It’s been a while – more than three decades, in fact – since Robert Livingston, after a hard day’s work, used to hang out at Cash and Carry at 125 Orange Street, sipping Guinness and enjoying the calming effects of nature’s herbs. It was what they did back then to relax.

It was while being employed there as an assistant to the legendary Gregory Isaacs that he got his chance to break into the music industry. His hard work earned him a chance to go on tour to England with the talented reggae crooner and, while there, he began studying what it took to make it big in entertainment.

It was there that he learned that to be a great producer, one also has to be great at marketing. It was a lesson that he has never forgotten.

Many number-one hits

After three decades of sweat, study and determination, during which he produced numerous number-one singles with artistes like Super Cat, Shaggy, Heavy D and the Boys, Frankie Paul and Maxi Priest, Trevor Sparks, Kiprich, Gregory Isaacs, and many others, Livingston is now one of the most respected producers in the country.

His Scikron Entertainment/Big Yard label, after producing scores of hits with the platinum-selling reggae/dancehall legend, Shaggy, is on the verge of breaking out a brand new star in Richie Loop.

His journey to greatness has, and continues to be, fuelled by his insatiable desire to win.

“I try to stay focussed, but it’s more than trying to be successful financially – it’s about being a winner, getting number-one records. Winning is a big part of what drives me,” he said.

“From the moment I moved from having nothing, to achieving what I have achieved, I won. The rest of it is a bonus.”

Dennis Brown, Isaacs, Junior Delgado and Bunny Wailer were major influences on Livingston’s career, not to mention Trevor ‘Leggo Beast’ Douglas, who played a big motivational role in his life during his early days on Orange Street in downtown Kingston.

Big yard label

Livingston started his own label, Blue Track, in the 1980s and eventually started Big Yard in 1992, signing Shaggy two years later. The rest, as they say, will be etched forever as a major part of dancehall history.

Under Livingston’s guidance, Shaggy has become, perhaps, the biggest-ever dancehall act, selling tens of millions of albums and winning many music awards.

With Shaggy now established, Livingston has another hit-maker on his hands, but is always on the lookout for new, exciting and emerging talent, trying to create one more successful Jamaican.

“Every time I have an artiste, I try to find a way for him to share in the success,” he said. He added that he was always aware of what came before and the people who helped along the way.

“I don’t forget,” he said.

And neither should Jamaica.

Original article can be read here.

Tegareg Speedy strikes again…

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Be1U-KK2HPw[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_qW3P2zo0M&feature=related[/youtube]

TWO things were clear about the happenings on Thursday’s Dancehall Night at Reggae Sumfest. The first is that the dancehall massive truly love Vybz Kartel, and secondly, artistes are really warming up to what it means to provide audiences with solid performances which translate into great entertainment.

There is something about Vybz Kartel. Having been detained by local police for two weeks, and uncertainty surrounded whether or not he would appear on this year’s festival, he became the most anticipated act on the line-up. Throughout the night it was clear that the majority of the thousands who packed the Catherine Hall venue were there for the Teacha. This became more apparent when at 5:00 am there was still a full park waiting for the arrival and performance of the artiste. So when he appeared on stage wearing an orange jumpsuit and handcuffed, it was clear he was in a no-nonsense mood.

KARTEL… there was no stopping the man born Adidja Palmer, who was able to claim the night by virture of his solid performance

From the opening note he took charge of the Sumfest stage delivering the hits his fans had stood for hours in muddy conditions waiting for. In rapid succession he gave it to the eager fans, his arsenal included Boring Wine, Love Dem, Nuh Let Go, Virginty, Go-go Club, Bicycle, and Wah Yuh Know Bout Me.

Kartel was, of course, accompanied on stage by the members of the Gaza Empire and his high energy, infectious act was punctuated with tracks from Jahvinci, Shawn Storm and Popcaan, the latter with whom Kartel doubled for the popular Clarks.

There was no stopping the man born Adidja Palmer, who was able to claim the night by virture of his solid performance and the reaction and involvement of his loyal fans who only exited the park after he exited the stage.

Though he was the closing act, Kartel only capped what was a night of strong performances.

