Swizz Bankz: The Currency of Life

“… Throw your soul through every open door, Count your blessings to find what you look for, Turned my sorrow into treasured gold”
~Adele: Rolling in the Deep

“When life gives you lemons, make lemonade”
~Elbert Hubbard

Don't worry about the future; or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubblegum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind; the kind that blindside you at 4pm on some idle Tuesday. That is one of the truest gems of wisdom I have had guide me in life… it came from a song called wear Sunscreen by Baz Luhrman. It prepared me for life by succinctly defining the unpredictable nature and operations of this universe. It would prepare for the many unpredictable and unforeseeable events I would bear witness to. Like when my friend Swizz Bankz passed me on the way to pick breadfruit, I had no idea that by the time I went inside to scroll YouTube for another tutorial on writing  novels and short stories to watch, that when my electricity went and I heard the transformer blow, that it was Swizz Bankz that was electrocuted after his picking stick made contact with a light wire. I went from being most annoyed to most distressed when I stepped outside to see people scampering off to see what had happened only to hear “Jah know the man just leff yasso go pick breadfruit and fry out star!” And so like the song… on some idle Wednesday, it wasn’t a Tuesday real trouble that never crossed Swizz Bankz’s worried mind, blindsided him and the community.

The thing is I can’t absolutely say it didn’t cross my troubled mind. Now bare with me as I explore some kind of metaphysics hear. For a few weeks now, I have been having “recurrent” conversations on Electrocution and shock. The first being on a friend, Mike, in the community who died from electricity in a breadfruit tree only a few hours before his departure for England. Then there was Seba Dog, who we were discussing his electrocution in a tree, and I was saying to him how lucky he was that day, as I was on spot and had no idea what to do. Fortunately his son had been there to rescue him. Finally there was my name sake a breddrin named Yannick, more popularly known as Bolo, he died a year or two back in a breadfruit tree in Hanover, he came to mind and then coincidentally I saw his brother, whom I didn’t know but the resemblance was uncanny. Finally is Trevor a Far-i elder of mine, whenever he sees me his hailing style is to touch fist and shake his hand like electricity is passing between us and say CURRENT. So imagine all this metaphysics and coincidence as I examine the currency of life. The flow of energy.

Who is Swizz Bankz and how this relates to Swizz Bankz? Well he is an artiste, a solopreneur, came to Paradise a few years ago and managed to fit in well. Some poeple come to a community and make mischief, that wasn’t Bankz. He was all about trying to make music and money. When he first arrived he used to sell Cash for Gold in front of Stanley’s Patty and fund his career. He is someone I see often, at one point he and a cabal of young trying artistes used to be at my gate late into the night to shooting the breeze. As of late he had been on the front of my mind for some days now as he was always nextdoor posting to his social media pages, and trying to make money on pay per click ads etc. He had resigned from Cash for Gold after being stabbed downtown. But financially he was on shaky times. So naturally as a community minded person, I hate to see trying people struggle. So as is always I would scour my mind for opportunities I may have seen that would be up his alley. But as things are with the state of emergency, the general economy of the community has slowed down, and the more vulnerable in the community suffer for it. Aid, benefits, hand outs, odd jobs, gigs, work, activity… everything is lessened and diminished.

Hence now I am living what I having been warning the government about. The security intervention has slowed the economic life of the community and without the necessary social or socio-economic intervention to offset this labour intensive security operation that seems endless and will only cost the same taxpayers who suffer in the communities, suffer economically and socially. The SOE may have cut crime, but it has also served to exacerbate so many other social pressures. So if I must connect the dots for you. Financial Pressure dot Swizz Bankz dot Breadfruit Tree dot Electrocution dot “Pop dung hospital” CRH dot Amputation dot dot dot dot dot dot… get it!

