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
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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posted on Oct 9, 2009 in MP3 / STREAMS tags Assassin, bashment, Buju Banton, Busy Signal, caribbean, Crazy Cousinz, Gabriel Heatwave, Lady Chann, Mavado, Ms Dynamite, Natalie Storm, Sean Paul, Shystie, uk funky, Vybz Kartel
Mavado, “Gyal Bend Ova” MP3
- story Felipe Delerme
We heard Mavado was on the cover of another magazine this month and it left us a little confused. The man has voiced arguably the two strongest dancehall albums of the past three years and upheld a continuous onslaught of tunes both vicious and sweet for the last four and now you choose to honor him? But then we thought about how he has voiced arguably the two strongest dancehall albums of the past three years and continues to uphold an onslaught of tunes both vicious and sweet and basically, the kid stays in the picture.
Download: Mavado, “Gyal Bend Ova”
Ghetto Palms: GP All-Stars/Exclusive Esau Mwamwaya Refix
- story Eddie "Stats" Houghton
- photo Liz Johnson Artur
In the past week almost every damn artist I would consider a signature Ghetto Palms poster-child has represented with crushing new tunes or refixes in a similar vibe (Busy Signal and Erup have both been putting enough overtime lately to be excused from this session.) The common ground is a 120 bpm neighborhood situated somewhere between synth pop and ragga soca, a tempo I have given up trying to name and will simply call the “sweet spot.” Hence, the Ghetto Palms All-Stars blend.
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posted on Jul 1, 2009 in BLOGS, GHETTO PALMS tags Aidonia, caribbean, De Tropix, Di Genius, Esau Mwamwaya, Laden, Leftside, Mavado, Natalie Storm
Freeload: The Heatwave’s Early Warming Mixtape
- story THE FADER
Prancehall usually brings these Heatwave mixes to our attention, but this time around we were tipped off by the mighty Dutty Artz blog. Early Warming’s got a grip of FADER favorites on it like Erup, Buju, Mr. Vegas, Tifa, Mavado, Busy, Gyptian, Laden, Major Lazer and more and just made us dagger the hell out of our office chairs. And by dagger we mean sit in them and put words on the internet. Still, shit was wild! Sam just typed a sentence in mid-air and then did a reverse roundhouse.
Download: Heatwave’s Early Warming Mixtape
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posted on Jun 12, 2009 in MP3 / STREAMS tags Buju, Busy, caribbean, Erup, freeload, Gyptian, Laden, Major Lazer, Mavado, Mr. Vegas, The Heatwave, Tifa
Video: Vybz Kartel, “Don’t Run (Last Man Standing)” [Official]
- story THE FADER
It’s unclear why Vybz would spend money on a real video for “Don’t Run” when this Photoshop masterpiece has been making us choke on lunch noodles since January 2009. But he did, and it’s not even that different, other than its complete lack of scenes depicting Mavado cutting Vybz’ hair. It’s almost like they’re friends now this is so polite.
Live: Mavado at Prime
- story THE FADER
The last time the Gully God passed through NYC we were a bit preoccupied, but when we heard Funkmaster Flex on Hot97 bragging about bringing him to “So Fly Sundays” at Prime this past Thursday, we vowed to avenge our past misfortune. The show was billed as Mavado’s first Manhattan club appearance, and the turn out (and door price) reflected it. On line we met an Englishman who offered an unprompted, though spirited, dissertation as to why Mavado and Kartel are incomparable as artists. We also saw a dude almost get shut down because coat check refused to check his skateboard. In an especially angelic gesture, a bouncer stepped in and offered to hold it in his truck. Aside from a thorough pat-down, as a club, Prime offers a refreshing experience for a performance. The DJ booth is located in the center of the dance floor which allowed Flex and an equally nasty Young Chow, a focused accord with the crowd. The leveled VIP, which surrounds the dance floor, has a kingly view of the floor’s inhabitants, and vice versa, where diamond drenched pendants and fist-fulls of dollars were on full display for nightlife paparazzi. When Mavado climbed into the booth just after 3am, the first, “Anywayyyyy,” rippled across a sea of gunfingers. Rocking an iced out Mickey Mouse pendant (?!) with dreads tied up for mobility, Mr. Brooks sang his gangsta heart out, performing everything from from “Dying” to “On The Rock/We Need Barack” to “I’m So Blessed.” By the time the Unfinished Business Riddim of “I’m So Special” signaled business finishing, Prime was deep under his spell, having witnessed something so, so special; an exclusive performance by one of dancehall’s biggest artists, at the absolute top of his game.
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, “So Special”
- story THE FADER
For a thorough discussion of this song and the Unfinished Business riddim, take a look at Eddie Stats’ Ghetto Palms column from last November, or just bask in the deep blue glow of the Gully God’s life of bathing in sexy ladies and driving Lamborghini holograms.
**UPDATE**
“So Special” Behind the Scenes video after the jump.
Video: Vybz Kartel, “Don’t Run (Last Man Standing)”
- story THE FADER
When Mavado made his abrupt exit following a heavily anticipated clash with Vybz Kartel at last month’s Sting festival, there’s no way he could have foreseen the CGI wizardy that it would go on to inspire. It would seem the internet’s gulliest of creepas just couldn’t wait to fire up the Photoshop and paste his likeness into all things ridiculously unflattering, as well as hilarious. From someone setting audio of Mavado yelling for more volume over the Bad Company riddim and labeling it a Vybz diss to the above video for Kartel’s “Don’t Run,” which if the short clips from Sting are to be believed, actually lends some sort of partisan accuracy to Kartel’s narrative, the clash was a sight to behold. We’re not too sure about Mavado hooking up Kartel’s shape-up though. Regardless of the inspiration, with new dancehall often comes new dance, and “Don’t Run” comes equipped for warfare by way of FADER-approved selector Skerrit Bwoy and friends’ “Last Man Standing.” Check out a video of them bussing the steps after the jump. Not nice!
