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Showing posts from 2012

My 2012

This year has been a pretty cool year ya na. Very interesting stuff occurred. Plenty things I will never experience again in my whole entire lifetime. (This post is a thought train written for the older me to look back on. Hopefully it isn't too rambley.) My five fave moments in the order they happened: 1. Top of the year I had a debate on Jump Off's YouTube channel about the origins of grime. Basically saying our scenes are not an American imitation. Hip hop DJ Snips was my opposition. Judging by the comments I was right... We both knew we weren't really arguing on that big a difference, but ultimately, I was right. My maiden appearance on YouTube. 2. Funnily enough, not long after the above debate came out, I got the opportunity to interview Wiley who gave me my favourite interview of the year. The Godfather of grime and I spoke about how dancehall shaped both him as an artist, as well as grime's foundations. Wiley has never and probably will never do an inter

What I learned about X-Factor this year

Yeah, I'm blogging about X-Factor. Normal service will resume on Monday. Just had to get this out there. For previous series' I sat on Twitter during X-Factor copying and pasting tweets for a series of posts for TweeteReviews . However, this year I didn't. The tweets weren't as funny as previous years, mainly because the contestants weren't as interesting. No Misha B, Cher Lloyd, devil woman, big chin chick, JEdward etc. I've been able to actually take in opinions now. First off I think people take the show way too seriously. I stopped being outraged from the first week when judges kept joke act Rylan in. Louis chose to save the chick, before changing his mind to save Rylan, then when Dermot asked him to repeat his answer he said "I wanna take it to deadlock". The only reason I felt outraged is due to the flip-flop blatant fishy movements by Louis. That was the last time I felt any outrage. Think that was the first week of live shows. 1. I th

Sir David Rodigan leaves Kiss FM - BURN DEM OUT!

This is the type of post of been meaning to write for a while, so excuse me if it's a bit long. I'll try to keep it as short as possible even though the fire is burning. And this fire can't quench. Nor will my words be diluted. Today, acclaimed reggae DJ, radio broadcaster, sound clash winner and ambassador David Rodigan MBE announced he is to leave Kiss FM. Whilst admitting they've had a good relationship over the past 22 years, the relationship has terminated since the 12am-1am slot he previously resided was given to Craig David. Remember him? Exactly. "Due to their continued marginalisation of reggae music into the twilight zone of radio scheduling, it has left me no option but to make a stand for my passion and the music I love so dearly," stated Sir Rodigan [ Source ]. Words can't express how overjoyed I am that someone has finally taken the step to stand against a commercial radio stations. Not only for reggae in this case, but every single gen

Happy Diwali = Diwali riddim 10 year appreciation

Today is the Hindu celebration of light. Big up all my Hindu's inside the place. It's a national holiday in Myanmar, India, Mauritius, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Fiji, Singapore and to my surprise Trinidad & Tobago, Suriname and Guyana. But today we are gathered here - in the dancehall world where I reside - for a whole different meaning to the celebration. Disclaimer: not to take over like the Christians did with Pagan festivals. We believe in unity so it's a parallel thing. The Diwali riddim released ten years ago (yes, all the way back in 2002) by Stephen "Lenky" Marsden took the world by storm, becoming one of, if not the most successful composition in Jamaican music history in my opinion. (Yeah, I am about that mixing fact and opinion vida loca.) I think Diwali riddim earned its name from the Bhangra syncopation, plus I don't know the name of the instrument, but there's a sample in there. This came around the time Indian/Arabic samples were frequen

"Marvin. Y u burn Black History Month?"

"Until the philosophy which hold ones (hi)story superior and another inferior. Is finally. And permanently. Discredited. And abandoned. Marvin Sparks say 'BUN! (burn/blaze fire on it/get rid)'" (The above is a reworking of father Bob Marley's " War " - a Haile Selassie I speech) I'd guess many blacks are for Black History Month, but whenever mentioned it's mostly people screaming for abolishment. Most say it's a waste of time for reasons such as lack of events, knowledge and awareness, while many say "Why just a month? It should be all year round." A part of me agrees with the latter. It does kinda sideline black history like it doesn't contribute to the rest of history. I definitely agree with the former in that nothing really happens and what does happen is pretty pointless. We get a few black programs; usually controversial/degrading about skin bleaching or whether we're thicker than the rest of the world. Or why we

Starboy Nathan's X-Factor exit - TweeteReview

* plug read my two cents about Nathan's career right now and the possible future here * KEY: RT aka ReTweet  = Repeating someone else's tweet for everyone of your own followers to see @[insert name]  = Twitter username. www.twitter.com/[name after @ sign] For example: @MarvinSparks =  www.twitter.com/MarvinSparks Follow everyone who wrote tweets you like. If you'd like your tweet removed ask and I'll think about it. For previous TweeteReviews click here Last but not least Disclaimer: Tweets do not necessarily reflect the opinions of us (me) here at Marvin Sparks dot Blog Spot dot com. We (I) found them funny/relevant Nicolette  ‏ @ nic_knocks Nathan has to go through Sam GrapeJuice   ‏ @ thatgrapejuice !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  # nathan   # isthislife   # xfactor Beah Alessio  ‏ @ BeaW12 PAR. Xi'an Loves  ‏ @ XianLoves DAS A PARRRRRRR  # XFactor I & I ah conqueror  ‏ @ MarvinSparks AFhiousabhkaubhg