Words by Eddie STATS Houghton
It seems these days that collabos between white american hipsters and Jamaican dancehall artists can no longer really be labeled ‘leftfield.’ They are quickly becoming a genre unto themselves and we may reach a point in the near future when they don’t even fit into into any particular niche, besides ‘sound of our generation.’
Case in point: the recent excursions of Williamsburg, Brooklyn-based electronica (is that still a thing?) producer Dre Skull into soundclash country. First there was the excellent Skull riddim, which lead off with a Sizzla version and featured Natalie Storm and Vybz Kartel tailoring well-known lyrics to the beat in a dub-plate style. The Kartel connection seems to have lead to a more lasting collaboration and not long afterward, an official video (watch below) for the haunting Skull-produced track “Yuh Love” appeared. That does not appear to be the end of the road, however, as DS just posted some pics and studio war stories from a real-life Wah Do Dem trip he took to JA last month to get back in the studio with Kartel, Storm and Konshens on his blog. Included is a videophone snippet of some the works in progress, one of which apparently is the sequal to “Yuh Love.” Hipsters get ready!