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Words by DJ Gravy—
As you’ve probably heard, hip-hop icon Snoop Dogg recently took his career in a radical new direction, inspired by reggae, Bob Marley and the message of Rastafari. Snoop spent some time in Jamaica last winter to work on his debut reggae album, holding a press conference at Manhattan’s Miss Lily’s (where the pics in this post were shot) to announce his transformation from rapper to reggae artist and trading his canine status in for his new feline moniker, Snoop Lion.
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Words by Jesse Serwer, via MTV Iggy—
After a heavy two-year run of hits, one of dancehall’s biggest new names, I-Octane, is finally dropping an album. Crying for the Nation (VP/Scikron), featuring past hits like “Nuh Love Inna Dem” and a batch of mostly roots-y previously unreleased material like “Vanity Will Come,” is out Tuesday, Feb. 14. If you can’t wait til then, you’re in luck, ’cause the folks folks at MTV Iggy (good looks on posting our Acmatic webisode!) are streaming the entire album here, up until the release date.
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Words by Sherman Escoffery, Photos by Sobe Kelly Knight—
Born into a family of religious conflict, Gyptian finds no conflict in switching from highly suggestive love songs like the massive hit “Hold You” to the conscious music he first established himself with. “I am here to elevate the mind of the people but I love the ladies so much, man,” he states. He smiles when he says this. The artist is in no rush as he sits and reasons with Large Up during a 10-hour layover in New York while on his way to a performance in Dubai.
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A LargeUp Exclusive Webisode – Words by Eddie STATS Houghton, Photos and Video by Martei Korley.
Diplo kicks it with LargeUp at the Spanish Court Hotel, New Kingston
Unless you been living under an internet-sized rock, you’re probably already aware of Wesley “Diplo” Pentz’s restless, jetsetting activities as a DJ, producer, label-head and laser-equipped cyborg. Since bussing out with his Philly-based party Hollertronix in the early 00s he has established himself as an unparalleled breaker of underground sounds, from Brazilian baile funk to UK grime. Likewise the list of inspiring new artists that he’s had a hand in discovering and exposing–from Baltimore club auteur Blaqstarr to South African rockers BLK JKS–is global in scope and alphabetical in length.
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Words by Jesse Serwer
If you were getting your music information from MTV in the late ’80s, you might have thought that Shinehead was the only reggae/dancehall artist out. The square Cazal aficionado was signed to Elektra Records at the time and, in the days just before Shabba Ranks’ big worldwide breakthrough, he was one of the only dancehall acts with the sort of budget that enabled him to make decent-quality videos on the regular, and actually get them played on MTV, BET and the like. Of course it helped that Shine was from New York (via Kent, England) and something of a triple threat, capable of switching from patois chatting to a falsetto croon and the accent-free MC flow of a Yankee rapper.
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Words by Jesse Serwer, via MTV
Haitian-American hip-hop producer Sha Money XL discussed his ongoing involvement with relief efforts in Haiti with MTV this week, on the one-year anniversary of the tragic Jan. 12 earthquake. The Def Jam senior VP of A&R (and former G-Unit Records president) said he plans to produce and release a Kreyol hip-hop compilation EP featuring Seca Konsa (See his “Kwe Li” below) and other artists, with all proceeds going to Haiti. No word on which other artists will be featured on the EP, but might we suggest Montreal-via-Port-au-Prince’s Mr. OK (Who we told you about here)? Betweeen Sha Money’s announcement and OK’s rising profile, it’s looking like this could be the year when Kreyol hip-hop gains the attention of non-native speakers in a big way.
