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….
Gappy Ranks has been making waves since his song on the Soul Rebel riddim, “Heaven In Your Eyes,” made a big splash on the Peckings label. Astute listeners may remember him from his 2005 collabo with Kray Twinz, Lethal B and Twista or his work on the UK Grime scene (“Rep Your Endz”) or when he was ballin on a G4 in the bashment tune “Stinkin Rich.” But judging by the way he rides the classical Studio One riddims on his forthcoming VP album Put The Stereo On, way down deep inside, Gappy is a foundation deejay par excellence. Give him a listen and chances are Gappy will make you happy.
London-based Photographer Leah Gordon comes through with come amazing black and white imagery. If you’re in London be sure to check out the exhibit, which run through next month. Check out the details below…
Since the earthquake in January 2010, a proliferation of horrific media images have reinforced an ongoing narrative of Haitians as victims – of disaster, of poverty, of corruption. Rarely is Haiti’s incredibly potent colonial history mentioned. Between 1791 and 1804 Haitians led the only successful slave revolt in history which resulted in the abolition of French colonial rule, and in Haiti becoming the first black-led republic. Photographer Leah Gordon’s stunning images of Haiti tell the story of a country intimately in tune with its past. We caught up with her at Riflemaker Gallery where her current exhibition, The Invisibles, is showing until September 10, to find out more.
Here is the new Estelle video for “Fall in Love” premiered today and was shot in Brooklyn (possibly the Forte Greene area), interestingly enough the track actually has two versions. First up the Estelle featuring Nas version…
Don Letts is an unsung hero of British music. “Superstonic Sound: The Rebel Dread” is a documentary about the Letts family legacy that mirrors the history of BASS in the UK from Dub, Reggae and Punk to 80s pop, Hip Hop and Dubstep; a musical, cultural and personal link between past and present.
Don’s father was amongst the first Jamaican immigrants to Britain and he brought his sound system with him, introducing London to Jamaican Dub with its heavy BASS accent.
Don grew up in Brixton, immersed in Dub and Reggae. In the context of Enoch Powell’s Rivers of Blood speech and KBW – Keep Britain White - grafitied across the walls of London, Don became the lone Rebel Dread crossing musical and cultural boundaries between black and white. He became DJ at the first Punk club, the legendary “Roxy” where in between live Punk sets, he played hard core Dub-Reggae and fortunately for him…
Not all together on one song though, unfortunately.
I’ve been sitting on these two joints for a few days. I figured it’d make sense to give them both to you at once. Check out the music below…
Nas & Damain Marley Feat. Junior Reid – “Ancient People”
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iTunes Bonus track off their Distant Relatives album, via TSS.
Estelle feat. Nas - “Fall in Love”
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New single from Estelle’s new album All Of Me, due later this summer. Via Ian.
David Corio was born in London, England, in 1960. [...] David has lived and worked in London and New York City, and his work has been published in the New York Times, The Times, the Telegraph, Rolling Stone, Q and Mojo. He has also worked for the School of Visual Arts, the Swedish Institute, New Jersey Institute of Technology, the Institute for Electronic and Electrical Engineers, Greensleeves Records,VP Records, Heartbeat Records, Universal Music Group, EMI and Island Records.
If you’re in the area, be sure to make it out, if you can. At 3 Old School Buildings, St Clement’s Yard Archdale Road (London SE22 9HP).
Via The Heatwave, comes this hour-long starter kit on Dancehall Reggae for all those who may need it. This follows up their celebration of Sleng Teng’s anniversary a few weeks back. Great way to start the week, I say.
Check out the mix and details below…
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I couldn’t quite keep it to one tune per year as I was also trying to make sure that all the key artists from this period were represented. I think I did pretty well in the end but I’m sure I left out some notable vocalists. I KNOW that there are hundreds of BIG TUNES that didn’t get featured.
I suppose there’s always someone who gets left out at a birthday party. Big up Lady Saw, Kiprich, Cecile, TOK, Terry Ganzie, Serani, Spice and all the other artists whose invites got lost in the post.
So here’s The Heatwave’s history lesson aka bashment birthday party. 25 years of dancehall. As Benjamin points out at some point, this is one for the iPod.
