Things appear to be getting worse for Dancehall/Reggae legend Buju Banton in his drug conspiracy trial that is taking place in the US. Earlier this month we brought you the news that one of his co-defendants - Ian Thomas, reportedly agreed to co-operate with the US Government as part of a plea deal. However today we have received the news that James Mack who had previously signed an affidavit stating that he never met Buju prior to his arrest, and that Buju had no knowledge of the money and gun that were in Mack's car.

According to a local Tampa Bay News article, a plea agreement filed in US District Court earlier today indicates that Mack will plead guilty to charges of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute more than 5 kilograms of cocaine and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking offence.

Contrary to what Mack stated in the affidavit, his plea agreement include Buju Banton playing a role in the drug conspiracy. Consequently, when the case finally goes to trial next week Monday (September 20), Buju will be the only defendant on trial in the dock.

Read more »

Reggae artist Junior X has a new album due to be released early next month. The talented singer is reportedly happy to have finally completed a full length album as many fans have been requesting a new album release since his debut in 2005. Junior X's career was launched with the massive hit "Please My Cause". Below we've featured an exclusive track from Junior X's upcoming album. This track is called 'Never Stop Trying', and features Gyptian. This isn't released yet so don't expect to find this tune anywhere else! Enjoy!



Read more »

"Reports surfacing is that Gyptian is now the most popular artiste in North America. Yeah man that means he has surpassed the likes of Vybz Kartel, Shaggy and Sean Paul.

According to a story in the Jamaica Observer he has become the most popular dancehall artiste in North America and third popular globally based on online searches, amidst the prerelease of his charting album.

He is more popular than rivals in the US and Canada (the world’s largest music market) according to data from search engine Google analysed by the Observer. Over the last 30 days, every 100 searches for Gyptian saw a corresponding 67 for Shaggy and five for Sean Paul, zero for Kartel in the US

Globally, however, Gyptian has half the online popularity of Sean Paul and Shaggy who are still the most popular deejays.

That is not bad for Gyptian, as last June he did not even register on Google Trends.

Gyptian’s global rise to third place occurred in May and June when he beat Kartel and Matisyahu respectively. It indicates that more persons worldwide are searching for news and music from Gyptian than ever.

His hit single Hold Yuh is currently topping five territories including US, UK, France, Canada and Belgium based on iTunes Reggae Songs chart up to Saturday.

His single is also charting at number four on Billboard’s Heatseeker’s singles chart. Whilst his new album on VP Records debuted at number two on Billboard’s Reggae Albums chart this week (despite his album’s official release in August

Reports surfacing is that Gyptian is now the most popular artiste in North America. Yeah man that means he has surpassed the likes of Vybz Kartel, Shaggy and Sean Paul.

According to a story in the Jamaica Observer he has become the most popular dancehall artiste in North America and third popular globally based on online searches, amidst the prerelease of his charting album.

"He is more popular than rivals in the US and Canada (the world’s largest music market) according to data from search engine Google analysed by the Observer. Over the last 30 days, every 100 searches for Gyptian saw a corresponding 67 for Shaggy and five for Sean Paul, zero for Kartel in the US

Globally, however, Gyptian has half the online popularity of Sean Paul and Shaggy who are still the most popular deejays.

That is not bad for Gyptian, as last June he did not even register on Google Trends.

Gyptian’s global rise to third place occurred in May and June when he beat Kartel and Matisyahu respectively. It indicates that more persons worldwide are searching for news and music from Gyptian than ever.

His hit single Hold Yuh is currently topping five territories including US, UK, France, Canada and Belgium based on iTunes Reggae Songs chart up to Saturday.

His single is also charting at number four on Billboard’s Heatseeker’s singles chart. Whilst his new album on VP Records debuted at number two on Billboard’s Reggae Albums chart this week (despite his album’s official release in August"

Source: Yardflex.com

Read more »

Most dancehall artists' careers have crashed and burned on American shores. From Yellowman to Shabba Ranks to Buju Banton, some of Jamaica's most definitive vocalists couldn't break through to a larger audience due to unwise collaborations, questionable judgments and bad advice.

Busy Signal, who boasts a collab with M.I.A. on the new Major Lazer EP, is determined not to follow that path.

"I've learned from their mistakes, " the man born Reanno Gordon tells Spinner. "I try to think outside the box, beyond Jamaica. I mean, we sing gun lyrics here, and burn fire on this and burn fire on that, but that won't bring you to the level that you need to go. I've seen this over and over again with artists from Jamaica. You sing those songs locally, people go crazy, but at the end of the day that won't bring you to the wide level of exposure cause you're probably lashing out against those that would be accepting you."

Busy has managed to create huge domestic hits while pursuing hybrid rhythms and cool foreign collaborations. Nothing in his rapidly growing catalog sounds like the watered-down crossovers of years past, which saw hard-as-nails dancehall artists recording urban radio-baiting slow jams.

His new album 'D.O.B.' (which stands for "Difference of Busy" may contain covers of Phil Collins' 'One More Night' and a one-drop revision of the Commodores' 'Night Shift,' but both versions cut deep and don't feel like blatant sellouts.

Within the rest of the album's context, it's clear these represent just one side of his personality, alongside the Latin-flavoured 'Picante,' the fierce 'Summn a Go Gwaan' with his mentor Bounty Killer, and the digital string flourishes of 'Opera.'

"I'm not just about one track in my entire career," he says. "I sing gun songs -- I sing plenty of them -- and I sing sex lyrics too. I mean, sex sells. I still sing conscious songs -- I even sing a gospel, so I try to keep it well-rounded".

Busy is crossing over differently than previous generations by tapping into the hot electro-tropical scene and spreading the results online, rather than through radio. Poirier remixed Busy's ultra-minimal 'Cool Baby' into an anthemic dancefloor track -- and gave it away as a free download. The African-inspired single 'Jafrican Ting' blew up earlier this year thanks to support from trendspotting magazine The Fader. However, he is best known outside dancehall circles for his work with Diplo's Major Lazer project -- which contributes the bonus track 'Pon Me' to 'D.O.B.' Busy finds great common ground with such producers.

"They fuse stuff and do different types of beats, it's a good experience for me," he observes. "I'm not really trying to change dancehall, it's more trying to fuse it with different styles -- getting a different taste but at the same time keeping it Jamaican dancehall culture, reggae music culture."

More than ever, his approach is paying off, with big names increasingly coming to him. "I'm always in the studio, constantly doing tracks. I did one with Stephen Marley yesterday," he recounts. On the way are vocals for beats supplied by Timbaland, Scott Storch and DJ Khaled.

"I'm lifting the culture on a wider scale of exposure," Busy maintains, stressing once again that his self-directed musical diversity will help him go further. "There are all different types of people in the world. When people can choose, that's always a good thing."

Source

Read more »

Tsunami Riddim

Hot Cofee Music Productions

August 2010 Release

Track List:

01. Bugle - We Know We Friends
02. Chucky Star - Call To You
03. Delly Ranx - Always Have a Condom
04. Gappy Ranks - Cannon
05. Gappy Ranks - Tsunami
06. Kibaki - Hands Up
07. Redd - Talk of the Town
08. Singing Sweet - Love You
09. Tony Matterhorn - Fuck Wah Come
10. Version - Tsunami Riddim

Read more »