Among the night’s other big winners were conscious crusader and one of the artistes dubbed a Next Generation act by telecoms giant, Digicel, I-Octane and young act, Khago. Once I-Octane stepped onto the stage at 2:45 am it was clear this was not going to be an ordinary performance by the man from Clarendon. He not only literally caught the venue on fire, as fans lit a huge bonfire in the middle of the muddy green, but was able to lift the spirit of the thousands inside Catherine Hall with his brand of music. This level of excitement was only matched by the huge roars of approval which rang out for Sumfest newcomer Khago. The man who is best known for his hit, Caan Cool, was able to woo his audience with a solid set which brought the Dancehall Night audience to its feet.

In general the artistes on the Dancehall Night line-up seemed to have come to the event with the intention to give their audiencess that little bit extra. Dancehall’s bad gyal Ce’Cile brought on Budget! Twitter, Spectacular! Tanto Blacks, to enhance her set. D’Angel who worked a greatly improved set playfully incorporated Shady Squad dancers into her routine. Ding Dong was not leaving the members of his Ravers Clavers family behind. Stacious had the the audience in stitches as she had a ‘little person’ act out a scene from her hit Come into my Room, much to the delight of Catherine Hall. Hard-hitting deejay Aidonia also showed a softer side when he incorporated singer Aisha Davis for the sultry My Heart is Yours. Energetic Ele (Elephant Man) called on selector-turned deejay and the king of mix-up, Tony Matterhorn to add variety to his set.

However, the most entertaining addition to a set must go to female deejay Spice. She opened her act with a demonstration scene and quickly drew on the riddim for the Gyptian hit, Hold Yuh, taking it to Prime Minister Bruce Golding. Bruce mi waan fi as yuh if the Tivoli duppy dem and haunt yuh, Dis a the hardest time me eva face inna my life… But she did promise an exciting finale and her demand that someone help her get out of her high-high boots was definitely an indication of what was to come.

Once Ruff Kutt band struck up the riddim for her popular slim girl, fluffy girl combinatiion with Pamputtae it was clear, the fireworks was about to begin.

Clad in full black Pamputtae romped onto the stage declaring “Look how mi tick!,” as she slapped her more that ample thighs. Spice then called for the “slimmas dem” and two svelte dancers appeared. Not to be outdone, Pamputtae summoned the “fluffy gal dem” and two fit fluffies ran onto the stage. What was to follow was nearly 10 minutes to feminine rivalry which included the night’s MC, Miss Kitty who is known for defending the women with added pounds. In the ensuing battle the women danced, gyrated, ‘flick’ and did splits. Not even the huge speaker boxes and lighting towers were spared and both fluffies and slim girls battled out to the very end. Read the rest here.

Original article here.

Blazing them hits! The classics, the contemporary and breaking them there new joints on a Saturday morning… 96#1/96wefm.com

Listen live now!!!

9:00am

DANCEHALL

Wallabeez
Vybz Kartel – Where Wha You Have
Jah Vinci – Me Alone

Catalog
Stephen ‘Di Genius’ Mc Gregor – Nah Forgive Them
Terror Fabulous – Catalog
Beenie Man – Skettel Shadow
Capleton – Stage Show
Aidonia – We Tek It Off

Vybz Kartel – Better Can Wuk

Mr. Vegas – Boy Shorts (Mi nuh care… Dis a di summer shellings!!! Ladies where you at?)

HIP HOP/R&B

Sean Kingston feat. Nicki Minaj – Letting Go

Kevin Rudolf feat. Birdman, Jay Sean & Lil Wayne – I Made It

Trey Songz feat. Fabolous – Say Ahhh

Drake – Find Your Love

DANCEHALL

Get Fresh
Beenie Man – Fly Out & Fly In
Elephant Man – Ever Fresh

Cosa Nostra
Mr. Lexx – Dem A Pree (Carbon Dubplate)
Ward 21 – Pretty Girls
Timberlee – The General

HIP HOP/R&B

Chris Brown & Tyga – G Thing

Eminem feat. Rihanna – Love The Way You Lie

Drake feat. Jay-Z – Light Up

The same ting again like Papa San from way back when… Another small radio juggling set from my day… Fri-day.

