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 69: New Serani / Daseca Riddims
- story Eddie "Stats" Houghton
- photo Martei Korley (F57)
No 69 jokes, please. Badman arithmetic only goes up to 68-and-I’ll-owe-you-one. Just by pure coincidence though, this edition of Ghetto Palms does happen to be kind of a ladies night special. But that’s only because after a brief summer hibernation, production trio Daseca are back on the set with a vengeance—and when Serani and co. are not working out their Anger Management issues on a Bounty Killer affiliated project, they can kill a lover’s tune like nobody else.
It’s. It’s New Seraaani. R Six Riddim + “Skip To My Luu” MP3
- story Peter Macia
Serani’s moment in New York was summer 2008, with “Doh,” “No Games” and “She Loves Me” all on constant rotation on both pirate stations and Hot97, and he’s been trying to get an album filled with that same music out for a while now. Hopefully, that will still happen, but for everyone who’s already ready for some new Serani/Daseca emotional dancehall, here is Serani’s version on Daseca’s new R Six riddim and a random joint that also has dancer-turned-deejay, best named Ding Dong. Both are absurdly upbeat and perfect for the doggy days of summer.
Download: Serani, “I Don’t Say I Love You”
Download: Serani f. Ding Dong, Razzy & Biggy, “Skip To Ma Luu”
Ghetto Palms: Mavado / Serani / Good Life riddim
- story Eddie "Stats" Houghton
Every week resident FADER selector Eddie STATS runs through dancehall riddims and other artifacts from the ghetto archipelago.
I was tempted to beat you (the reader) in the head about Mavado again today. I feel a certain amount of personal investment in his success seeing as how back in 2006, myself and photographer Martei Korley gave him his very first press outside of JA with a two-page lead Gen F profile in FADER #40, and then me and Max ran the set on his NY album release event . So the official release of his “So Special” video seemed like a good opportunity to milk it a little. What with Hot 97 giving it a big run, it seems he is finally cashing in some of the street capital earned with dark JA goth anthems that comprised Gangsta For Life –the kind of joints that owned Brooklyn streets but made radio DJs say, Maybe if you was to flip it on 45 so I could dance to it. With this tune, dude has clearly flipped it on 45, you can dance to it and all the other elements seem to be in place to drive sales of his new LP which drops March 3rd. (BTW, I am hereby predicting that Mr. Brooks will do for Mavado what Dutty Rock did for Sean Paul, with the disclaimer that even established platinum artists don’t go platinum anymore, much less slumdog upstarts like D. Constantine Brooks).
Video: Mavado Documentary
- story THE FADER
Pieces of this have been floating around as part of VP Records’ “Dancehall Draft Picks” video series, but this the full 12-minute mini-doc about Mavado, featuring studio sessions with Busy Signal and Daseca, live footage with Bounty Killer and a little kid singing “Weh Dem A Do.” Highly watchable and giving us hope that the November release date for Mr. Brooks: A Better Tomorrow is not a total fabrication.
Freeload: Demarco, “Go Easy”
- story THE FADER
It’s been a little quiet for Daseca since they, and specifically Serani, took over the summer streets, but this new track, which is an apparent plea to both Mavado’s and Vybz’ people to chill, is a pretty good reminder why these dudes are among our favorite producers in JA. Not to mention Demarco runs with four or five different styles on here and leaves behind his trademark auto-tune, surprisingly.
Download: Demarco, “Go Easy”
Freeload: Assassin “Pum Pum Surveillance”
- story THE FADER
This the second Assasin track to make the blog in a week. Not because the collegiate dancehaller is on a roll (he is) or because producers Daseca murk the boards consistently (they do), but because “Pum Pum Surveillance” is far and away the best song title since “Ayo Technology.” And that’s not just because we’re pervy (we’re not?)
Download: Assassin “Pum Pum Surveillance”
Freeload: Bugle f. Mavado, “Set Me Free”
- story THE FADER
It’s hard to call this song a jam because it sounds like the dancehall version of Shawshank Redemption, but that’s exactly what it is. We admit that we’d most likely post audio of Mavado ordering Thai food, but for real this song is weighty. Bugle is becoming pretty well known for these depressing quiet storms produced by Daseca, but clearly Mavado still runs things.
Download: Bugle f. Mavado, “Set Me Free”
