Rob Ford, Toronto's most beloved singing and dancing entertainer, marked the final meeting of that city's current council the way he is wont to do: pounding his chest, swinging his hips, and making gentle pushing gestures, as a reggae band performed Bob Marley's "One Love." He even sang along!
Is there no end to Rob Ford's talents? Minutes after sort-of apologizing to Toronto Star reporter Daniel Dale yesterday for calling the journalist a pedophile, the mayor was cutting a rug to a jazz band doing "One Love" on the floor of the council chambers.
If we learned anything from the Grammys last night it was that Taylor Swift had the best time and Jay-Z didn't really give a shit. But not everyone could identify with one of those two extremes. In fact, one might say emotional investment at the Grammys existed on more of a spectrum. So in between your Taylors…
Katy Perry's back-up rapper, Snoop Dogg, is set to release a reggae album under the name "Snoop Lion" later this year.
Denroy Morgan, an old-timey Jamaican reggae star, got pulled over in the Bronx on Friday with 25 pounds of weed in his trunk. Oh crikey, can you be any more stereotypical, Denroy Morgan?
Bob Marley died on May 11, 1981. How will you celebrate this anniversary? Read one of the many fine books on Marley's life? Reflect on the amazing depth of his discography? Have lunch with Bunny Wailer? Start a revolution in Zimbabwe? Save the poor?
Reggae star Buju Banton has been found guilty on charges of conspiracy to distribute cocaine in Miami. His first trial ended in a hung jury; no such luck this time. He was also found guilty of a gun charge. He faces up to 20 years in prison. Fellow reggae stars and fans are upset. [Miami New Times, photo via Getty]
Gregory Isaacs, the reggae star who recorded more than 500 (!) albums over a 40-year career, is dead at the age of 59, from lung cancer. Nobody, but nobody, sang smoother. A few jams, below.
Sugar Minott, a reggae star often credited with being one of the first dancehall artists, died last weekend at the age of 54. He launched his solo career in the late 1970s, and made music with damn near everyone. [Gleaner]
Sometimes it's nice to put down the chalice, for once, and realize that Bob Marley was not the second coming of Jesus, or a hippie, for Chrissake. He was a flawed man! A new biography tells us just how flawed.
Yes. Eleven god damn pounds of coke, he tried to buy, in Florida. Allegedly! He and two other guys were arrested last week, and now the DEA has released its version of the story, in which a snitch told them earlier this month that Buju et al "wanted to purchase kilogramme amounts of cocaine in the Sarasota area of the…
For real, Rastas believe all types of weird shit. Bob Marley thought the Emperor of Ethiopia was basically Jesus. That's crazy! Great music though. What have we learned? People who hold psycho political beliefs can make jammin-ass music. Surprise!
What happens to a dancehall reggae artist retired? Does he dry up, like a raisin in the sun? Or fester like a sore, and then run? No. He moves to East New York and is attacked by a ninja-like swordsman.
Finally, the Jamaican airwaves are safe for Coldplay tunes: the government there is banning music about sex, or violence, or arson, or... basically all music.
Rasta don't work for no CIA. But Bob Marley now works for a private equity firm.
Thousands of people in Jamaica turned out last weekend to celebrate the life of Bob Marley's mother, who apparently died earlier this month, in a development I totally missed. Her name was Cedella Booker, and she died at the age of 81, outliving her son by 27 years. Bob Marley, the reggae superstar who was (argument…
