Marvin Sparks

If you'd like to get a look at what the early warmers vibes will be, all you have to do is watch this. Then get yourselves down to Hot Wuk Royal Bashment at East Village tonight!

Christopher Martin - Paper Loving This tune is big! Tearing down Caribbean and Kenya on next levels. One of the underrated singers in Jamaica. Good to see he lives outside. Shaggy featuring Mavado - Girlz Dem Luv We Shaggy's back with another video. He's going in this year. "Your Eyes Only" with Alaine , now this. Mavado's going hard with the visuals as well; Star Bwoy, this, Category 5 riddim medley, and the one I'll post after this one. Check for the cameo of UK rapper/MC/pop star Chipmunk at 3:23 Chipmunk featuring Mavado - "Every Gyal" Posted the audio before, said I didn't think it was great. Has grown on me, but I still don't think it's anything special. Still big up Chipmunk for doing this though. Don for that. Gaza Slim - "One Man/Moving On" Finally, we have a video for "One Man". Has been killing dancefloors for almost a year now. She is much better looking than Sheba. Kartel, work with her more. Thanks. Beyon

18 year-old Stephen Lawrence was murdered in an alleged racially motivated attack at a bus stop 18 years ago on 22nd April 1993. Although no one has ever been found guilty of the murder, he didn't die in vain. Marvin Sparks speaks to UK rapper Ty on the impact of his death, his parents fight to bring exposure, compares then with now on race relations in UK, police treatment, the role the media played and why Stephen Lawrence's legacy is important to all of our history.

Big dutty stinkin' Shabba voices "None A Dem" on Di Genius' infectious Peppa riddim. Sounds like he's throwing words after Vybz Kartel. The legend Shabba asks "How can you not rate who come before you? You're going on like you came around here and made music big." before boldly (well, as bold as an indirect can be) stating "None a dem nuh bad like Shabba Rankin'... Stop that fool there and ask him if him nuh imitate the great Shabba Rankin'. Stop that one there and ask him if him nuh imitate the Rankin', the vibes I bring the big song that I sing must inspire and motivate him." Mad ting! So, both Beenie Man and Shabba Ranks have chomped the bait ( "Dancehall Hero" ). Who next? Shaggy? Hahaha! Kartel must be laughing. Don't expect a return diss track - Kartel's too smart for that. It'll most certainly be an entertaining response, be it a line in a song or a cheeky comment in an interview. p.s. This isn't

Hold tight my JamErican linky Lili for showing me this. It's a mad sitt'n. Some Yanks cover Tinie Tempah's "Written In The Stars". Broke into the top 20 on the US Billboard charts last week. Probably crack the top ten in the next couple weeks. Good on Tinie. Back to the cover though, he dude sings the hook and plays the keyboard while the dudette kicks the rap. The 2Pac "California Love" sample sits in oh so nicely. I wonder if some record label will sign them based on this cover phenomena Obviously know about Justin Beiber and that other chick that Justin Timberlake signed. The one Chipmunk did the song with. Can't be arsed to Google her name, but you know who I'm talking about. Esmee Denters? That's the one, I think. And no, I won't delete the rest now I know who she is. Point still stands. This youth Connor Maynard has been signed. The singer not his awful rapper friend from the neighborhood.

So, the long-awaited video for Stay Boy by Mavado has finally dropped. It's alright. Woulda liked more shots of Jamaica than America to be fair. More club vibes too, 'cos there really isn't a party like a Jamaican party, but it's good. Showing his star appeal. And you already know the tune mad already. Over at Soul Culture I blogged the track by Chipmunk that Mavado features on Every Gyal . Every Gyal To quote oneself: Final thoughts? Sounds like an overproduced version of Mavado’s 2010 club-smash “Gal A Mad Ova“ . Ultimate respect to Chipmunk for reaching out to and working with Mavado. I’m sure his label wouldn’t have advised it. Hope the song does well .

If you don't know Sneakbo, he has the roads of London on (reasonable amount of) smash right now. It's all the youths are on right now. I've heard a few things from him, he's alright still. But he reps south London and raps on dancehall beats so I've got time for him. He came to prominence with his freestyle over Vybz Kartel's popular badman anthem 'Touch Ah Button'. Recently appeared on Mavado's Star Boy alongside chart-topping rapper Chipmunk. Well he's back on that wave dropping bars on Russian's Bomb Drop riddim, sampling Jah Vinci's hook 'Money Dream' . If you don't know who Jah Vinci is, he's a singjay from Vybz Kartel's Portmore Empire. This tune knocks! Jah Vinci is one of my favourites. Very underrated by UK fans of dancehall. Ah real artist that. Speaking of "dream's", this is something I've hoped for as far as dancehall-UK link ups, 'cos the one-drop dancehall beats are fit for a rapper.

Alright so you may have seen the last post where I posted links to a bunch of posts that I've done recently, and you may have thought "So where the interviews at?" You most probably weren't thinking that at all but it makes me feel better to think you did. But anyways, I digress, back on track: I have done about 5 interviews in the past 6 weeks. I'll be rolling them out in due course. The one I'm most proud of however is one that I did for Soul Culture. Return To Classics is a series I've thought about for a while. The Soul Culture execution has been so high, extremely high but I really wanted to get into it. We had a team meeting about potential ideas and albums for Return To Classics was one of the topics. Chris Williams raised the bar to some extreme levels interviewing people involved in making the albums. I randomly brought up Kandi and The Writings On The Wall as an idea in conversation. Next thing I know *BlackBerry Message* "Would you be inter

A: Well, I think I set a standard of blogging a lot at some parts last year. Reason being I had a lot more time back then. Some stuff in the open, some you won't know and nah I'm not telling you - near future. I'm also contributing material SoulCulture. As I said to someone yesterday, I should post it on both sites, mine and theirs. So guess what I'm gonna do today? Post everything I've posted on there up 'til this point :oD Buju Banton: Not an Easy Road documents outside court reaction to guilty verdict [Video] Beenie Man & Future Fambo ft Busta Rhymes – “Rum & Redbull (Remix)” | New Music American Idol contestant Naima Adedapo does dancehall “Umbrella” [Video] Busta Rhymes, Shaggy & Sean Paul headline One Love festival, July 31 | London Events Mavado brings Drake onstage at BritJam 2011, Jamaica [Video] Smiley Culture press conference held in Brixton following police raid death [Video] K Koke feat. Abel Miller – “Nobody But Us” | New Music Video Ga