分类： entertainment

The Jamaican dancehall music scene is gearing up for a high-energy new release, as veteran industry insider turned hitmaker Ricco Diplomats, born Rick Foster, has joined forces with two rising independent production houses to drop an anticipated new banger titled *Redemption*. The track, fronted by fast-emerging dancehall talent Tielo Lanez, is a core offering from the collaborative Mercy Lap rhythm project, and is set to showcase the combined creative force of up-and-coming players in the Caribbean music space.

In a statement discussing the upcoming release, Diplomats expressed unwavering confidence in the track’s commercial and cultural potential, framing it as a potential career-defining breakthrough for the young collective of creators behind it. “This *Redemption* song has the potential to be a big hit. I believe this song will give us the big break as young producers. We all believe in Tielo Lanez so we’ve come together to bring different vibes and energy to make it happen,” he shared.

The new single will be released jointly under three independent imprints: Diplomats’ own Ricco Records, Moji Records, and Black Satin. For those unfamiliar with the collaborative context, Lanez is currently signed to prominent industry figure DJ Mac, who the production team has also partnered with on the project. Diplomats noted that the young dancehall star is widely tipped to become the next breakout face of the genre, a trajectory the team is fully backing.

The instrumental backbone of the entire Mercy Lap rhythm project was crafted by production collective Team Upgrade. *Redemption* is not the only track featured on the project, either: established fan-favorite dancehall stars Valiant and Skippa are also set to appear on the rhythm compilation, adding further star power to the collaborative release.

Diplomats, who currently serves as a core member of Valiant’s professional team, says this is far from the first time the collective has worked with Lanez. The artist has already cut multiple tracks for the team, including a song called *Fat Fat* featured on the Street Mongrel riddim, a reimagined version of the classic Throat riddim. *Redemption* marks the third full collaboration between Lanez and the Ricco Diplomats-led collective.

For Diplomats, the path to producing has been a gradual one built on years of experience in the music industry. Before stepping into production and artistry, he worked as a road manager and industry insider, cutting his teeth on the operational side of Caribbean music. He made his own debut as a dancehall recording artist in October 2021 with his first solo single, *Tek Go Off*. After cutting his teeth in promotions work, he made the shift to full-time recording and production, operating out of Core Upgrade studio located in Stony Hill, Jamaica.

A native of the Duppy Gully/Rocky Valley area of St. Andrew, Jamaica, Diplomats is an alumnus of St. Andrew Technical High School. His first formal industry partnership came back in 2017, when he joined forces with Ricardo ‘Shrimpy’ Meikle to launch Gold Plaque Entertainment, laying the groundwork for the independent production work he is leading today.

Kingston’s AC Hotel Kingston ballroom transformed into a celebration of motherhood and iconic Jamaican music this past Sunday, as the ‘To Mom With Love’ tribute event rolled out the red carpet for mothers across the region. Curated as a two-part Mother’s Day concert series, the event delivered an unforgettable evening of reggae and soul, headlined by legendary performers Third World and Marcia Griffiths, whose dynamic sets had the packed venue singing and dancing from start to finish.

While the afternoon opening show failed to draw the crowd organizers had projected, the evening performance turned out to be a sold-out success. The stacked lineup featured rising and established acts including Robert Minott, Nestor, Glenn Jones, Kumar Bent (who shared the stage with Third World), and The Super Band under the direction of Grub Cooper, each bringing their own unique energy to the tribute.

Marcia Griffiths, the undisputed queen of reggae, delivered a career-spanning set that left the audience cheering. Over 45 minutes, she ran through her decades of chart-topping hits, from early fan favorites like *Feel Like Jumping* to timeless originals including *Dreamland*, *I Shall Sing*, *Fire Burning*, and *Land of Love*. She also paid homage to other iconic artists with soulful covers of Cilla Black’s *Conversation*, Dionne Warwick’s *Don’t Make Me Over*, and Nina Simone’s *Young, Gifted And Black* — the 1970 classic she first recorded alongside Bob Andy. The performance built to a rousing climax with her signature hit *Electric Boogie*, which had the whole venue on their feet; multiple audience members were even invited on stage to join the iconic dance alongside Griffiths. At the conclusion of her set, event organizers presented Griffiths with a special lifetime achievement award, honoring her extraordinary 60-plus-year career that began in the early 1960s.

