It's hard to understand why Jah Cure's trajectory hasn't been as strong as many people thought it would be in 2008. He was the hottest name in reggae in 2007 but this year has been sort of a cool-down. In a sense, that's just setting him up for an even stronger 2009.

Here's the video for the song "Hot Long Time" off of Jah Cure's upcoming album, "The Universal Cure." It's unclear when the album is coming out, but if his record label (SoBe Entertainment) want to recoup some money for shooting videos like this, they're going to have to drop it soon.

--Jonathan Cunningham

About a year ago, local DJ Induce and his West Coast buddy Sven Barth, under the name Casual Sax, made a funny little song called "Baby, I'm Black," which was an ode to being blessed in the genital region. Well after Perez Hilton posted it up on his site it became part of viral video history thanks to its disgusting sexual references and juvenile humor.

But if you've been waiting for a follow-up, you'll be please to know that Casual Sax has returned with "Whorer Core," which is sort of their humorous take on early '90s West Coast gangsta rap. Is it as catchy as their first effort? No, but it's easily everyone's next guilty pleasure.

-- Jose D. Duran

A few weeks ago, when Mr. Vegas was in town for the International Caribbean Music Fest debacle -- a show where most of the headliners didn't perform because they never got paid -- Vegas was one of the few bright spots of the night. Anyone who was there remembers the horrid details: It was freezing cold, (a rarity for Miami) and poorly planned from start to finish.

But when Vegas took the stage, everybody forgot about all of the fuckery going on and just danced it off instead. Airhorns were blaring, the band was into it, and he arguably brought  the best energy to the concert out of any other performer on the bill. He ran through a long list of hits during his set, but "Mus Come a Road" was my favorite. Not surprisingly, the folks at VP Records included the song in their Strictly the Best 39 series which dropped last month. Enjoy.

--Jonathan Cunningham

This is it. Seven bands in about a minute. Two of them I didn't get the names of, so I just made something up. If you know who they are, tell us so we can tell the world. Tell your friends. Support the movement. Give the people with the money a reason to put me on the streets capturing all the awesome fucking moments this city is full of. Shit like that, that kind of shit, shit of that nature. Ride 'til I die. Make videos. Anybody can do it.

-- Jacob Katel

Yesterday, we told you that Otto Von Schirach, Jose El Rey and El Tigre, who together form Miami Bass Warriors, would make their small-screen debut on Pitbull's La Esquina on mun2. Their video for (their only song?) "Going Back to Calle Ocho" -- which we're pretty sure is play on Notorious B.I.G.'s "Going Back to Cali" but we haven't really asked actually, it's a play on LL Cool J's "Going Back to Cali" -- debuted at the start of the episode. What a relief too, because it meant we didn't have to sit through Pitbull's insipid search for Miss 305 -- so much silicone!

But back to the Warriors. Their video, which surprisingly had high production values (for them anyway), complimented well the tongue-in-cheek tone of the song, even if they never get the video vixens to "shake, shake, shake."

Check out the video above to see the guys in action; it should be the first thing you see when you hit play.

-- Jose D. Duran

Yesterday I was hanging in the studio with Jim Jonsin, the local producer extraordinaire who produced two of the biggest hip-hop tracks of the year, Lil Wayne's "Lollipop" and T.I.'s "Whatever You Like." We were basically chopping it up about music, the industry, his upcoming five Grammy nominations, his production methods, and all sorts of stuff. He's definitely a cool guy.
 
So I asked him what beat he thought really propelled his career in the right direction and he mentioned "Let's Go," the guitar heavy track off of Trick Daddy's 2004 album, Thug Motivation. To me, that beat has always been one of the riskiest of Trick's career because he's such a hardcore Dade County goon, that jumping on a rock beat is sort of hit or miss for him.

And I love Trick for doing that song, but I always thought Lil Jon produced that track. Turns out, it was Jim Jonsin the whole time. Jonsin mentioned that even Twista thought it was Lil Jon's beat up until recently and he was on the song. Anyway, here's the video for "Let's Go" which is crunk enough to wake anybody up on a slow Wednesday morning.

--Jonathan Cunningham

I've got a certain amount of love for Ace Hood. For starters, he's the first rapper to go major out of Broward County in a long time, possibly ever. There's been a few "could have been/should have been's" out there, but nobody has made it stick to the degree that Ace has as a rapper. He rose to the level that he's at now because of hard work, not just because DJ Khaled cosigns for him.

