Ace deejay Bounty Killer gave his former protégé a serious tongue-lashing last week Thursday at the Asylum nightclub in New Kingston.
“Every Palmer is ah bl–dc—h informer,” he declared immediately.
The crowd almost lost its collective mind and the air was immediately alive with a forest of hand gun salutes, flickering lighters and frenzied forwards. As the tumult died down, the Killer blazed on.
“How him fi switch and par wid the fish? Him violate and disrespect him real friends dem,” an outraged Bounty Killer said.
The Asylum selectors attempted to play a slamming rhythm for the deejay to spit a few rhymes but he was not in the mood to perform, he was in speech mode that night.
“Mi no come fi deejay, mi come fi tell oonu mi mind!”.
“Mi come fi straighten out some b—-c—- bwoy weh lean, how yuh fi tek side with Fisheenie when yuh come to me and beg me when yu ah bl—dc—h suffer over Portmore, b–tybwoy?” Killer said.
However, by that time, the object of his anger, Vybz Kartel had already left the building. Earlier, Kartel a.k.a Addi the Teacha had deejayed a couple of girl tunes, and got a favourable response from the crowd.
Did D’Angel Singlehandedly Change Dancehall Forever?
She is known as the first lady of Mafia House. Other people have less savoury names for her, but Michelle ‘D’Angel’ Downer is a woman who projects the silent threat that she will not be derailed. There are things she wants to achieve, and nobody can stop her from realizing her goals.
She has announced her re-entry into the dancehall world after a sabbatical to have her child with the radio hit, ‘Baby Daddy’ with Vybz Kartel. The video is currently in heavy rotation on cable stations all across the island. The controversy generated by the subtext surrounding the song, has given it wings. Check it, number one, the animosities between Kartel and D’Angel’s former lover, Bounty Killer, and ‘number twice’, the content of the song which seems to validate Beenie Man as the father, have combined to make the song a surefire hit.
“If D’Angel neva marry Beenie, all the things that happen in dancehall would’n happen. Look at what Patrick (Roberts) say when dem ask him about the split with Shocking Vibes, the first thing he said was that ‘Beenie Man is married now…’, so yu see everything change since wedding, everything,” one source said. “And look at the Kartel issue, ever since him attend the wedding, the rift between him and Killer widen, so ah fi har arrival change up everything.”
The questions remain unanswered, but you can tell us what you think. Is it pointless to blame D’Angel just like how sexist males blame Eve for original sin? Or would Beenie still be a member of the Shocking Vibes camp? Would Don Mafia still be writing hit tunes for Beenie Man? Would Vybz Kartel still be in the Alliance? Would Aidonia? Would Beenie and Bounty be able to finally bury the hatchet and end the animosity?
Part urban singers and part urbane songstresses, sibling duo Brick & Lace are genre-busters who staunchly defy the 30-second pitch. The amalgamated sound that makes up their 180/Geffen debut, Love Is Wicked, is unique, though also at once very familiar.
Born to a Jamaican father and an American mother and raised predominantly in Kingston, Jamaica, on an opulent musical diet of reggae, R&B, hip hop, pop and country, 26-year-old Nyanda and 24-year-old Nailah Thorbourne couldn’t help but be trans-eclectic. “We are a hybrid,” affirms Nailah in her effortlessly sexy West-Indian lilt. “It’s not fabricated at all; it’s who we are.”
Indeed, who they are is evident in their moniker: “Our mother came up with the name ‘Lace’ and we immediately liked it,” explains the incisively passionate Nyanda. “But we still felt that there was an edge missing, so I came up with ‘Brick.’ It has stuck with us ever since and has evolved with us.”
To the ladies of Brick & Lace, their name represents the duality and complexity of the every woman. “Sometimes you want to wear a cap and sneakers and look grimy,” Nyanda tells. “And sometimes you want to wear your sexy dress and heels and look cute.” Nailah puts it all in perspective: “People always ask: ‘Who is Brick & Lace?’ And we always tell them it depends on the day!”
This unpredictability and uncompromising expressiveness makes Love Is Wicked (which features the production prowess of Akon, Raphael Saadiq, Will.I.Am, among others) an aural delight. On their agile down-bottom introductory single “Never,” over Akon’s seething sonic brew, Brick & Lace caution wayward suitors to behave themselves if they want a chance with the sisters. “The track’s so grimy that the lyrics and the arrangement just came to us,” Nailah recalls enthusiastically. “It was a very collaborative effort that was fun and exciting to record all the way.”
According to Vybz Kartel, the album is a manifesto covering everything from economics to ecology. Addi the Teacha is fast emerging as a master storyteller who utilizes a diverse array of lyrical and musical approaches to communicate thesis: the world is a bleak, dark place where violence and death are inevitable.
