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Words by Emily Shapiro—
Let’s skip all the chit-chat and cut right to the point. Beyonce straight murdered the Superbowl Halftime show and us dancehall fanatics were super hype over the reggae influence and sick bad dance break in the middle of the show. Not only did Beyonce hit us with a fresh version of “Baby Boy,” her bashment style collab with Sean Paul, she sampled Cutty Ranks and bussed a full-fledged “Dutty Wine” alongside some smoking hot dancers.
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Words by DJ Theory—
Boom bahng! Big new Cutty Ranks remix from our dude Kush Arora, the man responsible for such LargeUp remix favorites as this gem. The original gunman Cutty took a new approach with his last full length Full Blast, swapping out the slackness and dancehall which he practically helped invent for a bag of mostly one drop and culture. With features from Luciano and Beres Hammond, the record delivered a quality listen for reggae fans and helped keep a 20+ year veteran relevant today. Kush now moved his conscious roots tune “Blood Stain” into tomorrow, placing his signature “dread bass” touch all over it and letting things take a deep breath so Cutty’s lyrics could shine. Stay thru the outro for full effect and tell me you couldn’t hear a dozen deejays who would murder this riddim.
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Though harmless, the croaking lizard is one of the most despised and feared creatures in all of Jamaica. It’s ability to sneak into houses and elude capture is the source of endless consternation for Jamaican homeowners, even though the insectivore’s dietary preferences help cut down on household bugs. More than the droppings it leaves, or it’s uncanny ability to stick to walls, it’s the croaking sound that the lizard makes at night—the source of endless bouts of insomnia—that really gets yardies riled up.
One Jamaican with no fear of the croaking lizard is our friend Stew Cat, a/k/a Toppa Top Cat (seen above with his friend, Eek A. Mouse). Watch what happens when one unlucky gecko wanders into Stew’s personal space while he is listening to “Limb by Limb” by Cutty Ranks. Instinct kicks in and Stew has no choice but to cut the lizard down—you guessed it—limb by limb.
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Words by Jesse Serwer—
One of our all-time favorite deejays, Cutty Ranks, dropped his first full-length since forever this week, called Full Blast. A few weeks ago we featured the rather intense video for the title track, and the electro-fied U.K.-inspired “Take It Away.” Now, we’re pleased to present an exclusive stream of one of our favorite tracks on the album, a wicked one-drop combination with Beres Hammond called “Way to Go.” Beres and Cutty have done tunes together in the past, and they’ve always been tight—and “Way to Go” is no exception, with deejay and singer in top form, really and truly.
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Words by Herbert Spliffington, Illustration by Victor Kerlow—
In the latest installment of his storytelling-n-illustrations column Field Trips with Spliffington, Herbert Spliffington tells the story (with an assist from his Field Trip World colleague, Victor Kerlow) of how he discovered the music of Cutty Ranks while crossing into the Gambia from Senegal in the ’90s. Isn’t that how we all first heard “Limb by Limb”? With Cutty having just returned from hiatus with new music last week, what better time to pay tribute to this most uniquely vicious dancehall bad bwoy?
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Words by Jesse Serwer—
Last year visual artist Kevin Lyons staged a show of his work called Red, Gold & Green for Paris’ Colette gallery, inspired largely by the aesthetics of dancehall and Jamaican music culture. “The language is fantastic and so fun to illustrate and draw; words like “BOOMBASTIC” or ”COLLIE WEED,” Lyons told our Eddie STATS in a Q+A. “The letters are fat and juicy.” Among the works was a series of posters grouping similarly named artists: “SHABBA RANKS. CUTTY RANKS. NARDO RANKS. TIGER RANKS. JUNIE RANKS”; “KING STITT. KING KONG. KING JAMMY. KING TUBBY. KING EDWARDS.”