So now forgive my anger and frustration with government when after months the community has not had a 6-a-Side competition, Swizz Bankz and some progressive minded youth were planning a 6-a-Side competition for August 11, I was helping them make the link with the Paradise CDC, to use the Pond up by Supreme Prep etc. and general event planning. So from within the community there is attempt to resuscitate economic life, yet, the efforts to match us on the part of government is found failing and wanting. Is this not an indictment? Now that tragedy is here, how much help can Swizz Bankz count on from the government?

Swizz Bankz to you in the meantime, here is my advice:

• Cultivate positive friendships
• Stay physically active when you can
• Use humor to lighten the mood (it’s also great medicine)
• Lean on your spirituality
• Practice meditation
• Escape reality through reading or listening audio books
• Pursue a range of interests and hobbies
• Get a pet

While you do that we on the other end at Paradise are trying to gather what meagre funds we can to assist you. This tragedy struck and went straight to the heart of the community, everybody felt it and still feels it trust me. The closest of your friends shed tears youth. Now to the public I would say this in the words of the immortal Tickle Puss “No one of us is stronger than all of us!” So it is in this light I am saying I can’t assist Swizz Bankz alone in the community we have collection going if you live in the vicinity and want to do something, you can drop your donation in the pan at Tash Shop on Paradise Crescent. For the tech savvy who want to pitch in we have a fundrazr account at  http://fnd.us/a1Nut7?ref=sh_06AvEe. All and any aid appreciated. Selah!

https://store.cdbaby.com/Artist/SwizzBankz

https://twitter.com/Swizzbankzmusic

https://www.instagram.com/swizzbankzmusic/

https://www.facebook.com/TrapCityMusiq/ 

https://www.reverbnation.com/swizzbankz

 

About the author: Yannick Nesta Pessoa B.A. is Jamaica’s first blogger, a Community Activist and Law Student. Follow Yannick on Twitter at @yahnyk | yannickpessoa@yahoo.com

Jovexx

Can a mere singer/songwriter draw in and concentrate the kind of emotional power that without warning stop a community, in the midst of whatever it is doing and stop old women on the way to church, stop a hairdresser in her shop, stop the young crocs and the killy in their tracks, turn young potential gun men into drummers, let a con man for a day become his better self, stop the prostitute about her business, make other singers and deejays afraid  -- with powerful vocals, soul and genuine lyrics from the heart? Believe you me, I know one such artist and as the title suggests… his name is Jovexx or as his mother knows him Jovian Jackson. You may have already started hearing some of his songs on the radio, maybe you are an early adopter from facebook or instagram, one thing however is certain, you will know Jovexx, he will be a household name in Jamaica, and amongst the pantheon of Montego Bay’s major icons, Queen Ifrica, Tommy Lee Sparta and Jah Cure.

Do pop music lyrics matter? Do reggae and dancehall lyrics matter? Should culture-watchers and pop vulture be giving them the kind of rigorous, deconstructive attention now reserved for the high arts, great literature and an occasional movie? Most of the activists in the street I know believe that these songs and the words in them matter immensely. Cultural analysts should not be left behind. If movies are now our novels, then reggae and dancehall music lyrics may be the closest thing we have nowadays to a mass-marketed poetry, shaping attitudes and emotions for an audience that is, to say the least, extensive.

So when you hear lyrics like “mi agree seh life too hard but mi nah sell mi soul fi nuh round of applause, many live them life in the fast lane, but mama seh it never too late fi Jah Jah fall rain, so mi jus agwaan wait mi turn, time is the key the more you live the more you learn, a just the life weh we live, thanks we a give” or this verse from another song… “we keep holding on, all when the storm and the pressure is on, mi draw fi mi Bible and chant a Psalm,  and when one door close mi carry on, oil and powder them set fi man, the most always kept mi strong, them seh mi nah go mek it but them is wrong, a just my time me waiting pon”

His songs are melodic and filled with bluesy voice and his carefully wrought tales of characters in contemporary Jamaica, that the average person who seeks meaning in the face of society’s evils and havoc can readily identify with. When Jovexx belts a line like “mi nuh sorry mi live a garrison, mi never sorry the way mi born poor, so tell them we proud a weh we come from, ghetto yute haffi make it I sure, is like dem nuh see it seh we a human being, nuffa we pain dem ignore…” I have seen men and women eyes well up with tears.

