Beenie Man Walks Free

It was just yesterday a warrant issued for the arrest of Dancehall artiste Beenie Man. However, that warrant is no longer valid as Beenie Man’s tax evasion trial was thrown out of court earlier today. According to the judge, the evidence was not enough for the case to continue.

Now that Beenie Man is cleared of all charges, he has vowed to make sure his taxes are paid on time and in full.

According to his publicist, Ray Alexander the deejay said, give thanks to “Rastafari” - for getting this heavy load off his head bless.

Lady Saw ...the real Muma of Best Of The Best All Woman

By Joan Jackson

Queen of the dancehall, Lady Saw, showed that she is definitely in a class by herself, when she rose above the ‘almshouse’ and gave memorable performances in the US on September 19 in the Bronx and the 20th in LA at the Best Of The Best All Woman showcase.
For various reasons, the event in the Bronx got off to a late start and with about ten minutes remaining for the show to end, it was left up to Macka Diamond and Lady Saw (in that order) to bring the curtains down. However, deejay Macka Diamond didn’t respond when she was being introduced as the next act, so Lady Saw entered centre-stage and got down to pleasing the patrons.
Lady Saw is indeed a hard act to follow on any stage show and in the Bronx, she had the fans in the palm of her hands. She totally connected with patrons with a repertoire that included her new hot song ‘Jealous’. All those inside the venue were given a shock, however, when Saw’s performance was interrupted with a healthy string of curse words from deejay Macka Diamond who was given a mic. Apparently Macka was upset that Lady Saw had gone on stage before her and the girl from the Diamond District was transformed in something that was certainly far from precious.
Fortunately, she soon realised that the explicit curse words were not doing her any justice, especially since Lady Saw was acting like a real Lady and did not respond in like manner. Macka wise up and changed the pace, did her songs for which she is best known such as ‘Hulla Hoop’ ‘Money O’ and ‘Bun Him’ and got a good response. She then went on to big up Lady G, who had performed earlier and Lady Saw.
Among the other female artistes who performed at the shows were veteran dancehall princess Spice, and Queen Paula.
The Bronx show was, unfortunately poorly attended and not even last-minute by efforts by the promoter to air the event on underground radio stations made any difference. With just a few patrons and hoping that others will eventually come out, the event failed to start on time.
After a long wait, the first act to take the stage Queen Paula, who was all hyped up but failed to connect with the small crowd who by now had grown restive. As she launched an attack on Spice, she got a resounding boo. When the deejay saw that it wasn’t going to work out, she told the patrons that she “loved them” and that the “mic was not working right” before departing the stage.
Veteran deejay of the pack, Lady G, showed why she is still able to give delightful performances. Not known for outrageous lyrics, she woke the place when she drew for a lyrics in which she deejayed “Nuh gal cyaan teck off mi panty...” getting crazy forwards. Because of time constraint, she wrapped up her short stint and exited the stage.
Lady Saw, when contacted about the incident, said she found Macka Diamond’s behaviour “very strange” as she was the sort of persons who used to big up all female artistes. It seems like somebody is drawing her into ‘passa passa’. “I just told Spice not to let them draw her out because they are looking hype off her.”

