Omar's Blog – February 2020 Archive (7)

Chris Brown sees incarcerated dancehall icon Vybz Kartel as the ultimate force in music, “Immortal.”

Illustration by Robin Clare

The 2010s will be remembered as the decade when pop went dancehall. Whether it was Rihanna scoring the biggest hit of her career with her most undiluted homage to date, Drake’s mainstreaming of patois, or the dancehall-lite rhythms on massive pop hits by Ed Sheeran, Justin Bieber and others, Jamaica’s influence on mainstream music and popular culture has perhaps never been as widespread as in these last few…

Jermaine Rhooms the Jamaican who pleaded guilty in July 2019 to sending 19 guns and over 3000 rounds of ammunition, was sentenced to 57 months in a US federal prison. 

Tessanne Chin and her husband welcomed their daughter Zaia Christine Crooks into the world on Saturday.

Dancer Dies After Her Neck was Broken During Dance Routine

Jamaica’s Minister of Entertainment, Olivia ‘Babsy” Grange, is not happy that the Best Reggae Album Grammy award presentation continues to not be a feature of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences’ main awards show, and is vowing to lobby to put the category at the forefront.