The way I view this Artiste, it is as though he is a bridge between the Seventies folk and cultural movement and the more socially conscious folk and arts musical revival of the today which Chronixx and Protoje are hailed for. Jovexx's strong convictions, which are relayed in the lyrics to every song in catalogue paint a vivid picture of the struggles that young people, particularly those in Montego Bay, are experiencing now. His message resonated so strongly that he has already amassed a wide following. Jovexx’s stunningly captivating voice is front and center. Whether his lyrics are hopeful or chilling (often both within a single song), this material has a depth and substance well beyond his years. I know this for a fact not hype or fluff talk.

I have known Jovexx since 2014, I met him while assisting another artiste with his career. On our way from a video shoot in Lucea I got into his vehicle. On the way back to MoBay, someone played a riddim in the car, but he started Singjaying a song that sounded beautiful, so I asked him to sing it again, but he said “Rasta, if you never ketch it pon you phone it lost in the wind, caah mi just a mek up supm and gallang pon the riddim and right now mi a drive and mi frass so them lyrics nah come back again!” And I have watched enough Documentaries on true genius and been blessed to have rolled with a few, to know when I am in the presence of it. Plus I’d like to believe the genius in myself recognizes it in another. But as fate would have it, being the way I am, I never wanted to run in on someone else bandwagon. Plus rolling with artistes was proving a little unrewarding since the artiste was rolling with at the time would rather by gunmen 20,000 hennessy at the parties than pay for his bio or help getting a known director from Kingston to shoot his video, nagging industry friends in high places to get him on Morning Time etc etc etc.

But as fate would have it. One Friday morning March 2016, I come down the road in Paradise just in time to see Jovexx stepping out of his car as Stumpy urged him forward, “come in mi artiste, buy wi a liquor and sing song fi mi caah yuh haffi buss, a you alone mek me eye full a water and goosebump tek mi… come in come in” That morning when I asked about the music he was lukewarm as in unsure of where it was going for him. Anyway under the influence of Stumpy he belted out quite a few songs, there was a magic in that moment and I was glad I remember to take out my phone and press the red dot on the video camera… I left the road roughly 12 midday, posted the video of the four songs… when returned in the evening there was more than a million views on Facebook, women and men messaging me from California, New Orleans,England, Italy, producers from Kingston, Twins of Twins, my inbox was more than I could navigate.

Now this is not a promo piece, nobody asked me to write this, I am writing this because too many time great artistes come from Montego Bay and maybe the local papers missed them early or they waited for media in Kingston to validate them as artistes of substance, no not this time… The Mirror and Montego Bay needs to validate our own first, so before you read about him in The Gleaner or the Star or Rolling Stones Magazine, remember, you saw it first in your town, your newspaper, your own legend in the making… Jovexx, go check him on Youtube… from singing on the streets in Paradise to global studios, don’t be the last to know.

Liked on YouTube: Sia - Chandelier (Spiderman edition)

Sia - Chandelier (Spiderman edition)
A fun edit I made with all the fun swinging scenes contained in Spiderman 1 and 2 illustrated by Chandelier, the song of Sia :D Enjoy!
via YouTube https://youtu.be/UOvNFgWGN64

Songs written for Montego Bay City: A Musical Exploration of MoBay!

My Top 9 Montego Bay Songs

The history of Montego Bay Music and Montego Bay in Music is a very long and storied one. A history too long for this post I have intended... At this moment I wanna peep at songs written for MY CITY, Montego Bay City! Why investigate the city by song you ask? Well...rumor has it that there is a song for every city in America. Many such songs never get further than the city limits others became international hits. Gerard Kenny’s 1978 ode to his hometown ‘New York, New York - So Good They Named It Twice’ spelled the re-birth of America’s largest metropolis after it almost went bankrupt in 1975 and one year after a city-wide blackout shut it down for 25 hours. So the ethos and the brand and the identity of a city we see can be inextricably linked to song and music. In Jamaica the focus is mostly on Kingston, granted Negril gets some good mileage in "Cottage in Negril," and "I want to go to Negril", Linstead is indelibly etched into Jamaican memory via the folk hit "Laad What a Night.. what a Satiday nite!"