With the genius producer McGregor laying the sped-up dancehall-rap hybrids, it is clear that VK has achieved an intensity with his gun-slinging verses and weed-worship odes that few artistes ever attain.
Just check the lyrics to the single, ‘High Q’.
So solomonic is the chronic It’s a supersonic supertonic, have me speaking in Islamic Hieroglyphic and Slavonic Blubonic chronic, shake head, tek tonic
“The concept is the weed makes me so high that everything raise, even mi IQ, and is just further proof that the week promotes intelligence through meditation,” the man whose weed rhymes in ‘Most High’ and ‘Send On’.
He has also been working with Don Corleon recording six tracks with the chart-topping producer. One of those tracks is the single, ‘Wine Pon You’ on the Raging Bull rhythm. He has another combination track called ‘Pimp Juice’ with Nuclear that is getting a lot of airplay on FM radio.
“I plan to do a video for ‘Wine Pon Y-O-U’ and ‘Imagine’ as well, Nordia Rose is going to do them,” he said. Topline Entertainment now books for the artiste.
Break with Alliance
He addressed concerns that he had lost a significant portion of his fan base since his split with The Alliance.
“Vybz Kartel’s fan base cannot be diminished, the only thing that has been diminished is those that respect the Alliance as a group,” he said. “Everyone has an artiste who they respect and love and if a so-called fan is not a fan of Kartel anymore simply because he has left The Alliance, then that fan is not a genuine fan and he or she will not be missed.”
He asserted that his street credibility is still high despite attempts to smear his name in the garrisons of the nation where his core support resides.
“Street credibility is about being a man, and standing up for what you believe in, even if you have to stand alone and the streets respect and recognize that in me,” he said.
Late last year, Kartel inked a booking deal with Topline Entertainment, and has moved aggressively to consolidate his business dealings, and cultivate a new professional relationship with the music industry. He has a number of Caribbean bookings lined up including a show in Trinidad on February 9th, and a slew of shows for the US Virgin Islands, Barbados, and Canada in March.
“The shows are coming in like crazy, like wow, so I am spending a lot of time in the studio to move closer to completing the album for Greensleeves right now,” he said.
It is official, deejay Aidonia has been booted from the Bounty Killer-led Alliance.
Although Aidonia was unavailable for a comment because he was in studio, his Road Manager, Kurt says the artiste wants to make it clear that he did not switch from the Alliance, but was kicked out.
“Well wi get a call still, the morning after Spectrum, saying Aidonia is disrespecting too much members of the Alliance and a meeting was held and they said they would rather that he leaves,” Kurt said.
Kurt says, “the main problem stems from just one song, December’s Deadline about stuff that happened to Aidonia during that time. An a really one line weh say, Mi neva call him name, but Busy dead a Sting, di people dem seh boo, instead a fling, a dah one line deh a di problem.”
He continued, “and tru Aidonia seh Addi A Mi Daddy which was voiced from bout September last year. Nobody had a problem with that song up until the whole Kartel drama. But whole heap a tings happen to Aidonia from some a di other members of the Alliance … all we do is stand our ground.”
Aidonia’s camp still feels that there is still the possibility of things being mended, as Aidonia still has respect for Bounty Killer and other artistes within the Alliance.
However, Kurt says Aidonia’s focus right now is only on music.
“A deh suh wi deh pon, doing music fi people. From morning him (Aidonia) inna di studio an him record bout four song already, all one a dem him a rap - cultural tune, girl tune, dem ting deh wi deh pon, wi done wid dem ting deh - wi done si seh is not a fair game,” Kurt said.
Despite reports that Aidonia got the boot from Sharon Burke, head of Solid Agency, Burke says she had nothing to do with that.
“We still manage Bounty Killer and he is an integral part of our company (Solid Agency) and we still manage Aidonia. But I have nothing to say about that (Aidonia being kicked from the Alliance) because artistes have their differences and they need to work that out,” Burke told The STAR.
Aidonia was recently signed to bmobile and is featured in the next edition of Vibe Magazine. The deejay will also be releasing his third mix Cd soon.
Gargamel Music, Inc. is extremely proud to announce that Buju Banton-s hit single, “Driver A” is the second highest debut on this week-s Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Singles Chart, sliding in at a cool #75. Previous Buju Banton Billboard chart entries include “Champion” back in 1995 and “Make My Day” in 1993.
The classic reality tune “Driver A” is the second single from Banton-s critically acclaimed, 2007 Grammy-nominated album Too Bad, currently #7 on Billboard-s Reggae Album Chart. The music video is set to be shot in Brooklyn, New York by director Troy Antonio (“Nothing” Refix/100 Watt Medley,” “Magic City”).
