Like many veteran dancehall fans, you may have heard me whining now and again about the mono-culture thing that has been happening to Jamaican music lately. BET, auto-tune and sequencing software have slowly been doing to musical creativity in Jamaica what a diet of fast food and Kool-Aid straight out the packet does to the mind of an inner city youth. Nullify it.
But every once in a while it works out OK. Hell, I’m a grown man and even I can go for a quarter-water now and then. I don’t have a slick micro-genre designation for them (they’re definitely not gun-drop) but the five tracks in the blend below are positive examples of what I’m talking about: trap-drum hybrids that can make me believe at least for a moment that the kids are gonna be alright.
GP95 Ping Ping Blend
Imran Khan, “Amplifier”
Vybz Kartel, “Clarks Again”
Leftside, “Use Vehicle”
Leftside, “Ping Ping Emergency”
Badda Badda Gang, “Hello Badmind”
I set the whole thing off with Imran Khan’s UK Punjabi lowrider anthem “Amplifier” mostly because it happens to be the official 13th anniversary of Basement Bhangra. We’ll be cutting the cake and whatnot at SOBs tomorrow night but the oh!-fficial Lucky 13 bashment will be on Friday April 23rd at Irving Plaza f. Mr. Khan himself alongside Nina Sky. I’ll be in DC, but the homey Max Glazer will be holding me down, which is only fitting; if you’re gonna wild out to the refix of Rihanna “Rude Boy” you might as well hear it from Rihanna’s tour DJ.