Memphis, Tennessee is touted to be mentioned in more songs than any other city in the world, “Walking in Memphis” by Marc Cohn is the one that readily springs to most people’s minds, and coincidentally is the song that inspired me to write a million unsung Mobay songs... but here are some songs titled and inspired by Montego Bay

Before Kartel ever did the Mobay Anthem there was Crazy Chris' anthem... "Welcome to the Second City". A song that marked the fact that western Jamaica was taking the dancehall by storm and never step back from the limelight. This lyrical story is a gritty tale of the guns in the community of Montego Bay, its edgy, rough and raw!

Hezron has this year join the list of artistes that are championing Mobay!

In this next grimy song, by Vybz Kartel though not from Montego Bay, takes us on his detailed and "informative" tour of crime ridden Mobay communities as well as listing all the dons much like a crime noir novella!

 

Popcaan, while in Kartel's tow, seems to have picked up some affection for the second city as well!

 

This Montego Bay song by Queen Ifrica is to The Montegonian, the definitive Montego Bay song. Folksy, yet reggae and pop-ish, it has strong lyrics, vivid site choices in the city, it is grassroot and has local authority!

 

My next favourite Mobay song is by none other than the lyrically profuse and verbose, Lij Tafari... This Montego Bay talent I think is easily on par with Damian Marley lyrically, and is as fresh as Kabaka Pyramid and Protoje.

 

Bobby Bloom as a North American came to Jamaica and found his inspiration in which city?

The rest of the songs that follow are covers of Bobby Bloom's song and give unique and various sonic signatures to the song that make it somewhat their own...

 

 

 

Western Jamaica's Burgeoning Conscious Community

When one thinks of poetry, dub, culture, history and the arts in Jamaica, most people think Kingston, Edna Manley, Red Bones Cafe, The Ranny Williams Centre, Reggae revival, Jah 9, Protege, Jesse Royal, Kabaka Pyramid, Chronixx, Damian Marley...

Stretch your brain now and see if you can think of any Western Jamaican musicians in that vain... I am willing to bet you couldn't think of any or know any. You do know they exist though right? It is time you know artistes like... new western Jamaican artistes Mentor, Lij Tafari, Lusion, Jovexx, Antwain, Marley Fire, I-Mara, Raydaar, Teacher Dee, Naphtali/Omar, Okonko, Kempo and The Young Jamaica Ensemble these are names represent a western Jamaican authentic arts and reggae musical experiences to be had, if one is going to say they are an adept aficionado of western Jamaican music. Other names like Kolumbo, Mycus Chip and Fury echo of the quasi-street conscious ethos of Jah Vinci's calibre, with shades of both dancehall and reggae in their game. This generation of artists is worthy successors to Montegonian reggae and culture legends like White Mice, Jah Cure and Queen Ifrica. With regard to dub poetry, names bubbling in the local market are Blabber, Kofi Kulcha, Skripcha, Marley Fire, Venise Samuels amongst many others.

This crop of artistes offers cultural enrichment and entertainment that isn't available elsewhere in Jamaica. The hub and foundation of much of the stunningly beautiful music being made in Montego Bay, with amazing insights and great beats, is created in The People's Arcade and Coomb's Lane. Upcoming studios like Skull Yard and foundation studios like Victory One, Vidal and Half-a-Dread are helping to propel both new artists while keeping grounded with foundation artistes. Out here, being produced in the west are songs to dance and vibe to as well as deep cerebral lyrics to creep inside of and crawl through your psyche. This music takes you outside your conventional conceptualization of Jamaican music as most popular Jamaican music is Kingston based, biased and centred. These western Jamaicans give you a different perspective. A true reggae aficionado can no longer ignore the energies being emitted from Western Jamaica.

