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Words by LargeUp Crew—
Great Googa Mooga, the music-meets-food festival where the chefs are bigger draws than the bands (last year’s headliners included the Roots and Hall and Oates, while De La Soul, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and the Flaming Lips are among those performing this year), has been called “food culture’s Woodstock.”
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Words by Jesse Serwer—
Cosby Show devotees will recall the “Full House” episode from the series’ first season, when Cliff Huxtable walked in on Denise and her new beau “Eddie Lakehart” grooving to Black Uhuru’s “Sponji Reggae.” The scene—specifically Denise and Eddie’s adlibbed lyrics—was memorable enough it earned Lisa Bonet and actor Clayton Prince an honorable mention on our Hollywood’s Top 10 Worst Jamaican Accents countdown from 2011.
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Words by Jesse Serwer, Photo by N. Corren Conway
Coming into December’s Okayplayer Holiday Jam, we had quite the task before us. Last year we brought out Shaggy and Patra, among others, for an all-star session with The Roots that turned out to be the hip-hop legends’ first-ever dancehall jam. How could we possibly outdo that?
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Words by Jesse Serwer, Video by Jason Zucker—
Yesterday, LargeUp got the unique opportunity to roll with Beres Hammond to 30 Rockefeller Plaza, for his first-ever U.S. talk show appearance on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. After watching Beres sit in with the Roots for a version of “One Love, One Life,” the title track off of his superb new LP, we went backstage for a rare conversation with the King of Jamaican Lover’s Rock. We also caught up with the Roots Crew’s Jamaican members—”Captain” Kirk Douglas, keyboardist James Poyser and percussionist Frank Knuckles—yep, there’s three yardies in the Roots—to get their take on playing with the King of Jamaican Lover’s Rock, and what his music means to them. A rare peek at the roots of the Roots, if you will.
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Words by Jesse Serwer—
An epic clash of Afro-Caribbean rhythms and Western movie bombast, the Incredible Bongo Band’s “Apache” is the grand poobah of breakbeats, a record so integral to the development of hip-hop that Kool Herc himself called it hip-hop’s national anthem. And now “Apache” is the subject of a new documentary, Sample This (check the trailer below), which connects it not only to Bronx DJ pioneers and Missy Elliott but also Robert F. Kennedy, the Beatles and Charles Manson, among others. Whoa. We expect it will also shine a nice, shiny spotlight on the great King Errisson, the Bahamian conguero whose bongo playing is the epicenter of “Apache”‘s titanic rumble.