Following a solid, crowd-pleasing set from R&B singer Glenn Jones, who performed his best-known tracks including *We’ve Only Just Begun* and *Show Me*, reggae pioneers Third World took the stage to close out the night. Their hour-long set drew from the band’s extensive catalog of classic hits, including *Now That We Found Love*, *Reggae Ambassador*, *Sense of Purpose*, and *96 Degrees in The Shade*. For the track *Always Around*, lead singer AJ Brown welcomed his wife Tamara on stage for a heartfelt duet, before wowing the crowd with a solo rendition of the Andrea Bocelli and Sarah Brightman opera standard *Time to Say Goodbye*. His powerful, soaring vocals earned a spontaneous standing ovation from the audience, and smoothly transitioned into the final numbers: *Try Jah Love* and a cover of Jimmy Cliff’s *We All Are One*, wrapping up a warm, joyful celebration of mothers and Jamaican music.

One of dancehall music’s most formidable forces, Aidonia, headlined a spectacular sold-out opening night of the Appleton Estate Live Wire event on April 30, leaving thousands of attendees breathless at Usain Bolt’s famous Tracks & Records venue in St Andrew’s Marketplace. The iconic entertainment hub was filled to capacity long before the headliner took the stage, with a crackling energy that rippled through every corner of the space as fans gathered for a night of authentic Jamaican music, cultural celebration, and world-class live performance.

Kicking off the evening’s lineup was emerging reggae-dancehall star Amanyea, who set an impossibly high bar with a dynamic opening set that won over the early crowd. The rising talent blended her own original viral tracks, including *Friends + Tax*, *Still Go Dance*, *La La*, and *Bad Gyal Szn*, with inventive covers of global and local hits from legends ranging from Beyoncé and Michael Jackson to Jamaican greats Tanya Stephens and Dexta Daps, keeping the audience engaged and singing along from her first note to her last.

Just moments before midnight, Aidonia stepped onto the stage to a roar of applause, bringing with him the razor-sharp lyrical skill and magnetic stage presence that have made him a mainstay of the global dancehall scene. Backed by the high-energy Ruff Kutt Krew, the dancehall icon launched into an explosive, hit-packed set that pulled from his decades-long catalog of fan favorites and chart-topping releases. Tracks including *Bad People*, *Empty*, *Trigger Work It*, *Run Road*, *Anyweh at All*, and *Fi Di Jockey* kept the crowd moving nonstop, with every lyric screamed back by the adoring audience.

Midway through his set, Aidonia upped the ante by stripping off his bright lemon-colored stage jacket to welcome his protégé, popular dancehall artist Govana, for a surprise joint performance of their collaborative hit single *Breeze*. After the duo wrapped up their collaboration, Govana kept the momentum going with a high-octane solo performance of his own track *Mawning Sir* before exiting the stage to thunderous applause.

Industry leaders have hailed the opening night of the series as a runaway success. “Tracks & Records was absolutely on fire — Aidonia and Amanyea delivered beyond every expectation,” shared Mark Telfer, customer and channel marketing manager for the event. “The combination of world-class entertainment, our premium brand partnership, and the unmatched energy of the Jamaican audience made this first instalment of Appleton Estate Live Wire truly one for the books.”

Building on the overwhelming success of the St Andrew opening, the Appleton Estate Live Wire series is now set to expand across the island, with its next stop scheduled for August 5 at the popular Plantation Smokehouse venue in St Ann. Event organizers say they plan to bring the same immersive, high-energy cultural experience to music fans across Jamaica in the coming months.

“We are incredibly pleased with the turnout and the electric energy we saw at Tracks & Records,” said Carlton Davy, lead promoter of Live Wire Events. “We want to thank Aidonia for such an outstanding performance, and every single patron who turned out to support live music. This is exactly the kind of vibrant, authentic experience we set out to create, and we could not be more excited to bring Live Wire to new audiences across the island moving forward.”

After 10 years of delivering high-end lifestyle experiences along Jamaica’s iconic north coast, one of the island’s most beloved event brands is stepping into an exciting new chapter. Originally launched as Cabana Beach Daze, the beloved entertainment staple has rebranded into the reimagined Cabana Day Club, with its milestone 10th anniversary celebration scheduled for Jamaica’s Labour Day, Monday May 25, 2026. The landmark event will be hosted at the breathtakingly scenic Gardens at Dunn’s River Falls in Ocho Rios, St Ann, offering guests a lush, immersive backdrop unlike the brand’s traditional beach settings.

