ReggaeMe

Blackwell (right) with, from left, reggae singers Junior Murvin, Bob Marley and Jacob Miller

Island Records turns 51 this year. It's the label that brought reggae from Jamaica to the world, while also showcasing British folk rockers from the '60s and '70s and a lot of influential pop artists.

Chris Blackwell founded the Island label in Kingston, Jamaica in 1959 with capital of just £1000. Relocating to London in the early 60s Blackwell built the most diverse and enviable back catalogue of any independent record label in history. From Island's early Jamaican...

It appears that the Internal Revenue Service is after Rapper Doug E. Fresh for unpaid taxes. According to a lien filed by the IRS in New York City, Doug E. Fresh failed to pay $2,276,848 dollars in federal taxes.

However, this is not the first time Fresh has had to deal with delinquent taxes owed to the IRS. Back in 2008, he owed $367,000 dollars in unpaid federal and state taxes.

Despite his problem with the IRS, Fresh seems to be doing okay financially business-wise. He has opened a new restaurant named Doug E’s Chicken and Waffles in Harlem, New York...

(AP) Prime Minister Bruce Golding said Thursday his government shook up an anti-drug police unit after Cuba complained that the force had been uncooperative in preventing Jamaican drug smugglers using speedboats and small planes to move narcotics.

Golding's announcement followed the publication of a leaked U.S. diplomatic memo that portrayed Jamaican anti-drug officers as being so unresponsive that more than a dozen Cuban officials privately vented their frustrations to a U.S. drug enforcer in 2009.

The August 2009 communique released by WikiLeaks said Cuban...

Four-time Grammy nominee, Keyshia Cole, and Yahoo! just premiered the video for her new single, “Long Way Down.” The track will be on Keyshia’s hotly anticipated fourth studio album, Calling All Hearts. The album, dropping on 12/21, also features the hit single “I Ain’t Thru” feat. Nicki Minaj and collaborations with Faith Evans, Tank, and Timbaland, among others. Calling All Hearts follows the birth of Keyshia’s first child earlier this year and her engagement to Cleveland Cavalier, Daniel “Booby” Gibson. The entire album can be previewed right now on Amazon...

The 8th Annual International Soca Awards took place at the National Academy for the Performing Arts in Port of Spain, Trinidad on November 27, 2010. From the curtains going up on the memorable tribute to Alphonsus 'Arrow' Cassell to the fantastic finale of Terry Lyons, the 8th International Soca Awards was an absolute hit. CG and Big Daddy George and Militant commanded the Red Carpet, and the Codrington Pan Family Steel Orchestra greeted the guests in to the National Academy for the Performing Arts (NAPA) on Saturday November 27. Nikki Crosby did her thing as the...

The Organization of American States (OAS) will train, on December 15 and 16 in Kingston, Jamaica, 40 police and immigration officials, prosecutors and judges with the goal of increasing their awareness of the crime of trafficking in persons and strengthening their efforts to prevent and fight it.

Trafficking in persons is a modern form of slavery and a violation of basic human rights involving coercive sexual exploitation, forced labor and involuntary servitude. The OAS program, “Strengthening the Capacity of Law Enforcement Officials, Judges and Prosecutors...

Rapper Lil Wayne cannot do any drugs or liquor as part of the terms of his three-year probation for drug and gun possession in Arizona, but that has not deterred drug dealers from naming deadly narcotics after him.

The superstar rapper’s name was associated with a $250 million drug bust that yielded 500 bricks of heroin.

Newark Police offers found the bricks of the drug hidden in a side panel of an SUV with the bricks and the packets of the drug packaged for sale under the name “Lil Wayne.”

A police dog was called in to search the SUV and the dog helped...

NEW YORK (AP) — The game show "Jeopardy" will pit man versus machine this winter in a competition that will show how successful scientists are in creating a computer that can mimic human intelligence.

Two of the venerable game show's most successful champions — Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter — will play two games against "Watson," a computer program developed by IBM's artificial intelligence team. The matches will be spread over three days that will air Feb. 14-16, the game show said on Tuesday.

The competition is reminiscent of when IBM developed a...

Author Ian Fleming will be honored with his very own airport. Jamaica is set to name its third international airport after the novelist who created James Bond.

Previously known as the Boscobel Airstrip, the upgraded and expanded Ian Fleming airport will mainly be used by travellers flying in on private jets. The official opening of the airport, which now features a passenger lounge, pilot briefing room and customs and immigration points, is due this month.

The Jamaican maid asked for a pay increase.
The wife was upset about this and decided to talk to her about the raise.
She asked: Now Marie, why you feel you deserve a pay increase?
Marie: Well, ma'am, three reasons why I want de increase.

The first one, mi iron better than you!
Wife: Who said you iron better than me?
Marie: Your husband says so.
Wife: Oh.

Marie: The second reason........ah cooks better than you.
Wife: Nonsense, who said you were a better cook than me?
Marie: Your husband again
Wife: Oh.

Marie: My last reason is that I am a better...

Ja Rule pleaded guilty today Monday December 13, 2010 to a weapons charge and will be sentenced to two years in prison.

The 34-year-old artist's plea, given in a Manhattan courtroom, came more than three years after police arrested him in 2007 upon finding a loaded semiautomatic handgun in the rear door of his Maybach following a concert at the Beacon Theater. Ja Rule, whose real name is Jeff Atkins, was initially pulled over for speeding.

Police also found that the registration on the pricey vehicle was suspended and had no insurance.

The concert took place Oct 31 at the Hasely Crawford Stadium in Port-of-Spain and was put together by the organizations Project Records and Trinidad's Ministry of Sport and Youth Affairs. Trinidad and Tobago government was upset after spending over $869,000 on a concert headlining Nicki Minaj last month. The concert was widely publicized in the country but failed to live up to the expected turnout.

Minaj apparently was paid TT$382,000/US$60000 to perform. An additional $60,000 was spent on hotel, $150,000 on advertising, $75,000 on the venue, $32,000 was...

(AP)Rap star Ja Rule may soon be in the spotlight in a New York City courtroom.

A trial could start as soon as this week in a gun-possession case stemming from a July 2007 stop of his luxury sports car. He was scheduled for a court date Monday.

Police say they found a loaded semiautomatic gun in a rear door of his $250,000-plus Maybach after it was stopped for speeding following a Manhattan concert. The chauffeured car also had a suspended registration and no insurance, police said.

The platinum-selling rapper has pleaded not guilty to criminal weapon...

There were no major surprises when the much-anticipated 2010 Sting poster was unveiled.

The unveiling of the poster also confirmed that Mavado and Vybz Kartel will be a no-show at the event, set for December 26, 2010 at Jamworld, in Portmore, St Catherine. Vybz Kartel, in a recent interview with the Jamaica Star, made it clear he wouldn't attend the 27-year old event.

There are reports indicating that Vybz Kartel and Mavado wanted alot of money for their appearance at Sting 2010. It was expressed that Mavado wanted J$3million and Vybz Kartel wanted...

Experimentalist music producer and remix mastermind Diplo teams up with Greensleeves Records to reload and re-release some of Reggae's greatest classics on Riddimentary - Diplo Selects Greensleeves.

Known for his electronic dub musical styling and as one-half of world renowned production team Major Lazer, Thomas Wesley Pentz aka Diplo lends his eclectic ear and considerable talents as a Reggae selector to Riddimentary. The continuous blended mix covers over 20 years of revoluntionary Jamaican and UK hits from the top producers in Dub, Reggae and Dancehall from...