Jah9-"Humble Mi" Live and direct on BBC 1Xtra

JAH9 - "UNAFRAID"

Janine Elizabeth Cunningham (born 23 May 1983), better known as Jah9, is a Jamaican singer.

Jah9 was born in Montego Bay in Saint James, Jamaica. Her father was a Baptist minister and her mother was a teacher and social worker. She spent much of her childhood in Falmouth, Trelawny. In 1991 the family moved to Kingston. After a period at the university she commenced realizing her musical passion. Her music is often described as "jazz on dub", because her singing voice is influenced by Nina Simone and Billie Holiday, partly combined with the dancehall sound of Sizzla and the more potent dub rhythms similar to those of Augustus Pablo.

Jah9 tackles the subject of pedophilia with "Unafraid". This artist is intellectually, spiritually and musically fearless. 

Buju Banton Onstage TV Interview (3/14/20)

Buju Banton (born Mark Anthony Myrie; 15 July 1973) is a Jamaican reggae dancehall recording artist. He is widely considered one of the most significant and well-regarded artists in Jamaican music. Banton has collaborated with many international artists, including those in the Hip Hop, Latin and punk rock genres, as well as the sons of Bob Marley.

Banton released a number of dancehall singles as early as 1987 but came to prominence in 1992 with two albums, Stamina Daddy and Mr. Mention, the latter which became the best-selling album in Jamaican history upon its release. That year he also broke the record for #1 singles in Jamaica, previous held by Bob Marley. He signed with the major label Mercury Records and released Voice of Jamaica in 1993. By the mid-1990s, Banton's music became more influenced by his Rastafari faith, as heard on the seminal albums 'Til Shiloh and Inna Heights.

In 2009, he was arrested on drug-related charges in the United States and his first trial resulted in a hung jury. His 2010 album Before the Dawn won Best Reggae Album at the 53rd annual Grammy Awards. In 2011, he was convicted on the same criminal charge and was imprisoned in the U.S. until December 2018, whereupon he was deported home to Jamaica.

Buju Banton was born in Kingston, Jamaica in a poor neighbourhood known as Salt Lane. Buju is a nickname given to him by his mother as a child. Banton is a Jamaican word that refers to someone who is a respected storyteller, and it was adopted by Myrie in tribute to the deejay Burro Banton, whom Buju admired as a child. Buju emulated Burro's rough vocals and forceful delivery, developing his own distinctive style. Buju's mother was a higgler, or street vendor, while his father worked as a labourer at a tile factory. He was the youngest of fifteen children born into a family that was directly descended from the Maroons of Jamaica.

Banton has homes in Jamaica and Tamarac, Florida (United States). He also has 15 children. 

Lila Ike Interview

Lila Iké

The straight-shooting, free-spirited, yet easy-going singer who belts soulful tunes with a velvety smooth voice. Born and raised in the cool hills of Manchester, Lila attended the Manchester High School where her love for music truly started to form.

Affectionately labeled the ‘class clown’, Lila was usually in the position where she would be asked to create jingles on spot for class presentations or just be caught in class ‘freestyling’ with her friends.

She’s cites influencers from a wide range of genres- from pop to lover’s rock to rhythm and blues. She even goes as far as to describe herself as an ‘old soul’- often channeling the soulful sounds of influencers like Garnet Silk, Whitney Houston, Alicia Keys and more.


Lila Iké was born Alecia Grey, the second oldest of four sisters; she chose the name Lila, which means blooming flower, and Iké, a Yoruba word meaning the Power of God. Her mother, an avid music fan, played an assortment of genres at home: reggae, country and western, R&B, gospel and jazz, which was significant in shaping the vocal versatility that characterizes Lila's traditional reggae sound with a glistening modern edge. "Dancehall was the only music my mother didn't play at home because its lyrics (sometimes) aren't really child friendly, so when I started writing my own songs, I wrote conscious lyrics that my mother would want to play in the house," said the singer. Recognizing the financial stress her mother endured providing for four children, Lila quit Northern Caribbean University in Mandeville, about 40 minutes from Christiana, where she was studying to become a teacher, and found work at a call center in Kingston, over two hours away. Lila, admittedly, didn't know what a call center was, nonetheless, she relocated to Jamaica's capital, determined to make her own way and pursue her dream of a musical career. Lila performed wherever she could, including at open mic Saturday nights at Jamnesia, a seaside venue (located in Bull Bay, about 20 minutes outside of Kingston) where many Jamaican artists who have shot to prominence over the past 10 years honed their performing skills, including Chronixx, Jah9, Kabaka Pyramid, NoMaddz, Raging Fyah and Protoje.

Muddy Waters -"Mojo Working"

YESSIR!!!!

Peetie Wheatstraw Stomp

William Bunch (December 21, 1902 – December 21, 1941), known as Peetie Wheatstraw, was an American musician, an influential figure among 1930s blues singers. The only known photograph of him shows him holding a National brand tricone resonator guitar, but he played the piano on most of his recordings.

By the time Bunch reached St. Louis, he had discarded his name and crafted a new identity. The name "Peetie Wheatstraw" was described by the blues scholar Paul Oliver as one that had well-rooted folk associations. Later writers have repeated this, while reporting that many uses of the name were copied from Bunch. Elijah Wald suggested that Bunch may have been the sole source of all uses of the name. It would have been in character for Bunch to invent a name with a whimsical folkloric flavor.

All but two of his records were issued under the names "Peetie Wheatstraw, the Devil's Son-in-Law" and "Peetie Wheatstraw, the High Sheriff from Hell". He composed several "stomps" with lyrics projecting a boastful demonic persona to match these sobriquets. His hardened attitude and egotism have given contemporary authors grounds for comparing him to modern-day rap artists. There is some evidence that the writer Ralph Ellison knew him; Ellison used the name "Peetie Wheatstraw" and aspects of the musician's demonic persona (but no biographical facts) for a character in his novel Invisible Man.