The official preview launch for the anniversary event was held on Friday, May 8 at Ocho Rios’ Plantation Smokehouse, where key stakeholders got an exclusive first look at the brand’s evolution. Attendees included Tova Hamilton, State Minister for Jamaica’s Ministry of Tourism, Michael Belnavis, Mayor of St Ann Bay and local councillor, representatives from the Jamaica Constabulary Force, as well as long-time brand partners, loyal supporters and industry stakeholders. The launch event featured brunch bites curated by the Plantation Smokehouse team, with emcee duties handled by Thais-Alexis Morrison, junior publicist at Broad Axe Communications.

For a decade, Cabana has built a fiercely loyal community of guests across Jamaica and the global tourism market, earning a reputation for its infectious vibrant energy, world-class premium cuisine, and stylish, inclusive crowd that draws both local patrons and international visitors. The decision to rebrand and shift away from its core beach-focused format comes as a natural response to shifting audience expectations, according to Warren Clarke, founder and CEO of Ascend Innovations, the event production company behind Cabana.

Clarke explained that while the brand’s original beach settings offered natural beauty, they created unforeseen limitations on the types of elevated experiences the team wanted to deliver. “Our audience has grown and evolved alongside us over the last 10 years,” Clarke noted. “What they want now is more intentionally curated brunch-style experiences, deeper luxury, more immersive atmosphere, and greater opportunities to connect with the brand while enjoying their day out. Rebranding to Cabana Day Club gives us the flexibility to deliver exactly that, without being confined to the constraints of a fixed beach environment.”

The 10th anniversary staging at Dunn’s River Tranquility Gardens is built around six core pillars that define the new Cabana experience: unbeatable location, expertly crafted cuisine, premium beverage selections, world-class entertainment, photo-ready aesthetic design, and unforgettable, high-energy party atmosphere. Guests can look forward to an expanded food court featuring 10 individual stations serving a diverse range of global and local cuisines, top-shelf liquor and craft beverage offerings, cutting-edge immersive decor installations, and premium lounge spaces designed for comfort and connection.

One of the most anticipated new additions for the anniversary event is the exclusive luxury cabana lounge experience. Each private cabana will come with its own dedicated in-cabana chef and personal host, who will attend to guests’ needs throughout the entire event. Clarke emphasized that the 2026 staging will elevate every single guest touchpoint, noting that early arrival is encouraged to fully enjoy the curated brunch service that kicks off the day’s celebrations before the full party gets underway.

Beyond the event itself, the anniversary celebration also marks a major milestone for Ascend Innovations, the production company behind Cabana Day Club. Clarke shared that the company was actually born out of the Cabana brand’s own operational journey. When he first launched Cabana Beach Daze a decade ago, there were no local production companies equipped to deliver the premium, high-quality services the event required. To fill that gap, Clarke invested in building his own production firm, which now services Cabana and a wide range of other premium events across Jamaica.

As Jamaica’s tourism sector continues to rebound and expand following global disruptions, the launch of the reimagined Cabana Day Club signals growing demand for high-end, experiential entertainment offerings that attract both local guests and international tourists, solidifying Jamaica’s reputation as a top global destination for luxury leisure experiences.

For emerging Jamaican singjay Denam, songwriting has long served as a raw, cathartic outlet for processing life’s hardest moments. His latest January 2025 release, *Depression*, dropped via his independent label 1Denam Music, and bears a title that directly reflects the dark emotional headspace he occupied when crafting and recording the track. Unlike many polished pop releases that distance artists from their personal truth, this single draws directly from deeply personal, intimate experiences that have shaped Denam’s life and career.

In discussing the track’s origins, Denam opened up about the profound betrayal that sparked the song’s creation: trauma inflicted by close friends and family members he had welcomed into his inner circle, a betrayal that pushed him to the brink of death. Far from keeping his pain private, Denam crafted *Depression* as a beacon of connection for others who have navigated similar dark periods of betrayal and mental struggle, aiming to let listeners know they are not alone in their suffering.

Denam’s drive to build a career in music is rooted in the challenging conditions of his upbringing in one of Jamaica’s most violence-plagued communities. Hailing from Raymonds in Hayes, a neighborhood in Clarendon widely known for persistent violent crime, Denam has carried a lifelong goal to escape cycles of hardship and build a meaningful legacy through his craft. Even now, years into his artistic journey, he describes that work as ongoing—and *Depression* marks a key milestone along that path.

The artist’s passion for music was first ignited by iconic Jamaican artist Bounty Killer, the self-styled “Poor People Governor,” whose gritty, authentic tracks documenting urban life in Jamaica left an indelible impact on a young Denam. Now a decade into his professional recording career, Denam has built a discography that includes earlier well-received tracks such as *Blessing*, with *Depression* representing his most vulnerable and personal work to date.