Part of the Reggae Road Block tour, Prophet Benjamin has established himself on his reggae journey with his most popular tune, ‘Field of Weed. Defining his excalibur authority chanting tunes on the ever-touchy subject of marijuana smoking.
Hailing from rural south Trinidad, Prophet Benjamin belts out heart felt melodies on a wide array of subjects, from women attracted to ‘pretty boys’, love and the HIV virus…in the hit, Delilah.
Delilah, a quite controversial song; but a reality in today’s world that is rampant with the AIDS virus. Each lyrical sentence warns people about not getting carried away with the physical, when we must also consider the diseases that exist.
Dubbed as a ‘real congo bongo’, Prophet Benjamin has injected the reggae vibe into the Caribbean, sharing stages with Marlon Asher, Gyptian and the Reggae Road Block team. Capturing crowds with his sensational voice, he is living his musical dream by entertaining crowds and captivating stageshows.
His musical style is, however, not the typical laid-back reggae, but more of an upbeat vibe…that exudes hyped-up vibe. A part of the reggae all-stars, he continued to captivate audiences worldwide.
Just a quick post today to share something with you all that I found just last week.
I don’t know about you but I always seem to find a couple of really, really great tunes that define my summers. There is something about the sunshine of summer that goes hand in hand with reggae music. A few cold beers, maybe a little herb, some good tunes and some good times; this is what my memories of summer are all about. Well just the other day I hit upon a song that I think will be one for the summer of 2008, its called ‘Thanks’ by yet another fantastic Trini reggae artist, Zan. Yeah I know, what is it with Trinis and Reggae music right now? I don’t know much about Zan myself so I am about to go diggin around to bring you some news but for now, just check out what I anticipate is going to be a big tune this summer. What say you?
Thanks to Trinisocajunkie for sharing this one!! Perhaps any Trinis out there can let us know more about Zan??? Drop some comments below!
I have to give a shout out to this man, Mark Hull aka YT, and I promise that you will be seeing a whole lot more from him. On hearing some of the tunes on this album you would be forgiven for thinking that YT was as Jamaican as Jamaican can be, but truth be told, he hails from Ipswich, Great Britain and yes……he is whiter than white.
His debut album of 2006, Straight Outta Britain, offers the world a glimpse at the reggae scene in the UK. His tunes offer something for everyone, be that reggae, dancehall, roots or pop, and his lyrics are not only sublime but also in keeping with the positive message that reggae portrays. He is a versatile artist and looks to me like someone who can upset the stereotype of ‘If it’s not Jamaican, it’s not Reggae’; the Slim Shady of the reggae world if you will.
It has been a while since we heard anything new from YT and, given that this album was said to have been three years in the making, I think we are about due something new.
His voice distinctly patois, his background far from the Caribbean and his lyrics so fresh and poignant. Check out the voice here on a song titled ‘Wicked Act’, a serious dedication to the victims of the London bombings of 2005.
For anyone in Europe ‘Whitey’ can be found at the following venues on his upcoming tour.
Reggae and dancehall purists will argue all day and all night about different ‘riddims’ with you but I won’t spend much time on the subject today. Essentially a ‘riddim’, or rhythm in non patois, is the beat to which a particular track is set to. What used to be associated with the bassline and drum beat - back in the day of Sly & Robbies ‘Bam Bam’ riddim - has now been more widely used to refer to the entire backing track. As to the number of riddims out there today I could not even hazard a guess but I did find a database with 886 and counting over at Reggae Riddims.
Moving on though I wanted to just give you that intro before I announced one riddim that I am really into right now, it’s called the Rub A Dub riddim. I dug up a few tracks by some of my favourite reggae artists that use the Rub A Dub riddim and here are three of the best examples.
I was looking throught my 120 gigs worth of reggae music on my laptop wondering what I can share with you all today when I noticed that there are a few tracks I have with multiple versions of the same song. After having spent the last hour of my life listening to some songs I never even knew existed…I thought I’d share with you some of my favourite reggae remixes.
As you may well know, it is commonplace for artists to offer remix versions of some of their popular tracks; if they don’t do it you can be sure that someone else will! It’s a bit of a mixed bag and I am sure you will all know the originals but as reggae fans we want the remix, right?!
1. Taurrus Riley - Stay With You (John Legend)
2. Wyclef Ft Eve - Your Love (The Outfield)
3. Alicia Keys Ft Junior Reid- No One Reggae Remix
4. Trevor Walters - Stuck On You (Lionel Richie)
5. Singing Melody - Let Me Love You (Mario)
Do you like these remixes? Do you have any that should be featured? Feedback and Comments are always welcome!!
If you followed the reggae history series I recently posted then you will already know that the seventies heralded a brilliant time for Jamaican Music. Since ska turned to rocksteady and rocksteady to roots, we saw reggae music being used more and more as a medium to send out a message to the people. The lyrics of this more conscious roots reggae spoke of social issues, poverty and freedom from oppression. Fuelled by religion beliefs and the powers of Marijuana, artists such as Bob Marley, Dennis Brown, Burning Spear, Peter Tosh and Horace Andy took reggae music to a whole new level.
I happen to be a really big fan of Roots Reggae and cannot get enough of the relaxing melodies associated with this music. I had to share with you a track that I thought would not only be fairly up to date but one that demonstrates perfectly the messages of Roots Reggae.
Here is Jamaican Reggae Artist, Cocoa Tea, with his recent tune Barack Obama. I am not making this a political post myself but in both the lyrics and the melody, this is a prime example of Roots Reggae.
