The folks at LargeUp have posted a great feature with Belizian artist Hubert Neal, Jr. discussing his 26-piece show The Dudus Chronicles which is currently showing at the Grosvenor Galleries in Kingston, JA. Check out the details below…

When Belizean artist Hubert Neal, Jr. arrived in Kingston, Jamaica on May 20, 2010 to start a residency at Melinda Brown’s Roktowa studio, he had plans to paint Jamaica. Three days later, the military and police invaded Tivoli Gardens in hot pursuit of Christopher “Dudus” Coke, a man who had been, for months, wanted for extradition by the United States of America. The hunt for Coke and its accompanying media coverage was impossible to ignore, and Neal began to paint. The results of this process was a series of twenty-six works titled The Dudus Chronicles, on display now at the Grosvenor Galleries in Kingston. It’s colorful and varied–but also quite disturbing, never shying away from depicting the violence that accompanied the search for Dudus. Largeup caught up with Neal during his last few days in Jamaica to talk about his process, his work, and his position as an outsider looking in.

Images of a few of his paintings are below…

Read the full interview here: Large Up » Drawing Dudus: Exclusive Interview with Hubert Neal, Jr..

From the aforementioned new album Shotta Culture, which drops today. Based on what I’ve heard so far, it’s looking to be a rather major affair. This one, like the others, is produced by Salaam Remi.

Check out the audio below…

Download it here: Spragga Benz feat. Nas - “This is The Way”.

…via.

Official video after the jump…

Also, if you’re lucky….you’re at the album release party…

via: The Guardian

This morning I was reading news from one of my favorite soccer blogs dirty tackle, that Usain Bolt wants to play soccer. There is no question dude has got athletic skills (mainly fast running skills) but I don’t know if he has football skills… Manchester United Football skills at that. Here is what Bolt says about it in his autobiography:

“Ideally, if I was to play football, I’d sign for my favorite team — Manchester United. People say it’s not realistic but nobody has seen me play so you never know. If Alex Ferguson saw me in one of those charity matches he might think I could replace Ryan Giggs.”

The Gaurdian explained the lifetime Man U supporter is serious about playing.

I ask about his ambitions. Ultimately, he says, he’d love to make a go of playing football professionally. He’s being deadly serious. One of the perks of being Usain Bolt is that sporting stars love to meet him, so whenever he’s travelling and there’s time, he tries to train with a top football team. Last year it was Manchester United, a few days ago it was Bayern Munich. He’s still carrying a copy of the French sporting newspaper L’Equipe, which features a spread on his football skills and praise from Bayern manager Louis van Gaal. He shows me a photo of himself with his arm wrapped round the dwarfed 6ft German forward Miroslav Klose. “If I keep myself in shape, I can definitely play football at a high level,” he says.

Here is some footage of a recent trip Bolt made to Bayern Munich FC and there’s a quick shot of his “football skills”.

Check out the details below…

Arroz Del Sol Dominicano

Ingredients:

• 1-1/2 cups of water
• 1 teaspoon. of salt
• 1/2 can of sweet corn
• 1 grated carrot (whole)
• 2 tablespoon. of corn oil
• 1/2 cup of chicken consomme (bullion/stock)
• 1 tablespoon. of cold butter
• 1-1/2 Cups of rice (washed with water)

Preparation:

• Add 2 tablespoons of the oil, salt, and grated carrot in a deep frying pan or a saucepan.
• Over medium flame saute the carrot until changes its coloration from less bright color.
• Finally, add the half cup of the chicken consomme 1-1/2 cup water. Wait for contents to come to a boil.
• Add the washed raw rice, for 1 minute on top of a stove blend together.
• Cover the saucepan with a lid, reduce the flame allowing the contents to simmer for about 10 minutes.
• After this time you will add -1/2 the can of sweet corn, blending it together with the rice and other contents.
• Next replace your lid then return to the stove with a low flame for 18 minutes. Add 1 tablespoon cold butter, then blend your Arroz del Sol Dominicano is ready.

