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Words by Eddie STATS Houghton
A mysterious wooden box turned up in the LargeUp/Okayplayer office today, cargo cult style, with a single bottle of coconut water in it. That’s because this is the week Vita Coco launched it’s new Rihanna-branded line of tropical fruit-flavored coconut water. Rihanna has been the company’s spokesgal for a minute and the combination makes perfect sense from a branding perspective (although from a personal perspective; too fruity.)
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Words by Jesse Serwer
Ralph McDaniels’ Video Music Box gets its due credit (especially from me) for being the first hip-hop video show but it was also the only place in New York (and, as such, probably anywhere in the U.S.) where you could see proper dancehall videos on a regular basis before the mid ’90s. Back then, dancehall was still a foreign concept to this yankee—when I tuned into VMB, I wanted to see some rappity rap and maybe the shaking rumps in a New Jack Swing video. Gradually, however, witnessing Chaka Demus & Pliers’ “Murder She Wrote” and Mikey Jarrett’s “Mack Daddy” on Video Music Box put me on to a world my classmates knew nothing of. One video I can recall really catching my attention on VMB was “Tatie” by Snagga Puss. I was greatly impressed back then by zany, cartoon character-like rappers like Fu-Schnickens, Busta Rhymes, Sticky Fingaz, Redman, etc.— and Snagga Puss was basically a cartoon character come to life. Literally. He sounded exactly like the Hanna Barbara character Snagglepuss, employing the pink cat’s vocal mannerisms as his trademark.
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Words by Eddie STATS Houghton
Not sure if dancehall is getting more island pop or all pop music is getting now mostly dancehall. Either way Sean Paul seems like he might be back in toppa pop 10 form with this new American Idol combination he leaked today:
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Words by Jesse Serwer
It’s more likely you’ll bump into an old high school teacher on the beach in Barbados than one of your bros. It’s the mature traveler’s Caribbean destination. Which is why its intriguing that the country has tapped Rihanna as its new tourism ambassador. The move of course makes perfect sense. Rihanna is pretty much the most famous–and popular–Bajan ever. But we’re also reading it as a move to attract more young people. Barbados, which has generally touted its abundant scenery, historical sites and country lifestyle to would-be tourists in the past, appears to be taking a page out of Jamaica’s book and promoting its culture. “Barbados is a place like no other and one of the reasons for this is the spirit and national pride of our people,” Rihanna said in her comments on the appointment. “What makes this destination different from all others and that is the spirit and warmth of my fellow Barbadians.” Her first act in the new role will be a show in Bridgetown Aug. 5, right ’round the culmination of Crop Over. Meet us there?
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Words by Eddie STATS Houghton
Everybody’s talm bout this new video for Rihanna’s “Man Down” which debuted on BET last night. Shot in Jamaica–an appropriate backdrop for the pulsing reggae riddim–the vid follows our star as she does the things popstars do in JA: drink coconut water, go to a dancehall session, frolic on the beach in white linen…and get raped? Although she has always been a strong proponent of dancehall culture, the inclusion of a graphic rape scene as a surprise twist at the end of the narrative treatment–a radical re-contextualization of the songs gun-heavy lyric–has already created a backlash in Jamaica, where the self-image of many on the island is still smarting from Drake’s casting of Mavado as a coke don in his video (helmed by the same director, Anthony Mandler) for “Find Your Love”–not to mention rough treatment of its citizens at the hands of immigration officials in Rihanna’s native Barbados. Ri-Ri herself has said through publicists and via twitter that the clip has “a strong message for girls like her,” which has itself created more controversy since it invites comparison to her real-life drama with singer Chris Brown.
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Words by Jesse Serwer
Here’s a tune tailor-made for a springtime weekend: Cam’Ron sidekick/new Interscope signee Vado yesterday turned up on a remix of “Man Down,” the rough-and-rugged, reggae-flavored highlight from Rihanna’s Loud album. Seriously, this might be the gulliest tune of Rihanna’s career. Breaking down how she could just kill her man, (“I didn’t mean to end his life/I know it wasn’t right…It’s a 22, I call her Peggy Sue/Whatchu expect me do, she fits right down in my shoe”), Ri-Ri really lets the Bajan accent she’s often guilty of masking out for air. And producer Shama Joseph gives her an appropriately moody soundtrack, complete with police sirens. Vado is up to the challenge, enhancing the Caribbean flavor with a shoutout to Caribana weekend. The Harlem rapper, who recently collaborated with the almost identically named Mavado, has really been embracing his Jamaican roots of late. Cam’Ron’s favorite understudy spent several years living in yard as a kid, and he’s one of the few young American MCs with a mainstream profile right now who seems genuinely interested in repping the Caribbean massive. For that, we salute him.
