sevensclash: Stanley Couch Gym is at the epicenter of the current resurgence of boxing in Jamaica. It’s shortly after 5 p.m. on a muggy August afternoon when we arrive at the gym, and while the uptown-bound rush hour traffic outside the gates slowly empties the surrounding area, the training floor inside fills up as fighters trickle in one-by-one from their various day jobs around the corporate area. The place is spartan, but the best boxing gyms usually are. Jamaica’s flyweight hero and official coach of the gym Richard ‘Shrimpy’ Clarke walks the perimeter, overseeing a handful of veterans scattered around the room working with individual fighters. Over a chorus of gloves slapping heavy bags, sneakers chirping on the poured concrete and stacks crashing on weight machines, I catch up with Sakima Mullings and Devon ‘Concrete’ Moncrieffe, two popular boxers at the forefront of the sport today, as well as their promoters, Willie Yap and Christopher Brown of Jamaica Genesis Entertainment. Read More We spent an afternoon at Stanley Couch Gym in downtown Kingston.
Pop-upView Separately

sevensclash:

Stanley Couch Gym is at the epicenter of the current resurgence of boxing in Jamaica.

It’s shortly after 5 p.m. on a muggy August afternoon when we arrive at the gym, and while the uptown-bound rush hour traffic outside the gates slowly empties the surrounding area, the training floor inside fills up as fighters trickle in one-by-one from their various day jobs around the corporate area. The place is spartan, but the best boxing gyms usually are. Jamaica’s flyweight hero and official coach of the gym Richard ‘Shrimpy’ Clarke walks the perimeter, overseeing a handful of veterans scattered around the room working with individual fighters. Over a chorus of gloves slapping heavy bags, sneakers chirping on the poured concrete and stacks crashing on weight machines, I catch up with Sakima Mullings and Devon ‘Concrete’ Moncrieffe, two popular boxers at the forefront of the sport today, as well as their promoters, Willie Yap and Christopher Brown of Jamaica Genesis Entertainment.

Read More

We spent an afternoon at Stanley Couch Gym in downtown Kingston.

sevensclash: Despite the potboilers overflowing with lurid tales of shootouts and battle scars (starring Laing as valiant crime fighter) that tend to litter the local news cycle around this time of year, his reputation on the street as a ruthless vigilante who has caught more bodies than bullets is deeply etched in popular memory. In 1991, when Tiger asked, “Whe di bad boy police name?” on his hit call and response record, When, everybody, including young schoolchildren, knew the answer. Today, fully sixteen years since he turned in his badge, the proper reply remains the same, “Laing!” My latest piece for Sevens Clash. A visit to the offices of Isaiah Laing, the infamous bad boy policeman who originated Sting, “The Greatest One-Night Reggae Show on Earth.” Click through for photos and the full article.
Pop-upView Separately

sevensclash:

Despite the potboilers overflowing with lurid tales of shootouts and battle scars (starring Laing as valiant crime fighter) that tend to litter the local news cycle around this time of year, his reputation on the street as a ruthless vigilante who has caught more bodies than bullets is deeply etched in popular memory. In 1991, when Tiger asked, “Whe di bad boy police name?” on his hit call and response record, When, everybody, including young schoolchildren, knew the answer. Today, fully sixteen years since he turned in his badge, the proper reply remains the same, “Laing!”

My latest piece for Sevens Clash. A visit to the offices of Isaiah Laing, the infamous bad boy policeman who originated Sting, “The Greatest One-Night Reggae Show on Earth.” Click through for photos and the full article.

sevensclash: While designer Earl ‘Biggy’ Turner was busy rolling out a trailer-load of linen for Shabba, and Carlene ‘Dancehall Queen’ Smith was setting the standard for women with her dancehall Leeloo style, a young Moonie was patiently learning the trade in his native Portmore. We recently caught up with Moonie, the official Gaza fashion designer and a legend in the making, in his studio in Kingston. Click through for photos, article and interview. Mad ting!
Pop-upView Separately

sevensclash:

While designer Earl ‘Biggy’ Turner was busy rolling out a trailer-load of linen for Shabba, and Carlene ‘Dancehall Queen’ Smith was setting the standard for women with her dancehall Leeloo style, a young Moonie was patiently learning the trade in his native Portmore.

