Marvin Sparks

Shout out to Uche by way of Mista Jam . If I'm correct, Uche is Robbo Ranx's radio show producer so big up to him. I listen to that show every week. BBC.co.uk/1Xtra Thursday 10pm - 1am. Lock een Anybody that knows me or reads this knows I love reggae so naturally I love Jungle. Such a shame I was too young to go Telepathy, but praises to the most high and my parents I am lucky enough to have an older brother that showed me about Jungle from his days going to Telepathy. I spoke to Shy FX about them days at Tinie Tempah's #1 party last year. He looked at me like I was crazy 'cos he couldn't understand how I knew. Told him I know about them days through my brother. That put his mind at rest. In terms of UK music I think it's Garage > early Grime > Jungle > Dubstep > UK Funky >>>>>>>>>>>>> Bassline. Anything I didn't mention doesn't matter. Jungle may have been higher had I been of age to truly appreciate it...

VIP = Very Important People Yesterday I tweeted : "A couple weeks back I was meant to tweet "Skepta and Wretch are the two most important artists this year". Dont ask why I didnt. I have now". Reason I didn't tweet it is because I forgot. I had a convo about my greatest tweets being the ones I forget. I tweet some nonsense with a couple gems. But back to the point, Skepta and Wretch 32 (three-two not turty-two) are the most important to the extension and development of this #TeamUK phase. If we look at it, the run has been Wiley ('Wearing My Rolex') + Ironik ('Stay With Me'), Tinchy Stryder + Chipmunk, then last year Tinie Tempah. Roll Deep and Dizzee fit in their somewhere kinda. Now we need someone else to carry the flag as an emerging artist. Those two, in my opinion are Skepta and Wretch. Wretch managed to score a #5 UK single with his debut effort Traktor. That isn't your average #TeamUK (basically UK urban music scene) single. In fact, ...

January 20th 2011 marks the 6th year anniversary of one of dancehall's most influential figures ever. Nah, scratch that, in popular music culture. Gerald Levy known to everybody as Mr Bogle (or Mr Wacky or simply Bogle) took dancing to astronomical heights. Not sure how his name came about but Jamaica National Hero Paul Bogle obviously influenced it in some way. Dancing is almost as necessary as the thumping riddims that serve as the soundtrack on the dance floors. To quote Serani ( when I interviewed him ) "Our music is called dancehall so it’s very, very, very influential. Without the dancing, our parties aren’t good. Whether it’s a new dance that we are doing or just moving and dancing, our music is no good. It has a strong influence" Although his presence wasn't felt vocally on record in the dance until shortly before his death, the dance moves were omnipresent. When you think of Jamaican dances what are the first ones that spring to mind? Bet I can tell you two...

Buju Banton performed this past weekend in Miami. For those of you that may not know he was on trial for conspiracy to deal cocaine. The first trial ended in a mistrial because the jury couldn't reach a verdict innocent or guilty. The retrial is set for February I believe. While out on bail, babylon in Florida allowed him to perform a concert to help raise funds for his law fees. Highlights include guest performers showing support Tarrus Riley, Nadine Sutherland, Spragga Benz, Sean Paul, Gramps Morgan (Morgan Heritage)and Wayne Wonder: Here's footage of the concert. Sadly Beres Hammond couldn't make it due to his performance the night before at Rebel Salute. Heard he turned in a standard great performance Buju performing to sold-out 10k audience in Miami this past weekend: Think he was a bit overwhelmed by the occasion to be honest but I can't blame him. A whole year in jail. Possibility of a long time in prison. Still looms over his head really. He poses a question dur...

Marvin Sparks recently spoke with Mavado about his new direction, musically, how success has changed his life, dealing with negative press, his charity giving back to his community and working with Jay-Z, exclusively for The Wrap Up Pic courtesy of Neil Raja . SICK Photographer yeah. http://www.mtv.co.uk/music/urban/253312-mavado-the-interview Catch a little review of the December show there too. As you know I caught up with the Gaza general Vybz Kartel in December also. There was a little confusion over who worked with Jay-Z for the Blueprint 3. I spoke with both artists to sort out who it really was. Vybz Kartel spoke about the Gully vs Gaza feud being blown out of proportion.

Nice to get a big up every now and again. Sometimes when you're just reeling out work I'm sure we forget to actually see that (some of us) are doing something positive and useful. Well maybe that's just me. But I just see it as me doing me. Like this blog, getting positive comments on here and in person is still surreal because I still don't think people read it. I'm thankful for all of you though. *cringe* Anyway, onto what we are here for: Much Ado About Dancehall 2010 saw big improvements in dancehall’s UK media profile. The misunderstandings and misrepresentations of the music and culture will not be eradicated overnight, but increasingly the people writing about it actually knew what they were talking about. MTV and Marvin Sparks ran a series of in-depth interviews with key players in Jamaican dancehall, which has both generated and satisfied considerable bashment interest in the UK. Sparks ended the year publishing a two-part interview with the dominant but...

So yeah, wanted to do this yesterday. Didn't get the chance too. I wanted to let the blog breathe (kinda proud of my last post, still). Disclaimer: I did this in one take. Any grammatical errors are as a result of that. I wanted to bring it to you as soon as possible (hopefully that swings your emotion so you 'llow me). Over the weekend I was one of only a couple thousand people (if that) fortunate enough to see Drake at the Hammersmith Apollo then J Cole's sold out show at the intimate Koko in Camden. London obviously. Let me do this as I does it. Chapter and verse thing you see it #Poshment. I had my Drake tickets from last year April when the show was scheduled to be last year July. He canceled 'cos his mum had an operation or something. Think the album came out by that time but I had tix based on So Far Gone. So year goes by, his album has dropped, it's alright... Then J. Cole's named as support artist late last year. Me = overjoyed. Missed hi...