African-American music maintains the tradition of the African "praise song", which tells of the prowess (sexual and other) of the singer. First-person celebrations of the self provide the impetus for many of Wheatstraw's songs, and he rang changes on this theme with confidence, humor and occasional menace. The blues singer Henry Townsend recalled that Wheatstraw's real personality was similar: "He was that kind of person. You know, a jive-type person." The blues critic Tony Russell updated the description: "Wheatstraw constructed a macho persona that made him the spiritual ancestor of rap artists."

"Beware" by Louis Jordan (1946)

Music pioneer Louis Jordan doing some proto-rap. 

Sevana, Jaz Elise, Lila Ikè and Naomi Cowan - International Women’s Day Session

Sevana, Jaz Elise, Lila Ikè and Naomi Cowan perform the Rock & Groove Riddim live and freestyle for BBC Radio 1Xtra at Protoje's Habitat Studios.

Click the link below to peep Seani B's show.

Seani B's Show

Public Enemy Tribute Mix by DJ AMARU

Public Enemy is my favorite hip hop entity. Chuck D's voice, the positive message and the wall of sound that they created is LEGENDARY. Here is DJ Amaru cutting up a few of their better known songs.

JAMAICA JAMAICA !!!!!

Robert Russell (born 28 September 1957), better known by the stage name Brigadier Jerry is a Jamaican dancehall reggae deejay known for his "cultural" lyrics.Jerry has recorded five albums over the years, but the bulk of his career has been spent touring the world, as well as Jamaica, performing over countless sound systems. 

He still records the occasional single, most recently for the Ranking Joe label, but remains primarily a live performer (mostly for King Sturgav). He is considered by many to be U-Roy's greatest student; a stable which includes Ranking Joe, Josey Wales, Charlie Chaplin, U Brown on down to modern-day artists such as Buju Banton.

Koffee vs. Nick Cannon

Gregory Isaacs "Cool Down The Pace"

"VIIIIIBES"

The TOAST tradition

The African American Toast Tradition
By Mona Lisa Saloy

As evidenced in print and music, African Americans boast a lively verbal art tradition that includes tales, toasts, and adventures of bad guys who confront and vanquish any adversary instantly and guiltlessly. From Reconstruction to the jazz age through today, this boasting tradition has been a uniquely urban phenomenon.

"Toasts" are performed narratives of often urban but always heroic events. For many Blacks, both performers and audience, hearing about or performing the winning ways of the central character becomes as creative a release as Black music. Toasting is today's continuance of an oral tradition, but many contemporary toasters read their complicated and elaborate versions from a text. As with any oral tradition, many versions of the same toast exist. The toast is a dynamic performance within the Black community of recognizable and popular central characters. They are performed in bars, libraries, community centers, and even college campuses. However, less explicit toasts are performed by anyone at any time for entertainment.
A toast well known in any large American city with a significant Black population is "Shine and the Titanic." This toast relates the heroic efforts of an old Black stoker to warn of the ship's impending disaster, but when ignored, he strives to save himself. The Titanic sank on its maiden voyage in 1912, during the Jim Crow days when Blacks were not allowed as passengers.
Toasts are typical of other Black traditions, such as quilting and gospel, in that improvisation is highly valued. Therefore, one will find many different versions of any toast; many use profane street speech. This version of "Shine and the Titanic" heard by the author in Oakland, California, has been edited for publication.
In toasts, historical accuracy is not considered important. For instance, although in reality the Titanic sank in April, in the ballad it sinks in May. Audiences expect, accept, and appreciate the toaster's improvisations.
As is common in toasts, a narrator describes Shines's successful exploits, while Shine directly addresses the captain, his daughter, and the whale. Shine, the black stoker and hero of the toast, repeatedly warns the white captain of the impending disaster and humbly gives updates on the sinking ship. Even though Shine is ignored, hustled, and chased by a whale, he remains confident of his ability and determination. It is Shine alone who can save the day.

————-
Shine and the Titanic
It was a hell of a day in the merry month of May
When the great Titanic was sailing away.
The captain and his daughter was there, too,
And old black Shine, he didn't need no crew.
Shine was downstairs eating his peas
When the . . .water come up to his knees.
He said, "Captain, Captain, I was downstairs eating my peas When the water come up to my knees."
He said, "Shine, Shine, set your black a$$ down.
I got ninety-nine pumps to pump the water down."
Shine went downstairs looking through space.
That's when the water came up to his waist.
He said, "Captain, Captain, I was downstairs looking through space,
That's when the water came up to my waist."
He said, "Shine, Shine, set your black a$$ down.
I got ninety-nine pumps to pump the water down."
Shine went downstairs, he ate a piece of bread.
That's when the water came above his head.
He said, "Captain, Captain, I was downstairs eating my bread
And the . . .water came above my head."
He said, "Shine, Shine, set your black a$$ down.
I got ninety-nine pumps to pump the water down."
Shine took off his shirt, took a dive. He took one stroke
And the water pushed him like it pushed a motorboat.
I'll give you more money than any black man see."
Shine said, "Money is good on land or sea.
Take off your shirt and swim like me."
And Shine swam on.
Shine met up with the whale.
The whale said, "Shine, Shine, you swim mighty fine,
But if you miss one stroke, your black a$$ is mine."
Shine said, "You may be the king of the ocean, king of the sea,
But you got to be a swimming mutha****  to out-swim me."
And Shine swam on.
Now when the news got to the port, the great Titanic has sunk,
You won't believe this, but old Shine was on the corner damn near drunk.