We recently caught up with Moonie, the official Gaza fashion designer and a legend in the making, in his studio in Kingston. Click through for photos, article and interview. Mad ting!

sevensclash:

With not one publicist in sight, Sevens Clash takes you deep inside Mud Town — the hillside community on the outskirts of Kingston notorious as the birthplace of Jamaica’s premier kidnapping and extortion gang, the Gideon Warriors — to link with up-and-coming dancehall deejay Ice Cold.

This is a glimpse into raw dancehall on the fringes of the industry, as it exists in the streets. Even if you’re not a fan of the music and/or don’t endorse the thugged out themes contained within, the nighttime footage of Kingston streets and beautiful black and white photography of an area off limits to most outsiders make this short video a must watch and more than worth the double post.

Video above and article here.

sevensclash:

Inside the clapboard barbershop, raindrops against the zinc roof muffle the music coming from the soundsystem in the distance, and a lone BlackBerry supplies the soundtrack as conversation quickly morphs into a full-blown performance. While time and the vagaries of the music industry will dictate the specific course of Ice Cold’s career, nights like these live as testament to the energy of the music in the streets.

Sevens Clash off the beaten path. Sometimes with all the industry driven focus on artists it’s nice to get out into the streets and see what’s happening on the ground, so while in Jamaica recently we traveled deep into the infamous community of Highlight View (aka Mud Town) just above Papine in Kingston to link with up-and-coming deejay Ice Cold.

Video above, and click through for the rest of the article.