He's also not shy about representing Broward instead of just claiming Miami on his MySpace page like other local bands. (Don't worry Postmarks, I'm not looking at you.) So I give him props for that as well.
But with that said, damn man, how many celebrity cameos do you need in one video?
I'm wondering if anyone can count all of the rap celebs that pop up in his new video for the remix of his popular song, "Ride." If anything, at least we know Def Jam isn't afraid to spend money on the guy, which is a good sign.

--Jonathan Cunningham

Coral Springs-based hip-hop artist, Butta Verses, is still riding the buzz of his critically acclaimed new disc, Reality BV. National hip-hop blogs have been giving the record overwhelmingly positive reviews and it's all deserving since Butta definitely brought his A-game lyrically on the album.

Here's a new video for the song, "If I Die" that's well shot--in a graveyard mind you--and features the buttery flow of Butta V and the smooth vocals of local singer Lucian on the track. If anyone knows exactly where this video was shot, I'd love to find out.

--Jonathan Cunningham

So rapper Kanye West has teamed up with the once celebrated Hype Williams to create an animated video for his upcoming single, "Heartless." What they put together isn't bad (it's sort of got that Waking Life feel to it) and I can't complain about their choice to go with an animated look rather than the standard video route.

West claims that he's dropping his new studio album next month called, 808's and Heartbreak and apparently, love lost really is the theme. The song itself could use less vocoder effects in my opinion--but that sound is winning right now in the sales department so I guess we're stuck with it. Anyway, check out the video. Consider it mind-numbing entertainment to get you through the last day of the week.

--Jonathan Cunningham

So I just watched this new six minute video from T-Pain for his song, "Karaoke" and it's both weird and hilarious. I can't seem to find much info on who directed it though which is unfortunate. My guess is Gil Green, but it doesn't totally fit his style. This video is definitely going to capture people's attention when it goes national after T-Pain's album drops two weeks from now.

Anyway, watch the video and prepare to laugh. It's good to see T-Pain has a sense of humor about his current situation within the music industry. A big high five goes out to anyone who can give us an accurate location on where this video was shot.

--Jonathan Cunningham

New York-based singer Manze Dayila is no stranger to overcoming the odds. She arrived in Miami from Haiti at the age of 19 in a rickety boat while 8 months pregnant. Here in Miami, she faced all type of obstacles, (many of which are worth reading about) but trying to escape an abusive relationship grew to be the worst.

She eventually gave up on Miami, headed to New York and started a singing career although she didn't even know she had the gift of song inside of her. And as of last month, Dayila released her incredible debut album, Solé, and is gaining international acclaim because of it.

She recently shot the video that's posted above, for a song called, "Change." It's all about "her president" Barack Obama and is definitely something to enjoy, especially if you're going to check out the Senator today at the BankAtlantic Center in Sunrise at 5 p.m. Dayila has overcome a lot, and she thinks Obama can too as you'll see in the video.

--Jonathan Cunningham

Yes, the gloved one really is turning 50 years old today. It's hard to think of the one-time king of pop at 50. That's partly because he's had so much work done, that it's difficult to image what he'd actually look like as a normal, aging person.

To me, I'll always remember Michael from these glory days of the '80s. Jheri curls, dark skin, moonwalks, and leather jackets. Here's his infamous Pepsi commercial--the one where he burned himself during the taping of it and allegedly developed an addiction to pain killers. None of that is shown in this clip (thank God) and instead, we get Michael while he still had plenty of melanin and moves left in his system.

--Jonathan Cunningham

Since it's Throwback Tuesdays and the post below this one mentions local guitarist, Daisy Berkowitz, who used to play in Marilyn Manson and the Spooky Kids, I figured I'd scour the Web for old Spooky Kids footage.