HYPE TV CHART SUMMARY FOR SEPTEMBER 26th, 2008

Mr. Vegas takes off this week with ‘Daggering’; the track has taken back the #1 title, making this its third time at number one. The hit maker has grace us with several hits like ‘Heads High’, ‘Nike Air’ and recently ‘Hot Wuk’ in his eleven year reign, however, the shocking news broke yesterday that the artiste will be retiring from dancehall music but he will be honoring all his previous commitments. This is a very sad time for the dancehall arena, he will be missed immensely if he stands by his decision. Thank you Vegas for your contribution to dancehall music and also for leaving us with a scorching hit.
The ‘Energy God’ Elephant Man with Nuh Linga has been dethroned by the retiree. The single has spent three weeks at number one but now takes up the #2 spot. Who knows, it may be able to make a turn as the new number one ruler.
The “retiree” seems to be a force to reckon with, Vegas have another single taking up position in the top five with ‘Nuh Fight Over Man.’ The single takes hold of the #3 spot. Again I will say you will be missed.
While another dancehall music champ leaves the industry another rise, Konshens with the Winner takes hold of the #4 position leaving for the #5 spot and claiming this week’s Shot To Watch title. He is definitely a newcomer to watch out for.
This week Morgan Heritage will be smiling as their track “Nothing to Smile About” makes its way as one of the top five singles on the chart. The group has been working very hard ever since they appeared on the scene. It seems the legacy of music hold still in their blood.
Mavado has never failed to arise and renew his style as he brings to the chart this time Am So Special. The single is this week’s Greatest Gainer, jumping three places to make it to the #12 position leaving the #15 spot.
The New Entry on the chart this week goes to the ‘Gargamel’ Buju Banton with Sleepless Night. The track is another one from the Don Corleon label, it holds the #20 position.It's left to be seen how the movements of this one will continue on the chart.
The ladies are appearing to be a real threat on the chart, they are four beautiful women of Reggae and Dancehall who are riding high on chart. Two are holding firm in the top ten; Lady Saw and the Diva Cecile. While the other two, Stacious takes hold of #14 and the Roots Reggae Empress, Queen Ifrica holds down the #19 position in her second week on the chart.
THE CHART AIRED FRIDAY'S @ 9:15pm WITH REPEATS DURING THE WEEK ON HYPE TV CAN BE VIEWED IN THE WEEKEND CHAT ON FRIDAY'S, YOU CAN ALSO WATCH THIS WEEK TOP 20 SINGLES CHART ON HYPE TV WEBSITE JUST LOG ONTO www.hypetvjam.com
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I-Octane's Different Page dominating the charts

I-Octane's Different Page has really taken off both on the local and international scene. The single is now sitting atop Canada's Radio Dub plate Charts in the #1 position. In the US on both the South Florida and New York Charts Different Page feature prominently on them.
On the local front the song made it to the #1 position of Richie B's Top 20 Reggae Charts.
No one could be happier about the progress of the song than the singer himself, who said it is always a great feeling to see your work being appreciated in their fashion.
That the single is doing so well is not surprising as I-Octane been receiving nothing but huge forwards whenever he performs this single at events.
At Reggae Sumfest it garnered the most response for him, then in Holland it was the same story as even the singer was surprised at how much they knew the lyrics to the song. Then the other day in Canada, he had to wheel and come again with the song as the crowd wanted more!
The video for Different Page was shot two Sundays ago on location at Rodney's Arm in Portmore under the direction of Anju Val and Junior Arrows.

J.E.A.L.O.U.S – hottest new song on the circuit by Lady Saw

Talking about heat in the dancehall! First Lady and queen of the dancehall, Marion ‘Lady Saw’ Hall aka ‘Muma’, has one of the hottest new songs that is going to make current chart topper ‘Sunday To Sunday’ look like a joke. And ‘Sunday To Sunday’ is no joke because it is threatening to knock top male artistes from their respective #1 #2 and 3 positions.
This song, titled ‘Jealous’ and recorded for Legend label on the Benny Hill rhythm for top flight producer LeftSide, is certainly going to have lot of people trying to figure out who is the artiste because of the jazzy, instrumental backing and the sophisticated, and to some extent unidentifiable voice of Saw. Radio and sound system jocks are going to find this song so intriguing, it could easily be the Song Of The Year.
A mixture of singing and deejaying, the intro begins as follow with Lady Saw spelling out the letters “J.E.A.L.O.U.S”, followed by: “Those witches can’t spell the names they are wearing on their chest, every time they see me they cut their eyes and spit but those little ‘f’ (ers) can go and break their necks. They are so jealous and just want to be, they want my crown, my throne, my home but I am the only Queen B...dress like a queen, ress like a queen, mansion bigger than housing scheme, gal a chat ‘bout queen and don’t know what it mean.”
That’s just a teaser of what the contents of the song are. Because of the many props and thumbs up the song has been generating from those who have been privy to hear it, in a couple of weeks a video for ‘Jealous’ will be shot.
Other artistes on the Benny Hill rhythm are Elephant Man, Timberlee, Shane O, Sample (Lady Saw’s brother) and Leftside.

