May 19, 2013
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Ticket Giveaway: Red Bull Music Academy Culture Clash 2013 in NYC

Words by LargeUp Crew—
Red-Bull-Music-Academy-Culture-Clash

For the past few years, Red Bull Music Academy has been organizing sound clashes pitting DJ crews from multiple genres against one another, in an annual “celebration of sound system culture and its ongoing influence on hip hop, dancehall and dance music.” The way we see it, the annual Culture Clash events are an opportunity for the rest of the music world to catch up to reggae and dancehall in the field of DJ-driven entertainment, and to see what they’ve been missing if they’ve never been to a true sound clash—which are centered on crowd interaction and have a whole different (and livelier) energy than a technical skills-oriented DJ battle.

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LargeUp Recommends: 15 People To Follow on Instagram


Words by LargeUp Crew—

Major Lazer The Roots

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Happy Birthday: Jacob ‘Killer’ Miller

Jacob-Miller-Reggae

There was a point in the late 70′s when Bob Marley had become such an international icon that Jamaica’s people were identifying more with artists who were still based locally. Jacob Miller and his band Inner Circle were pretty much running things in this era and were getting far more play in the dancehall than Marley. Featured prominently in the cult classic film Rockers, “The Killer” will always be remembered for his larger than life persona. Splashes of his unique vocal style can be heard in plenty of contemporary artists, (See Sizzla’s “Praise Ye Jah, hail the empor-ah-ah-ah”) plus Jacob Miller’s shirtless, big-belly man swag was unprecedented!

To mark the late, great bigman’s earthstrong, we’re hittin’ you with a track off the new Jacob Miller tribute album, Aloha To The Killer (Dubshot Records) which features all Hawaiian reggae artists. Listen to this vocally embellished version of  the classic “Tenement Yard” by Irie Love.

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You Rate It: Busta Rhymes’ “Twerk It”

twerk-it-cover

In his review of Snoop Lion’s reggae reinvention Reincarnated for the New York Times, writer Jon Caramanica noted “Busta Rhymes runs circles around Snoop on the bonus track ‘Remedy’ — his would be a reggae album worth hearing.” We couldn’t agree more. We’ve always rated Busta for his unique way of bringing dancehall flavor to hip-hop. Check our Busta’s Biggest Bashment Tunes Toppa Top 10 list for some classic examples, to see what we mean.

Still, everything about Busta’s patois-inflected new single “Twerk It” produced by Pharrell took us for a loop. For one thing, it’s called “Twerk It.” (Initial reaction: Busta is doing a twerk song? No, Busta, no.) Who’d guess based off that info that the now YMCMB-signed Busta would rap the whole thing in a Jamaican accent, dipping into patois while a rude gyal begins the whole thing talking about Yuh dun no, this time when we come in we come fi flatline everything inna dis bumboclaat til clash done!!!!!! 

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Ultimate ‘Warrior’: Gold Shop x Witty x Sammy Dread

Words by Jesse Serwer—

Sammy-Dread-Gold-Shop

While we’re in throwback mode on a Thursday, we thought we’d alert y’all to the return of one of our favorite reissues labels, Brooklyn’s Gold Shop. Founded by reggae industry vet Dan Kuster, the imprint, with its Limonious-inspired sleeves, specializes in putting 45s from the golden era of dancehall (and specifically from NYC based labels) back into print.

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FREE DOWNLOAD: Ricky Blaze x Talib Kweli, “Down Ass Girl”

Words by Jesse Serwer—

ricky-blaze-talib-kweli-down-ass-girl

Talib Kweli and Ricky Blaze are about as Brooklyn as it gets. But, despite hailing from same neighborhood—Flatbush— the two occupy such different corners of the music spectrum (mature backpack rap; youth-oriented dancehall pop), one might not expect the two to find their way onto the same track. Ricky’s “Down Ass Girl” hardly feels like a stretch, though: the beat has those ’90s style “boom-bap” no rapper of Kweli’s ilk can resist, but is poppy and soulful enough to suit Blaze’s smooth lover tones. The result has a bit of a Ryan Leslie x Fabolous type vibe to it. Stream and download below…

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