The band was a staple in Fort Lauderdale's metal scene long before they became famous, and shortened their band name to just Marilyn Manson and were known for putting on some rather crazy shows. I came across this jewel of a video from August 1, 1992, featuring the eccentric rockers playing a show at the old Plus 5 Lounge. At the time, the line up for the band was as follows:
Marilyn Manson - Vocals
Daisy Berkowitz - Guitar
Gidget Gein - Bass
Sara Lee Lucas - Drums
Madonna Wayne Gacy - Keyboard

So Boynton Beach electro-rockers, Kill Miss Pretty, recently shot a new video for their song, "Drawing Pictures of Haunted Houses With You." It's the first single off of their new album, Permission for Strange, which the band is having a CD release party for this Saturday at Respectable Street in West Palm. The tune is definitely well-written, and there's even a short cameo in the beginning of the video from Scott Putesky (formerly known as) Daisy Berkowitz from Marilyn Manson and the Spooky Kids.

Putesky and Kill Miss Pretty's bassist, Martin Davis, have matching Ouija board guitars and both are featured in this video. Be sure to check my column, Dred Scott!, this week for a longer story on Kill Miss Pretty's new album and their return to the stage. And if you're going to be in West Palm on Saturday, be sure to come out and support this show, which is also featuring Captain Dan and the Scurvy Crew and the Holy Terrors, who rarely play out these days.

--Jonathan Cunningham

Crack dealers and suburban gangsters all over America are waiting to buy, download and ringtone Young Jeezy’s third studio album The Recession as soon as it drops. Last week he was on South Beach filming the video for one of the singles, “Vacation,” featuring Trey Songz. My homie Fresh Da Barber got hired to cut Jeezy up so he let me know where the shoot was and I slid over and met him on the sand where they were filming.

An afternoon thunderstorm hit, the crew got a break, and I got a hot plate from the catering van. The shoot picked back up at 15th and Ocean Drive for a club scene. I didn’t write down the name of the venue, and now I can’t find it on the internet. Hey, giant, multi-million dollar club where Ocean Drive dead ends on South Beach, step up your damn web presence, you can afford it.

Back to the video: it was directed by Gil Green for 305 Films, was well lit, full of beautiful models, and shot efficiently by a professional crew (one time for Unique Lighting and Grip). Check out this sneak preview. See the rest of them at youtube.com/miaminewtimes and subscribe to our channel, we update all the time. Enjoy!

-- Jacob Katel

"You may be T-Pain and you got the mothafuckin' hits, but I'm DJ Irie and I'm the shit," boasted our hometown spindoctor at the DJ Battle that the Headliner Market Group had engineered to rock their "It's Actually Fly." party last Saturday night. But the Pain didn't let Irie get away with that. He calls himself the ringmaster, but I say he's the wizard - the force behind the curtain on many many many hip-hop and hip-pop hits.

Whatever you call him, right now he has a certain corner of the music industry on lock. Don't believe it? As he reminded Irie, he pulled up to the club on a tour bus while Irie arrived in a "regular car," and that our Heat's DJ came with some regular dudes and Pain brought along Bow Wow. It was combat for respect on the 1's and 2's and the two went head to head for over 2 hours. It was definitely all in fun for the duo and the crow because T-Pain ran through gaggles and gaggles of his club hits, stopping the track to add live vocals, and even gave us a taste of his newest banger, "Superman." Yes, it was actually fly.

Check out more videos of the battle at youtube.com/miaminewtimes.

-- Raina McLeod

In tomorrow's issue of the Miami New Times, music editor Arielle Castillo stumbles upon Vice Books' True Norwegian Black Metal, a collection of photos by Peter Beste. The book chronicles Norway's black metal scene which is marred by violence and arson. They say the cold weather makes you crazy -- what's Miami's excuse?

Well, Vice's online channel VBS.tv also has a 5-part documentary on the country's black metal scene. So enjoy the video goodness after the jump. Also, click here to view photo excerpts from the book.

In our final Rock the Bells video, videographer Jacob Katel sits down with Peruvian by the way of New York MC Immortal Technique to set the record straight on women, socialism and respect.

- Jose D. Duran

So in continuation with yesterday's post, today we bring you our sit down with Tallahassee duo Dead Prez. They chat to videographer Jacob Katel about "the white man," Al Sharpton and throw a rhyme or two our way. Check it out!

- Jose D. Duran

Rock the Bells came and went, but we still have plenty of extra goodies to share with you, including some sit-down discussions with some of the performers that videographer Jacob Katel was able to document.

In the first video, New Times catches up with Georgia MCs B.o.B. and Playboy Tre' right after rocking the Rock the Bells stage at Bayfront Park. Enjoy!

- Jose D. Duran