sevensclash: …the singles from his forthcoming sophomore effort, “The 8 Year Affair,” herald a turning point from the personal to the political, and a shift in the sonic landscape from dub to dancehall. The lead single, Who Dem a Program — with its nod to Papa San’s song of the same name and veiled references to the surreptitious deployment of U.S. reconnaissance drones during the 2010 police and military joint incursion into Tivoli Gardens to capture Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke that left over 70 residents dead — attempts to open a dialogue locally, and seems to be a conscious effort by Protoje to craft a new lane for himself in the dancehall. Kingston Be Wise, the latest single, and another dancehall banger, picks up the thematic thread as it artfully sidesteps discussion of the transgressions of Dudus, instead tackling the issue from the ground as a parable about the impact of government corruption and media distortion. In the video for the song aerial shots juxtaposing affluent with impoverished areas of the city drive the point home, with the perspective dovetailing nicely from the allusions to an all-seeing eye in the sky on Who Dem a Program. After he told us who he is with “Seven Year Itch,” Protoje appears to be showing us what he’s about on “The 8 Year Affair.” We recently met up with the man outside the legendary Grafton Studios in Vineyard Town after a rehearsal session. When we arrived the majority of The Indiggnation, the seven-piece band he performs with, had already left and Protoje himself was getting ready to hit the road, but ever accommodating he stuck around to hangout and shoot some photos. In between conversation about hip-hop, basketball and flattops (I was wearing a Chris Mullin jersey) Alexander did his thing. Sevens Clash x Protoje. Continues Here
Zoom Info
sevensclash: …the singles from his forthcoming sophomore effort, “The 8 Year Affair,” herald a turning point from the personal to the political, and a shift in the sonic landscape from dub to dancehall. The lead single, Who Dem a Program — with its nod to Papa San’s song of the same name and veiled references to the surreptitious deployment of U.S. reconnaissance drones during the 2010 police and military joint incursion into Tivoli Gardens to capture Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke that left over 70 residents dead — attempts to open a dialogue locally, and seems to be a conscious effort by Protoje to craft a new lane for himself in the dancehall. Kingston Be Wise, the latest single, and another dancehall banger, picks up the thematic thread as it artfully sidesteps discussion of the transgressions of Dudus, instead tackling the issue from the ground as a parable about the impact of government corruption and media distortion. In the video for the song aerial shots juxtaposing affluent with impoverished areas of the city drive the point home, with the perspective dovetailing nicely from the allusions to an all-seeing eye in the sky on Who Dem a Program. After he told us who he is with “Seven Year Itch,” Protoje appears to be showing us what he’s about on “The 8 Year Affair.” We recently met up with the man outside the legendary Grafton Studios in Vineyard Town after a rehearsal session. When we arrived the majority of The Indiggnation, the seven-piece band he performs with, had already left and Protoje himself was getting ready to hit the road, but ever accommodating he stuck around to hangout and shoot some photos. In between conversation about hip-hop, basketball and flattops (I was wearing a Chris Mullin jersey) Alexander did his thing. Sevens Clash x Protoje. Continues Here
Zoom Info
sevensclash: …the singles from his forthcoming sophomore effort, “The 8 Year Affair,” herald a turning point from the personal to the political, and a shift in the sonic landscape from dub to dancehall. The lead single, Who Dem a Program — with its nod to Papa San’s song of the same name and veiled references to the surreptitious deployment of U.S. reconnaissance drones during the 2010 police and military joint incursion into Tivoli Gardens to capture Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke that left over 70 residents dead — attempts to open a dialogue locally, and seems to be a conscious effort by Protoje to craft a new lane for himself in the dancehall. Kingston Be Wise, the latest single, and another dancehall banger, picks up the thematic thread as it artfully sidesteps discussion of the transgressions of Dudus, instead tackling the issue from the ground as a parable about the impact of government corruption and media distortion. In the video for the song aerial shots juxtaposing affluent with impoverished areas of the city drive the point home, with the perspective dovetailing nicely from the allusions to an all-seeing eye in the sky on Who Dem a Program. After he told us who he is with “Seven Year Itch,” Protoje appears to be showing us what he’s about on “The 8 Year Affair.” We recently met up with the man outside the legendary Grafton Studios in Vineyard Town after a rehearsal session. When we arrived the majority of The Indiggnation, the seven-piece band he performs with, had already left and Protoje himself was getting ready to hit the road, but ever accommodating he stuck around to hangout and shoot some photos. In between conversation about hip-hop, basketball and flattops (I was wearing a Chris Mullin jersey) Alexander did his thing. Sevens Clash x Protoje. Continues Here
Zoom Info

sevensclash:

…the singles from his forthcoming sophomore effort, “The 8 Year Affair,” herald a turning point from the personal to the political, and a shift in the sonic landscape from dub to dancehall. The lead single, Who Dem a Program — with its nod to Papa San’s song of the same name and veiled references to the surreptitious deployment of U.S. reconnaissance drones during the 2010 police and military joint incursion into Tivoli Gardens to capture Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke that left over 70 residents dead — attempts to open a dialogue locally, and seems to be a conscious effort by Protoje to craft a new lane for himself in the dancehall. Kingston Be Wise, the latest single, and another dancehall banger, picks up the thematic thread as it artfully sidesteps discussion of the transgressions of Dudus, instead tackling the issue from the ground as a parable about the impact of government corruption and media distortion. In the video for the song aerial shots juxtaposing affluent with impoverished areas of the city drive the point home, with the perspective dovetailing nicely from the allusions to an all-seeing eye in the sky on Who Dem a Program. After he told us who he is with “Seven Year Itch,” Protoje appears to be showing us what he’s about on “The 8 Year Affair.”

We recently met up with the man outside the legendary Grafton Studios in Vineyard Town after a rehearsal session. When we arrived the majority of The Indiggnation, the seven-piece band he performs with, had already left and Protoje himself was getting ready to hit the road, but ever accommodating he stuck around to hangout and shoot some photos. In between conversation about hip-hop, basketball and flattops (I was wearing a Chris Mullin jersey) Alexander did his thing.