I jim screechied this up on the net! A little excerpt of the Jim Screechie riddim with me juggling/cutting it up… U zeet…

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YYbf877Zb4[/youtube]

Who “Bleach” More Lisa Hype Or Vybz Kartel??? Serious Question. People are comparing popular dancehall artist “Vybz Kartel” to the late Micheal Jackson. Unfortunately Micheal suffered from serious skin pigment disease; however, Vybz Kartel is nicked named “the bleacher” by members of the “Alliance” due to the fact that each year his skin complexion as gotten lighter and lighter.
Bleaching is very dangerous.

Original article can be read here.

Checkout this video: Family of Skin Bleachers

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQgSB2E9S_o[/youtube]

Jamaican music has caught up to the politics of country to be a broken wasteland of noise that is filled with incompetent, narcissistic people who have no allegiance or care to anything but themselves. The thing is that everyone wants to act like this just happened when it didn’t. This cancer of noise has been spreading and slowly eating away at our music for over 15 going on to 20 years.

In the early 90’s when a lot of dancehall acts started interacting with American labels, a lot of the producers, musicians, artists and managers took the money and didn’t invest in quality music but instead short changed the music. Talk to someone like Sly Dunbar and he will tell you about a lot of so called reputable producers/musicians that got free work from their peers, with the idea of reciprocity. They did not credit a lot of their peers that worked on their initial projects and those that did get credit were credited as work for hire; and a lot of favours weren’t returned for the initial free work.

A lot of these so called reputable musician/producers, by the second run, delivered substandard results because they could not get any decent musicians to work with them the second time around. After that, everybody locked themselves off and did almost every aspect of production by themselves, ending a lot great collaborations. Reggae music which could be compared to a game of football was basically turned into a game tennis by selfish and egotistical musicians turned producer who just did not want to pay up front for work for hire or share possible earning with their peers by giving them credit for their free work. Some musicians/producers did not even try again, they just took their lot, bailed on the music, and sat back criticising all day.

The thing that a lot of people don’t realise is that a lot of great Jamaican producers were not necessarily musicians or singers but they were people who felt the music, understood the streets and understood the elements of bring the right people together to create great sounds. Some were engineers, sound system operators and even record retailers. Some musicians criticise Jammys, Germaine, Techniques, Digital B and Music Works because the producers for these labels weren’t musicians for the most part, but these labels consistently put out great music for decades and they weren’t one hit or one decade producers but producers that endured and also ushered in many revolutionary changes in Jamaica music.

Bobby Digital was initially an engineer by profession but in his role as a producer, he still worked with people like Dean Fraser for harmony and vocal arrangements and individual brothers from the Brownie family as musicians. Outside Of Clevie Brownie, Digital has found more success as a producer than the other Brownie brothers and Fraser. The simple fact is that a lot of great music that has come out of Jamaica has been the result of great creative collaborations and not necessarily any one individual; and a part of the downfall has been the selfishness and greed that led a lot of people to isolate themselves so as not to share in the reward that comes from good music but not realising that 100 per cent of crap is still crap. Just pick up a good reggae album from the 70’s to the mid 90’s and look at the musicians credits and the producer credit – then find any album after the mid 90’s with the same producers and look at the difference in musicians credit and think about the results of the both albums.

I remember a producer telling me in the late 80’s that one of the worst things that can happen in the Jamaican music is if deejays rise to the top of musical ladder. You see in Jamaican music, the initial order of importance in music was musicians, singers; then deejays came last. After a while the order changed to singers, musicians and deejays still last. I still remember Red Dragon refusing to sign on to a show because Sanchez was getting paid more than him; granted Sanchez was selling more records but that didn’t matter to Red Dragon. In the very late 80’s to the early 90’s the deejays managed to come out on top and the musicians were relegated to last with the singers in the middle. Now the simple fact is that the deejays were the deafest and most musically illiterate of the three.

The deejays’ musical illiteracy, combined with the loss of competent musical collaboration because of selfishness, basically guaranteed the downfall of Jamaican music. We see the results in the lack of quality music and the promotion of noise as music today. These songs are so bad they can’t even make it to the Harbour View roundabout much less to get on a plane to go anywhere outside of Jamaica. The pinnacle for these songs is getting played at Passa Passa or being acknowledged in a local tabloid.

Until we see a return or rise of competent and visionary producers, in combination with good musicians to guide the deejays and singers to record music that aspires to be more than a forward at Passa Passa, Jamaican music will be stuck in the vast wasteland of irrelevant noise.

Original article can be read here.