Free Republic

Robbie Shakespeare, one half of the powerhouse rhythm duo of Sly and Robbie, has died. A close associate confirmed his passing to The Gleaner a short while ago. Shakespeare had reportedly been ailing for some time and had undergone surgery related to his kidneys. He was living overseas and was in hospital in Florida. In July last year, he placed at Number 17 on 'The 50 Greatest Bassists of All Time list', compiled by the prestigious Rolling Stone magazine. Headlines Delivered to Your Inbox Sign up for The Gleaner’s morning and evening newsletters. When The Gleaner reached out to the...

<p>Reggae music became popular in the late 1960s, when young people were excited about it and gravitated to the new sound. The artists were mainly grass-roots people who used their voices to articulate a message and communicate to the masses. Old-time reggae lyrics described life events in the Caribbean culture to which most people could relate.</p>

Although Osama bin Laden has long used videos for recruitment and garnering political support, an MTV-style music video in Britain seems to be the first radical Islamic propaganda to utilize an overtly Americanized approach to reaching Muslim youths.  And it may just be catching on.  Called “Dirty Kuffar,” which means dirty “infidels” (or non-believers), the slickly-produced video (which can be viewed online at http://ipnews.planetgac.com) combines cartoonish images and footage of graphic violence, and the all-English lyrics are sung in Jamaican dancehall reggae style over a beat taken directly from the very recent international smash hit Sean Paul song “Get Busy.”  In...