Sevens Clash x Protoje. Continues Here

sevensclash: Melinda Brown is the founder and creative director of Roktowa, a nonprofit gallery, café and community space in downtown Kingston, Jamaica. She is an Australian abstract sculptress who has been in Jamaica for the past eight years, and depending on the circles in which you roam she is either persona non grata or a celebrated crusader for the arts. Her very presence in the area inspires awe and admiration among the uptown art crowd, and her work on the ground developing the infrastructure necessary to cultivate the growth of a creative community makes her a beloved neighborhood resident. But Roktowa’s stated mission, “Plant artists to create growth,” flies in the face of the top-down approach favored by the business community tasked with revitalizing the area. Sevens Clash salutes the mission My latest piece for Sevens Clash. Click through for Mad Max 2, Australian psychedelia, iron lungs and white women in downtown Kingston.
Pop-upView Separately

sevensclash:

Melinda Brown is the founder and creative director of Roktowa, a nonprofit gallery, café and community space in downtown Kingston, Jamaica. She is an Australian abstract sculptress who has been in Jamaica for the past eight years, and depending on the circles in which you roam she is either persona non grata or a celebrated crusader for the arts. Her very presence in the area inspires awe and admiration among the uptown art crowd, and her work on the ground developing the infrastructure necessary to cultivate the growth of a creative community makes her a beloved neighborhood resident. But Roktowa’s stated mission, “Plant artists to create growth,” flies in the face of the top-down approach favored by the business community tasked with revitalizing the area. Sevens Clash salutes the mission

My latest piece for Sevens Clash. Click through for Mad Max 2, Australian psychedelia, iron lungs and white women in downtown Kingston.

© Alexander Richter | Sevens Clash Organize Dat! - Sevens Clash A prominent member of the community was killed nine nights ago. As the tenth morning approaches, we find ourselves with a group of local shooters inside a sweltering two-room concrete structure at the top of a small hill overlooking the funerary festivities. The air is thick with smoke from spliffs rolled with hot grabba; the only light creeps in from a single incandescent bulb burning outside the front door. While the spirit moves through the dead yard below, gun talk dominates up above. The big man in the room dispatches one of his henchmen to procure the pistol from the stash spot, saying grimly, “Organize dat!” One more ‘gain for the latest installment from Sevens Clash.
Pop-upView Separately

© Alexander Richter | Sevens Clash

Organize Dat! - Sevens Clash

A prominent member of the community was killed nine nights ago. As the tenth morning approaches, we find ourselves with a group of local shooters inside a sweltering two-room concrete structure at the top of a small hill overlooking the funerary festivities. The air is thick with smoke from spliffs rolled with hot grabba; the only light creeps in from a single incandescent bulb burning outside the front door. While the spirit moves through the dead yard below, gun talk dominates up above. The big man in the room dispatches one of his henchmen to procure the pistol from the stash spot, saying grimly, “Organize dat!”

One more ‘gain for the latest installment from Sevens Clash.

Source: sevensclash.com

sevensclash: A prominent member of the community was killed nine nights ago. As the tenth morning approaches, we find ourselves with a group of local shooters inside a sweltering two-room concrete structure at the top of a small hill overlooking the funerary festivities. The air is thick with smoke from spliffs rolled with hot grabba; the only light creeps in from a single incandescent bulb burning outside the front door. While the spirit moves through the dead yard below, gun talk dominates up above. The big man in the room dispatches one of his henchmen to procure the pistol from the stash spot, saying grimly, “Organize dat!”
Pop-upView Separately

sevensclash:

A prominent member of the community was killed nine nights ago. As the tenth morning approaches, we find ourselves with a group of local shooters inside a sweltering two-room concrete structure at the top of a small hill overlooking the funerary festivities. The air is thick with smoke from spliffs rolled with hot grabba; the only light creeps in from a single incandescent bulb burning outside the front door. While the spirit moves through the dead yard below, gun talk dominates up above. The big man in the room dispatches one of his henchmen to procure the pistol from the stash spot, saying grimly, “Organize dat!”

Kingston Jamaica FN Herstal Hi-Power Double Action 9mm Alexander Richter