Although the mainstream often associates contemporary Jamaican music with the harder dancehall of artists like Beenie Man and Vybz Kartel, the Jamaican listenership has an under-reported love for melodic pop and smooth flows. Downtown dances play Celine Dion, Kenny Rogers remains popular and local supergroup L.U.S.T. – Lukie D, Trilla U, Singing Melody and Tony Curtis – scored a hit with a cover of Air Supply's "Just As I Am." Today the airwaves being taken over by local music station Fyah 105, has re-proven that Jamaican ears hunger and are eager to hear global rhythms, and join the procession of new music and musical global consciousness that is flowering all over the planet.

I say to you now, go research these names, these artists... listen to my sampling of videos... witness the blossoming of Mobay Music... the western consciousness revival!

Liked on YouTube: Bugle ft Julian Marley "Move Dem" Official music video

Bugle ft Julian Marley "Move Dem" Official music video
Artist: Bugle ft Julian Marley Song: Move Dem Director: Jerome Hyde Editor: Unplugged Multimedia Production Company: Unplugged Multimedia Social Media: Twitter: @Jerome_Hyde, @buglemusic @julianmarley @unplugged_mm Facebook: Jerome Hyde, Buglemusic, julian marley, Unplugged Multimedia Instagram: @king_jaffy, @buglemusic, @dreadatthecontrol, @unpluggedmultimedia Booking: For video services booking contact at unplugged@gmail.com
via YouTube http://youtu.be/IegacIjjMrQ

Liked on YouTube: Swizz bankz Sin Badd Masicka Diss An Shampane Warm up di Winter Promo Video.mp4

Swizz bankz Sin Badd Masicka Diss An Shampane Warm up di Winter Promo Video.mp4
http://ift.tt/1Th8yMK https://twitter.com/SwizzBankz1 https://twitter.com/SwizzBankz1
via YouTube http://youtu.be/BNk-LxvBsGY

Liked on YouTube: Swizz Bankz ft Dwayne Smith Wok it mak she feel it

Swizz Bankz ft Dwayne Smith Wok it mak she feel it
http://ift.tt/1PpWOtq http://ift.tt/1PpWOtq https://twitter.com/SwizzBankz1 https://twitter.com/SwizzBankz1
via YouTube http://youtu.be/D8hnpKJlwNI

Liked on YouTube: Swizz Bankz Six Figga

Swizz Bankz Six Figga
SinBadCity
via YouTube http://youtu.be/znT45Th3QH8

Reggae Sumfest 2013

Reggae Sumfest...

This year, the 21st year of Reggae Sumfest will take place July 21 to 27, 2013. Dubbed The Greatest Reggae Show on Earth, the Festival is expected to again attract thousands of patrons from Jamaica and the rest of the world to Montego Bay. Music lovers from all over are invited to come to the Festival and celebrate this milestone in Jamaica's musical heritage!

Behind the music on a very popular Montegonian: Jimmy Cliff

Jimmy Cliff was born James Chambers on April's Fool's Day, 1948 in the Somerton District of St. James near Montego Bay, Jamaica. He reputedly chose the stage name Cliff to reflect the heights he intended to scale in the music business. And while he belatedly became a household name in the 1970s - in the UK thanks mainly to his appearance in The Harder They Come both as an actor and a singer - it became clear to those who followed his career that his name actually came to represent artistic, political and personal struggle, rather than easily attained commercial success. 

When he was 14 years old he moved to Kingston...

Read the full article!

My Daughter and I listen to this song every morn... she even sings it to herself... it's off his latest Grammy winning album! Another good hit is "Took the children's bread and give to the dogs!