East Fest continues, even as Morgan Heritage resigns

Reggae singing group, Morgan Heritage, is no longer part of the planning and production of the successful roots and culture stage show, East Fest. The festival, however, will continue but will be staged under new management. Held annually in St Thomas, the show, in keeping with the beliefs of the Morgan Family, took a hiatus in its seventh year and made its return last December, using the same format with which patrons had become familiar. "We decided that our touring schedule would not allow us to properly organise a Festival” Heritage stated. The Family took a decision to turn over the event to new management.

This year, however, for the first time in its staging, Morgan Heritage will not be present at East Fest.
“Though we will be there in spirit, we will not be at East Fest this year and we have given up Management of the event for several years to come," a spokesperson from Morgan Heritage disclosed. They noted, however, that it is their hope that the people and partners who have supported East Fest over the years will continue to do so.

FLAMZE…..A BALL OF FIRE FOR THE AIRWAVES

Flamze: A hot glowing mass of burning gas, often carrying incandescent particles; a brilliant reddish orange color often used to describe one’s personality.
Born Sidony Smith, she got her entry in radio land with the name Flamze. ‘I first came by the name Flamze when I heard that I was going to be doing a show called "96 Degrees" in the 1-5pm slot for 5 days a week, so my female cousin (an inspiration to me called simply Ghetto Yute) and I sat down and brainstormed for a few hours and we had chosen a few other names like Pepper, Ginger, Heat and finally she said Flamze. That had a great ring to it and it truly was the best word to describe my personality and the kind of vibe that I wanted to transmit to the listeners’, Flamze revealed. The radio station that she started was a community radio station in Savanna-la-mar Westmoreland known as LINKZ 96 fm.
Flamze, who is also one of the Caribbean’s most sought after MC,s was born and raised in the Marine Park area of Portmore in St. Catherine. She lived there until she was six years old, when her family relocated to Linstead in St. Catherine. She stayed in Linstead until she was 17 years old, where she then relocated to Kingston while attending Excelsior Community College where she pursued an Associates Degree in Tourism, Hospitality and Entertainment at the Excelsior Community College.
In 2003, she attended the Phillip Sherlock Center for the Performing Arts and did a Voice & Speech Course with renowned broadcaster Tony Patel. In the summer of that year, she returned to the UWI campus for the Radio Announcing and Presentation Course that was facilitated by another broadcasting legend, Fae Ellington.
The following year she completed a short course in News Writing & Editing which was facilitated by Prof. Kendall Moore. Since then Flamze has further trained with renowned broadcaster Paula Ann Porter Jones.

After her tenure at LINKZ 96 FM, Flamze made her move to ZIP 103 FM, and later was invited by Judith Ann Bodley, former Station Manager to work for RJR 94FM. “Judith Bodley was the first main stream media manager who saw my talent, believed in it, and was willing to further hone my talent by taking me under her tutelage. I owe most of what I now know to Judith and will forever be grateful to her for that”. For the past 2 years Flamze has been igniting the airwaves of RJR94 fm, and though now absent from radio due to internal issues, this multi-talented woman has landed the position of VJ, for HYPE TV’s VTX Countdown, and has been getting rave reviews since she started. Viewers can look out for Flamze and Treasure on Up & Live, Tuesdays on Hype TV.
In her talent pool, Flamze is an established MC, Disc Jock, VJ, and Events Manager, and has graced the stage of many local and Caribbean events. Asked if she hadn’t gotten her foot in media what other career path she would’ve pursued, Flamze said: ‘I would definitely still be in entertainment probably as a dance major from the Edna Manley School of performing arts. I would also try my hand at music producing and Artiste Management or without a doubt Public Relations. I would not survive in an office just filing papers everyday music is in my bones cause back in the 70's my father owned and operated a huge sound system(which I refuse to name) and I guess it’s hereditary”.
She also loves to chill at home, cook and watch National Geographic channel. Musically she loves listening to old school music including rock and alternative, hip hop, dancehall, disco, pop and jazz.
As for her ultimate goal in life, it is to become a Lecturer at the UWI Mona campus in Communication or Psychology. ‘I also want to do at least 5 more years in Jamaican radio and hopefully land a job doing a weekly all Jamaican radio show on HOT 97 in New York, representing for the best in Jamaican music. I also want to manage a radio station one day. But I'll get there in baby strides’, she joked.