Marvin Sparks

This came about so mad. Like, a week after the debate on whether grime is a sub-genre of hip hop or a reflection of London influences including Jamaica, the opportunity to speak with grime's Godfather arose. More than just talking to a legend, it was an opportunity to speak in great detail about his love for dancehall and reggae - something I don't recall him ever doing before. I think he enjoyed the interview a lot. There's more to forward from the interview in different way so stay tuned. There are so many funny moments too. Big up Wiley and Large Up dot com. That is one of the best sites on the net for dancehall and reggae stuff, based in America. They are a channel on big American website Okayplayer. Check them out here Wiley is often called the Godfather of the UK’s vibrant grime scene. Having burst on the scene as a member of garage crew Pay As U Go Cartel, the prolific MC has been considered among the best UK wordsmiths for over ten years. He’s been involved in cou

Everyone's doing one, so I thought I'd hop on the wagon before it pulls off the dock. Everyone gravitates to the songs with a more sexually explicit nature, so I thought I'd post some big songs that I think are appropriate for the pagan's festival of lust aka Valentine's. I've mixed it up over various generations, sounds and dem ting deh. 1. Gyptian - "Beautiful Lady" 2. Jah Cure - "Never Find" lead lady played by his now wife. How sweet? 3. Dennis Brown - "Have You Ever" 4. Bob Marley - "Waiting In Vain" 5. Gregory Isaacs - "Soon Forward" 6. Beres Hammond - "Groovy Little Thing" 7. Sanchez - "I Can't Wait" 8. Tanto Metro & Devante - "Everyone Falls In Love Sometimes" 9. Wayne Wonder - "No Letting Go" 10. Damian Marley ft. Bobby Brown - "Beautiful" "All this blinging it's like you forgot/ Use cheddar as the

Celine Dion rocks Jamaica Jazz & Blues Festival [Video] Now, I’m not even sure if Celine Dion matches our mantra over here at SoulCulture, but I had to post this monumental occasion. Let me give a break down of how Celine Dion connects to the reggae specialist of SoulCulture; Celine Dion is worshipped in Jamaica. Read more Shola Ama - Puppy Love R&B singer Shola Ama was one of few women of colour representing on the UK charts in the nineties, alongside Des’ree, Gabrielle, Eternal, Jamelia and Shaznay from All Saints (all I recall at this moment). The north-west Londoner burst onto the scene with her top five charting cover of Randy Crawford‘s “You Might Need Somebody,” her 4x platinum-selling debut album Much Love, plus several other successful singles – namely garage anthem “Imagine” and featuring on UK dancehall artist Glamma Kid‘s “Taboo”. Read more Sean Paul f/ Kelly Rowland – “How Deep Is Your Love?” | New Music We posted what now appears to have been a demo vers

Amidst the heat building for “Only Man She Want” (recently added to Hot 97′s playlist, Radio 1Xtra top 20 for 2012), Popcaan releases a video to the heavily infectious “Party Shot (Ravin’ pt. 2)”. Read more

On Tuesday, I popped down to another one of the top pirate's, Deja Vu to have a chat about all things dancehall with the general, Joe Grime. He says he appreciates my opinion which is cool. We speak about the bubbling UK dancehall scene (one's to watch, improvements, evolution of sound systems etc.), dancehall's impact on mainstream pop world, effect incarceration of elite entertainers such as Vybz Kartel and recent arrest of Elephant Man has on the music, then predictions for 2012. Interesting conversation + banging tunes. The Bashment Show 31/01/12 - Dancehall Debate with Marvin Sparks by Joegrime on Mixcloud

...for now (#LOL). You may have seen the debate and the nonsense on Twitter that's followed. I'm honestly tired of it. The post below doesn't actually speak about the contents of the video, it was written before I'd seen the video in relation to grime artists afraid to name homegrown & dancehall artists as influence. Grime is like hip hop, but it's also like reggae. That doesn't mean it is one or the other, it just it what it is. Dancehall imo plays a bigger influence, but that's because most of the people in UK over the course of our music history have been Jamaican. Grime is an example of the UK version of the aforementioned not an extension of. He called me out on twitter for being "reckless on twitter but quiet as a mouse in person". These times, on the day they rated me for turning up cos they didn't think I would. Also, he admitted that at the end of the day it's all tags for selling (a point I put to him) yet he still wants