Simma simma, who got the keys to the…wrong song, but there’s a Bimma involved in today’s new entry! REM Emperor Leno Banton has been having a great year thanks to his appearances at various events, and putting out dope music. Teaming up with the young Lion, Producer/Recording Artist iotosh (who has been making moves this year as well), they release “Simma“! Produced by krs., the Artists look back at their love interests as they reflect on having great moments, to losing that love to other men and materialistic ambitions. Listeners will relate to this as many relationships tend to end this way. From fluffing that pillow for that special person, to seeing them change into a whole different individual who lowered their standards. While Leno gave his signature groove on this, iotosh went in! Providing the Artwork is the lovely Monique Kidd a.k.a. Kidding Art! Some New Wave music fi yuh ears! Have a listen below.
Dropping new music is emerging Recording Artist, Riki Simmonds! Bringing a new flavour to the scene, she’s definitely an Artist to watch out for. Today she makes “waves” with “Waterfalls“! Produced by Troy Baker of Geejam Records, Riki speaks about someone who has captured her attention, and makes her go from having her head in the clouds, to coming down like a Waterfall! It’s like that sometimes (lol). Blending a mix of Dancehall, Soul, R&B, and Afrobeat with her unique lyrics, we believe she will be making a lot more noise in 2018! Has anyone ever made you feel like how Riki is feeling in this song? Let us know! Check out the track below.
There comes a time in a man’s life where he wants to have one woman he can settle down with. A woman who can complete him and make him drop all the others for. Recording Artist Khxos believes he found the one he can “drop all his hoes for” on the new single, “Queen Ting“. Produced by Sean Alaric, Khxos speaks on his Queen being the one he can have fun with without the sex, being the one to make his think on life and the decisions he has made, the one to build him up and make him a better man. If you have found a good woman, do what you must to ensure she’s around for the long haul. If that time isn’t now, maybe one day it’ll happen. Pair this with his debut album, “Dopamine” for extra listening. Check out the track below!
Hello December! It’s that favourite time for many, the Christmas Season! While many may have opinions on the season, or don’t wish to celebrate it, you can’t go wrong with remembering the real reason for the season, and the great music that pops up! On the first Oldies Sunday of December, we kick off a Christmas Edition, and the first selection comes from the legendary Barrington Levy! Remixing the Jimmy Boyd 1952 classic, “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus“, Barrington drops “I Saw Mommy Kissing A Dreadlocks“! Released by Mic Productions and features Recording Artist/Producer Trinity, this song was featured on the 1981 Christmas compilation project titled, “Yard Style Christmas”! In the song Barrington sings about catching his Mother kissing a dreadlocked Santa Claus who stopped at his house because of a storm and brought greetings and gifts of Sensimilla (Marijuana) from Jah.
Recently, Recording Artist Royal Blu and Producer Tim Foresta finally released their long anticipated project, the “sinG with God EP“! Featuring 5 tracks, listeners were treated a mix of awesome lyrics, melodies, and production that will have you rocking and rewinding to catch the lines. Recently we got a behind the scenes look at the creative process with Blu and Foresta, more specifically the situations that led to the making of each track. Tune in!
Royal Blu: For “Let’s Get High”, I remember being in studio and one of my Engineers who helped with recording the session was intentionally smoking near the booth so it could aid in me capturing the feeling of the song (haha). Leno Banton and some of the REM crew was in the studio session as well, and they’re like the Ganja gurus. So it made even more sense.
Tim Foresta: “Let’s Get High” was a very interesting process. I only had this rough loop of the hook part of the beat. I had no clue where this could go, but it had a vibe, so I sent it to Blu. He then was able to write an entire song with three verses, hook, basically a whole arrangement on this simple loop. He sent it to me via voice note. I was blown away and it instantly became clear what kind of a song this will be. Within an hour most of the ideas you hear now came to my mind. That’s also what I like about working with Blu. The process doesn’t follow the simple pattern of I send a beat, he writes a song – done. It’s always different.
Blu: I haven’t really said this anywhere else, but the song “Believe” was actually written out of me being hurt. I had a song called “Wrote You This Song” that was originally set to be a part of this EP, but didn’t make the cut. It was the first song Foresta and I ever did, but we didn’t work in studio together for it. He was still in Germany. But basically, that song was about singing to my past self and letting him know that things get better in the future. Because the past self I was singing to at that time lost all the files for his song, the studio I was working with got ripped down, I was betrayed by friends, lost loved ones. It was a depressing time. So that energy carried over into writing “Believe” because I wrote those two songs very close together.
Foresta: Believe. In 2014 I was in South Africa shooting a Documentary about Zimbabwean refugees, living in the streets of Cape Town looking for work. It was an idea by director Thandi Sebe, who at the time wanted to write a Theatre play about it. Growing up in Cape Town, she always saw these groups of men gathering and always wondered who they were and what they do. So, while doing this Documentary I composed some music for it as well and this is where the idea for Believe came from. In the end I didn’t use that beat in the documentary, but interestingly enough the topic Blu found for it perfectly fits the scene of the film that inspired me coming up with it.
You’ve seen him mix it up at events, and you’ve heard him play on one of the top Radio stations in Jamaica (Zip 103 FM), it’s all about ZJ West! We’ve worked with him over the years, and you can hear some of his work in the Mixtape section. Recently we got a chance to interview him and we spoke about his work, Yung Gunnerz, being a Dad, and much more. Without further ado, GET TO KNOW the Zipjock named West below!
ZJ West’s Daughter makes an appearance at times (lol)
13thStreetPromotions: West! Give thanks for having a chat with me. We’ve been working together for a long time but we’re finally getting this Interview done. For starters, many have heard the ZJ, heard him play at events, but who is Zipjock named West?
13thSP: How long have you been DJing for? How did you get your start?