Jamaica Gleaner News - Queen Ifrica plays, explains 'Montego Bay'

Queen Ifrica plays, explains 'Montego Bay
'Published: Thursday | July 16, 2009
Mel Cooke, Gleaner Writer

Montego Bay is Queen Ifrica's first album with VP Records.As she presented Montego Bay, her second full-length set, at her first album launch on Tuesday evening, Queen Ifrica's face and posture reflected the mood of the songs.And there was ample time and reason for the changes, Ifrica explaining the background to almost all the songs on the 13-track set in an extended stint at the podium during which she got noticeably more comfortable as time went on, engaging the large audience at Kabana, Hope Road, St Andrew.The trip through an outstanding album actually started with her voice alone, not the actual recording, as after a herald of horns, Ifrica delivered the album's title track a cappella, smiling, the audience cheering at the start and again when she hit the chorus.After the recording was played, Ifrica explained, "Montego Bay is special to me. That's where my whole Rastafari development took place." Still, she noted, the inner-city communities do not see the benefit of the 'lush' from the tourism industry.She was sombre for Streets Are Bloody, dedicating it to 20-year-old Ejaun, "a very close individual to Flames. He was gunned down by a soldier at a club". Ifrica described Ejaun's kindness, respectfulness and computer wizardry, commenting that in the society "the people who do good are the people who die like this". The song has the line "none is immune, Ejaun gone to soon".In My DreamsIfrica smiled as she asked, "Any lovers? Any husband, any wife, any matie?", before In My Dreams was played, rocking away with eyes closed and clasping her left shoulder with her right hand.And when she said "we ago step up the vibe" with Yad To The East, commenting "dis a di man whe dem sey inna Ifrica", Ifrica grinned gloriously as the rhythm hit and the crowd exploded at the opening line, "Selassie I never lose a fight yet".And so it continued, Ifrica often merging her voice with the tail end of the recordings, playfully prodding the audience to more enthusiastic applause and dropping advice on hard work, focus, purpose and the importance of teamwork to younger artistes.She has stuck to a team, as before she sang along to the recorded songs on Tuesday night, Ifrica sang the praises of Tony Rebel, giving the background to starting to work with his Flames Productions in 1998, after performing at a Garnet Silk tribute concert. And among the other persons Ifrica said thanks to was Penthouse's Donovan Germaine who "say I am a granddaughter of Penthouse, because Tony Rebel is a son".Guest speaker Kay Osbourne, general manager of TVJ, heaped praises on Queen Ifrica and Montego Bay, which she described as an awesome collection that showcases the inner workings of Ifrica's mind and soul."It is clear that this unique woman of truth has something to say," Osbourne said, taking a closer look at many of the songs. "She expresses the personal universally," Osbourne said later in her address.However, Osbourne is not impressed with much of Jamaican music being produced currently, pointing out the narcissism, exhibitionism, image manipulation and "the mere ability to attract attention is rewarded".Tony Rebel, who welcomed all to the album launch, spoke about Queen Ifrica's development, from not being able to do a song properly in the studio and having to be told 10 times what to do, that being reduced to thrice, then twice and "now you don't have to say anything".There was a time when she had to be asking producers to go on rhythms; now she is being requested. Long gone are the days when she was trying to get on shows; now there are so many offers she has to decline some."When you have someone like a Queen Ifrica standing up and not taking off her clothes I have to salute her," Rebel said.Extensive exposureIn presenting Montego Bay, Ifrica noted the struggle that her song about incest, Daddy (which appears in English and Spanish), has been going through in terms of getting extensive exposure on the airwaves, although it has connected in the streets and at live performances.When she was asked which track was her favourite Queen Ifrica did not name one, but said that the opening chant, TTPNC, is special, as "it is my whole Rastafarian belief ... That is who I am. I am a Niyabinghi woman".The recordings ended with Far Away, Lady Saw, Assassin, I-Wayne, Capleton and Tarrus Riley embracing Queen Ifrica onstage. It wasn't all over, though, as there was one more a cappella song for her to deliver, the crowd whooping for Keep It To Yourself.

Jamaica Gleaner News - Queen Ifrica plays, explains 'Montego Bay' - Entertainment - Thursday | July 16, 2009