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Words by Emily Shapiro
VP Records and DJ Norie will host a tribute concert for Joel Chin, the label’s late director of A&R, at BB King’s in New York City on Dec. 14. The “Strictly the Best” event, which is also celebrating the release of the 44th and 45th volumes of the reggae compilation series, will feature performances from Sean Paul, Shaggy, Gyptian, Wayne Marshall and Demarco (whose performance of “Fallen Soldiers” should inevitably be emotional), among others.
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Words by Jesse Serwer, Photos by Sobe Kelly Knight
As one of the Caribbean’s finest and most innovative hotels, Rockhouse in Negril, Jamaica attracts a loyal clientele of celebrities and other financially endowed folk who come for the first-class accommodations and dynamic cliff-top location, but come back for the authentic links to Jamaican culture people tend to forge there. Such friends are good to have when you also have a charity foundation the mission of which is to help support and rebuild schools and other local infrastructure, as Rockhouse owner Paul Salmon does. Drawn by food from Miss Lily’s (in which Salmon is also a partner) and performances by dancehall stars Sean Paul, Gyptian and rapper-turned-folk-type-dude John Forte, guests including Matt Dillon, Spragga Benz and lots of people we recognize but can’t necessarily name helped raise $135, 000 for the Rockhouse Foundation at its annual fundraiser at Joe’s Pub in NYC. Jamaican model/personality Tyson Beckford and DJ Sky Nellor hosted the event, while sounds were supplied by LargeUp friends Max Glazer and Rob Kenner. Scan below for some of these familiar faces but, before you do, take some time to watch this video about the Foundation’s recent restoration of the Negril Library, the town’s oldest structure.
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Words by Eddie STATS Houghton
LargeUp and Okayplayer are offering you the chance to win a free pair of tickets to the 25th Annual edition of the legendary JazzReggae Fest at UCLA (No. 4 on our Toppa Top 10 list of best summertime reggae festivals), which takes place this coming Sunday May 29th and Monday May 30th (don’t worry, it’s Memorial Day–school’s out). The line-up on “Jam Day” includes Lupe Fiasco, Little Dragon, Bilal, Talib Kweli, and Pharoahe Monch. “Reggae Day” (Monday) features Gyptian, Steel Pulse, Tanya Stephens, Los Rakas, J Boog and Wailing Souls. Whew.
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Words by Gabriel Heatwave
Mr. Williamz
It’s been a bumper few weeks for UK dancehall. In last month’s update, I mentioned that there are many reasons to be optimistic about the current state of the music over here. Here are some of those reasons:
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Words by DJ Gravy
In honor of the Hallmark holiday, we had to bring you a roundup of (relatively recent) lovers tunes today (and check out last year’s V-Day post for some more bedroom heat). No long talking! It’s dutty love time.
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Words by Jesse Serwer
In spite of the huge 2010 that Gyptian had across the Caribban disapora and at urban radio, mainstream media coverage of the phenomenon was quite thin. So it was a pleasant surprise to see Mr. Gyp turn up on NPR, or at least its Website, as one of the first guests of the year (second, actually) on the high-minded public radio outlet’s “Tiny Desk” performance series. Previously, Tarrus Riley and Jimmy Cliff were featured on the webisode series, taped at All Songs Considered host Bob Boilen’s desk at NPR’s Washington office. Watch below, as Gyptian, smartly attired (given his coordinates) in a Washington Nationals cap, performs “Hold Yuh,” “Beautiful Lady” and “Nah Let Go” under the watchful eye of an 8×10 photo of Sun Ra. Or visit here to download the video and/or audio.
