You’ve gotta love the new Elephant Man video from Terminal 4 Media. Not just because it’s hilarious seeing Elly and Ding Dong and Keiva and the Ravers Clavers crawling in the primordial ooze like a bunch of swamp creatures. And not just because they so clean up in the second half of the video, trash and ready and bush to the bone ready to floss around the world in yet another dancehall version of Psy’s runaway hit “Gangnam Style.” And not just because it’s great to hear Elly singing a ridiculous dancehall instructional video all hoarse and off-key and not giving a frack like in the good ol’ days. It’s a little bit of all those things, actually. “How dem say Ding Dong stop dance?” Elly asks, outraged. “A lie dem ah tell!” As silly as these songs are—and make no mistake, they’re pretty silly—there’s a serious subtext behind the whole thing. “Mek we bring back the dancehall,” Elly sings on the delightfully ear-splitting hook. “Mek we show dem how it used to be.” Which means you’ve got to come with a new style. Even if it means making up your face like a reptile and crawling in the mud. And of course “Badman Style” isn’t exactly new. Psy did it first. Then Mega Banton, Singer J, and G-Loc brought it into the dancehall. But theirs was more of a bad man badman thing. And you already know Elly’s thing is a dancing thing. As in not taking oneself too seriously. As in embracing the inherent silliness of the whole thing. As in having fun again. Just like it used to be.

British director Keith Musaman Morton and Trini-American producer Charysse Tia Harper are on a mission to share the story of the steelpan in their new film project, Panomundo. Panomundo (the title is a combination of steelpan and the Spanish word mundo, which translates to world) is set to be showcased in 2013, but the directors have already issued a seven-minute promo video online to give viewers a taste of the film to come.

The two award-winning filmmakers are raising funds, and attention, to tell the controversial story of the oil drum turned highly-respected and adopted musical instrument. The film sheds light on how the instrument was created and the stigma that soon followed behind the pan players, who were commonly called Panners or Pansmen….

BURDEN CLOTHING JEAN MICHEL BASQUIAT TEE

Cuba, 1948. Chico is a young piano player with big dreams. Rita is a beautiful singer with an extraordinary voice. Music and romantic desire unites them, but their journey – in the tradition of the Latin ballad, the bolero – brings heartache and torment. From Havana to New York, Paris, Hollywood and Las Vegas, two passionate individuals battle impossible odds to unite in music and love.

Jíbaro, mi negro lindo
De los bosques de caña
Caciques de luz
Tiempo es una cosa cómica.

Jíbaro, my pretty nigga.
Father of my yearning for the soil,
The land,
The earth of my people.

Father of the sweet smells of fruit in my mother’s womb,
the earth brown of my skin,
the thoughts of freedom that butterfly through my insides.

Jíbaro, my pretty nigga.
Sweating bullets of blood and bedbugs,
Swaying slowly to the softly strummed stains of a five string guitar
Remembering ancient empires
Of sun gods and black spirits and things that were once
So simple.

How times have changed Man.
how Man has changed time.
“Unnatural,” screams the wind.
“Unnatural.”

Jíbaro, my pretty nigga man.
Fish smells and cane smells and
Fish smells and cane smells and
Tobacco
And oppression makes even God smell foul.

As foul as the bowels of the ship
That vomited you up on the harbors of a cold metal city to die.
No sun, no sand, no palm trees

And you clung,
Yes, you clung to the slimy ribs of an animal
Called the Marine Tiger,
In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost Amen.

Jíbaro, did you know you my nigga?
I love the curve of your brow,
The slant of your baby’s eyes
The calves of your woman dancing;
I dig you!

You can’t hide.
I ride with you on subways.
I touch shoulders with you in dances.
I make crazy love to your daughter.
yea, you my cold nigga man.
And I love you ’cause you’re mine.

And I’ll never let you go.
And I’ll never let you go.
(You mine, nigga!)
And I’ll never let you go.
Forget about self.
We’re together now.
And I’ll never let you go!
Uh’uh
Never, Nigga.

A musical journey into the heart of Jamaica’s 1980 roots reggae scene. JAMDOWN takes you on a journey back to 1980, straight into the heart of the Jamaican reggae scene, following legendary reggae artists Toots Hibbert and The Congos. The film, shot in 1980, had a limited release in France and therefore remained undiscovered by the rest of the world. Since its initial release almost 30 years ago, “Jamdown” has become what reggae footage collectors often refer to as “the holy grail of reggae films” due to its rarity and the difficulty in finding an original copy of the film. The film contains some of the only known early footage of The Congos, performing tracks from their legendary “Heart Of The Congos” LP, which was produced by Lee Perry at the Black Ark studios at the height of their career. For the first time in almost 30 years, this film has finally been made available to own on DVD. “Jamdown” contains some of the most electrifying live reggae footage ever captured on film, and we hope you enjoy this legendary film as much as we do.