the world,” Bob once sang. Aidonia can relate. In the split for “Evil Head/Isaiah” he re-shot that creepy ass sci-fi movie The Cell from inside his own mind sans J-Lo (-1), but also using the floor to diagram his disdain for haters, skeptics and hating-ass skeptics. The set is dark like the tone of the songs, but not without it’s bright spots like a dude doing that dresser shelf dance and bible passages projected onto Donia’s face. On an unrelated note, now that Donia’s put it on wax we can finally cosign: FUCK vampires.
Ghetto Palms 79: Jovi Rockwell / 2000Tone / Exclusives!
- story Eddie "Stats" Houghton
- photo Alex Boerner (F51 Outtake)
2000Tone rides again. My favorite uptown rebel Jovi Rockwell has been getting back to her roots (foundation chat plus rockstar attitude) on new tracks like “Killin Dem” and “Can’t Stop” from the Major Lazer project. Also, she dropped her new Psychotherapy mixtape today so it seemed like the time to unleash some 2000Tone mixes I’ve been holding back for her major label moment—the moment I’ve been waiting for ever since her Gen F back in F51. This blend contains slept on joints from her backchat catalog along with my own dreamed-up refixes of two rough tracks from her never-released album project for Epic—dubbed over the Romantics and some Angolan kuBass percussion pirated off the web, respectively.
Rubi Dan & Juxci, “Bashment Funky” MP3
We were reading our friend Erin’s dancehall blog out of Kingston and thinking about pizza and reggae when, gazoing, this track rather appropriately dropped in our lap in a giant flame of fire. It’s theme song of sorts for the emerging bashment/funky mind-meld with the eponymous title and chorus, proffered by London’s Rubi Dan of The Heatwave, and Juxci. Apparently it is on the Bop riddim which we cannot confirm, but we CAN confirm that it is binoculars and has lasers on it.
Download: Rubi Dan & Juxci, “Bashment Funky” (via Ghetto Bassquake)
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posted on Nov 9, 2009 in MP3 / STREAMS tags bashment, caribbean, electronic/dance, Funky Bashment, Juxci, Rubi Dan, The Heatwave, uk funky
Premiere: Bonjay, “Gimme Gimme (Wire Hanger RMX)” MP3
Bonjay’s forthcoming single “Gimme Gimme” is kinda like T-Dot diasporic lo-fi dancehall, singer Alanna singing slyly over a super pared down and clappy riddim before it flips out into weird and psychedelic. That drops November 20 (you can hear it on their myspace) but as a teaser, Bonjay remixed their own jam under the “Wire Hanger” moniker with a little more electronic blurbage, so that it works as a transition track for a washed out rave or soundtrack for your own personal Run Lola Run.
Download: Bonjay, “Gimme Gimme (Wire Hanger RMX)”
Serani, “Polka Dot” MP3
- story Peter Macia
A superstar in the FADERverse, Serani just released his new, long-awaited No Games album and it, along with new albums from Sean Paul and Vybz Kartel, built a small brick wall on the Billboard charts, selling a collective NOT THAT MUCH recently. To this we say to the music buying public, is the new Weezer album really that good? Cuz y’all scarfed that up like it could pay your mortgage. We’re biased as hell because we’ve been playing some of these songs during memorable times over the last two years, but even if we hadn’t, it’s about to get brick outside for the next few months and this album is end-to-end heaters for the ramping shop, people, and it only costs a few bucks. Go get it and enjoy the Brasco bonus cut below with Serani on the hook.
Download: Serani, “Polka Dot”
Brasco f. Serani, “Money Train”
Ghetto Palms 78: Creator Riddim / New Spragga Benz / Polyriddimatical Madness
- story Eddie "Stats" Houghton
- photo Andrew Dosunmu (F34)
Last Ghetto Palms I shouted at the devil of prefab dancehall, and this week the universe did shout me back in the form of veteran sessions player and producer Colin “Bulby” York, who released the polyrhythmic spree called the Creator riddim on his Fat Eyes label. Irrational rhythms may be replacing auto-tune as the new trend in JA, at least judging from the Weapon riddim and the new Spragga joint included below, which flips the clicky polyriddim of “Sweet Georgia Brown” (Cf. Brother Bones, Harlem Globetrotters, R. Kelly). This last should not be too surprising, since it’s produced by Salaam Remi whose previous collabos with Spragga include the Acid Hall riddim, a pre-millenium high point in dancehall creativity.
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posted on Nov 4, 2009 in GHETTO PALMS tags Beenie Man, caribbean, Catchdubs, Sizzla, Spragga Benz, Truck Back
