Some Ras Reggae Tunes

I gotta admit that I am totally out of touch with the current scene in Dancehall Reggae. Once upon a time I was up on all the new tune and riddims, was cutting remix dubplates and was playing some wicked juggling segments all over the world. I was at Super Power records, Barry U, Original Records, Tiger’s Reggae Hut, VP, Ethiopian Taste and many more on a regular basis to wait around and listen to the newest 45s and pick them as they were played. The customer service was usually as bad as the typical Jamaican restaurant but I digress. LOL

Well, nowadays I don’t have my finger on the pulse like I once did but I still love real reggae music. Most of the riddims nowadays don’t even sound like “reggae” and I found myself longing for a nice little juggling on a bad riddim. I was looking for a classic riddim to revive and I decided on one of my favorite tunes and riddim of all time, War Is In The Dance by the legendary Frankie Paul (R.I.P.)

I reconstructed a new version to cut some “dubs” with from a dub version that came out a few years ago that was cool but had no “direction” as far as voicing to it. I was only looking to do one remix and I ended up doing a medley of 2 Rihanna songs. I thought it was pretty hot and decided to “build a new juggling” around it. I cooked up a few more tunes to the riddim and the final result of that was War Is In The Dance 2030 which is some guaranteed vibes.

Below is the original Rihanna Medley Remix and the entire mix that it inspired. Enjoy =)

Reggae Remix Set

Recently I was asked by my people over at Lambsbread Sound in Norway to do a mini mix for their radio show. I put together a 20 minute mix of strictly reggae remixes that I have made over the years. Here it is in its entirety. Enjoy.

1. Tomorrows Another Day – Collie Budz
2. Diary / Secrets – Alicia Keys
3. Sun Is Shining – Bob Marley
4. Soundboy Vigilante – Cocoa Tea & Buju Banton
5. Welcome to the Ghetto – Akon
6. Come Around – Collie Budz
7. 3 Little Birds – Bob Marley
8. Rudeboy – Rihanna
9. In Love With a Stripper – T-Pain
10. Be Without You – Mary J Blige
11. No One – Alicia Keys
12. No Woman No Cry – Bob Marley
13. No Air – Chris Brown & Jordin Sparks

All tracks remixed by DJ Rondevu

Feelin Irie 6

If you’ve never been to a competitive sound clash please believe it is quite an exciting experience. Since discovering dancehall and Bob Marley in the mid 80’s I’ve loved reggae music. In the early 90’s I became a fan of sound clashes after listening to sound systems like Black Cat, Firgo Digital, Stone Love, Silver Hawk and my hometown favorite from East Ny Brooklyn, King Addies. I really appreciated the creativity and effort that went into making the exclusive dub plates these sound systems would play. You would have an artist remake a popular song, often to a different “riddim” or instrumental from the original, and customize the words to give props to the sound system and it’s members. They would be played in a competition against other sound systems to see who could have the most original and/or exclusive dubs and get the greatest response from the crowd. I even began to make reggae remixes and press them on dub plates to play at my gigs and made custom remixes for many other sound systems.

Feelin Irie is a series where I try to bring elements of a sound clash to a mixtape. From the exclusive remixes to the speeches from the mcs it plays out differently from your typical mix. Enjoy and feel free to flash your lighter and give some “forwards” Available now in the cd shop