The Daily Mail has put together a great photo essay on the weekend’s activities in London town. Check a few of their shots below…

Hundreds of thousands of revellers descended on the capital today for Europe’s biggest street festival - the Notting Hill Carnival.

Dancers wearing vibrant costumes paraded along the packed three-and-a-half-mile route in west London from 9am today to the sounds of traditional steel drums.

The lines of colourful floats were accompanied by more than 40 static sound systems and scores of Caribbean food stalls….

Check out the full set here: Notting Hill Carnival 2010: Thousands descend on capital for weekend of partying
| Mail Online.

….I also came across this great set on Flickr.

Check out a video of Kardinal Offishall throwing down during carnival after the jump…

Rodney Price aka Bounty Killer has influenced a lot of different artists in a lot of different ways. This documentary pays tribute to his influence on artists like Aidonia, Assassin, Wayne Marshall and more…

BBCCaribbean.com explores the candidates beyond those being covered most. Check an excerpt from their story below…

Under Haiti’s constitution, candidates must meet seven constitutional requirements….

…They must be a native of Haiti, be at least 35 years old, have never renounced their citizenship, have never been sentenced for a crime, own property and a “habitual residence” in Haiti, not currently be handling public funds and have resided in the country for at least five consecutive years before election day.

Mr Jean’s candidacy was believed to have been rejected on the grounds that he was not resident in Haiti in the past five years.

He said he would appeal the ruling.

Now that the hip hop star is out of the race, the main contenders are likely to be Mr Alexis, Mr Neptune and Mr Celestin….

Check out the full story here: BBCCaribbean.com: The race for Haiti’s presidency.

An Okra-based soup native to the island of Aruba. Check out the details below…

Giambo

Ingredients:

• 1/2 lb. salted beef
• 2 quarts fresh water
• 1 ham hock
• 1 or 2 onions
• A few sprigs of parsley
• 1 or 2 carrots
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 celery stalk
• 1 lb. red snapper fillets
• 2 lbs. okra, washed and sliced
• A few sprigs crushed yerba di hole, or fresh basil
• 1/2 tsp. black pepper
• 1/4 lb. cooked shrimp

Preparation:

• Soak overnight: 1/2 lb. salted beef Discard water.
• Place the beef in a heavy kettle with: 2 quarts fresh water, 1 ham hock, 1 or 2 onions, a few sprigs of parsley, 1 or 2 carrots, 1 bay leaf and 1 celery stalk. Bring to a brisk boil.
• Reduce heat and simmer for about one and a half hours, or until meat is tender.
• Place in the simmering kettle: 1 lb. red snapper fillets
• After a few minutes test the fish with the tines of a fork, and remove from the broth when it flakes easily.
• Make a bite-size chunks of the fillets.
• Remove the beef from the broth, cube and set aside with the fish.
• Strain the broth and return it to the fire.
• Discard the ham hock and vegetables.
• To the simmering broth add: 2 lbs. okra, washed and sliced, a few sprigs crushed yerba di hole, or fresh basil, 1/2 tsp. black pepper and simmer until the okra is tender.
• With a lele stick, or its equivalent, a wire whisk, reduce the okra to a puree.
• Return the cubed beef and red snapper pieces to the kettle.
• Heat thoroughly and adjust seasonings.
• Garnish giambo with: 1/4 lb. cooked shrimp

Just some good tunes for your weekend. Check the audio and the details below…

Busy week. Crazy tings. Nuff new tunes, an old tune, and a guest set from Federation’s Alric & Boyd. We’ll expand this description and add links soon. For now, it’s all about the music, so just listen.

Download the podcast here: Federation Podcast #162.

Can’t front on this one at all. This is TUFF. Federation’s Max Glazer on the boards. Check the details below…

…Vybz Kartel is on top form on top of driving drums, a bubbling bassline and strong simple synths. A wining tune featuring a melodic, old school ragga flow and lyrics in Spanish is always going to be a winner!

…via.