Like Richard Pryor said, everything’s moving. If you don’t play this Ghetto Palms thing pretty close, it could slip by you. Which explains how the homie DJ Rupture put out a whole CD’s worth of jams with the CIAfrica crew from Côte d’Ivoire while I was stopping to smell the Hackney Empire roses. Then the other homies comprising The Very Best dropped a whole motherlode of refixes and the other-other homie Max Glazer debuted his collaboration with Vybz Kartel, while So Shifty crew blew up Notting Hill carnival with their UK funky refix of soca king and queen Bunji Garlin and Faye Ann Lyons. In fact, I woulda been really messed up if I hadn’t told So Shifty to draw their brakes and put another mental refix—of Busy Signal’s “Real Gallis”—on hold for me. Good news, they did! Here it is, exclusively world-premiering on Ghetto Palms along with the best of the rest:
Vybz Kartel, “Whine (Wine)” (Max Glazer/Federation)
Devonte f. Dan Lou, “Who’s Gonna Help You” (Attack riddim/Blue Sky)
Lukie D, “Harder They Come” (Attack riddim/Blue Sky)
The Very Best, “Kalira” (Douster refix)
Busy Signal, “Real Gallis” (So Shifty refix)
Bunji Garlin & Faye Ann Lyons, “No Gangsters” (So Shifty refix)
The brilliant Douster re-imagining of TVB’s “Kalira” came straight from Radioclit and I believe that’s still pretty exclusive unless you are on Swedish iTunes, plus there’s some new dancehall from Blue Sky productions in there, too. Meanwhile, after one label deal that failed to launch (can’t tell you who) and roughly a billion mentions on Ghetto Palms, De Tropix are finally getting some love from the rest of the world, having been selected for MTV Iggy’s Bands We Like and also getting a plug over at XLR8R. Could be something to do with the fact that Cherry B’s vocals are blasting out of zebra-striped clock radios all over the world on the hook of MIA’s “XXXO.” Or maybe they are just now catching up with me. Either way, you’re welcome.
