Nicki Minaj's Right Thru Me Video

As excitement builds for islandista Nicki Minaj's debut album Pink Friday, she's dropped a video for one of the tracks off the album - another relationship number that is almost the flipside to the 'so in love' vibe of Your Love Right Thru Me.

Check it.

Rihanna 'Only Girl in the World' video

So Rihanna's hotly-anticipated 'Only Girl in the World' video came out this week and can we say welcome back to happy Rihanna?

After the dark and depressing nature of many of the videos from the Rated R album, the rose-tinted Only Girl is a complete turnaround - it's a girly, euphoric fantasy, complete with balloons, flowers, fireworks, twinkly lights in trees, tutus and lots of spinning in said tutu and other frothy, girly outfits.

Check the vid below and tell us your thoughts.

Islandistas Rihanna and Nicki Minaj making history!

Chart toppers!

Big t'ings a gwan for our islandistas!
Barbados stand up!
Trinidad, stand up!

bupbupbupbup! raaaeeeeee!

... And all that ... because we are all kinds of proud of our islandistas Rihanna and Nicki Minaj these days who have been scaling the Billboard charts and making history in their own ways.


Rihanna's collaboration with Eminem - the gritty and painfully close-to-home Love The Way You Lie hit number one on the Billboard pop chart (i.e. the big one this week). While that is great, the real accomplishment is that this is her sixth number one - meaning that she is tied with Mariah Carey, Beyonce and Lady Gaga for most number ones in the Soundscan era.

Now just to explain that since by now you might be saying "but wait, isn't it the Beatles that have the most number ones ever?" - music chart ranking is basically divided into the pre and post-Soundscan era.

New music videos - Rihanna & Vita Chambers

Ok, islandistas, we are giving you three for the price of one here - just for the sake of contrasting Rihanna and Vita Chambers' new and very, very different videos. 

 

Rihanna put out two vids in the last two weeks - one in Europe for her love song Te Amo and one in the US for her song Rock Star 101. 

 

Fellow Bajan songbird Vita Chambers also put out a new vid for her song Like Boom. 

[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=o4gYQkUDG6g] 

And ... well. Did I mention they are different? Ri-ri's vids, especially Rock Star 101 are back to being very, very dark after the welcomed peppiness of Rude Boy - the shots with her in the horned headpiece in the middle of the circle certainly won't do anything to help those 'Rihanna is a devil worshipper' rumours. Clearly the intention was to feed that loose talk - even though clever folk will argue it's just the jagged R that has been the symbol of her Rated R album - but the inference is clear. 

 

  

[caption id="attachment_2385" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Screen grab from Rock Star 1010 music video."][/caption]

Vita's video on the other hand, is fun, upbeat and full of sweetness and light - in aura, if not in musical style, much like Rihanna in 2005.  

See for yourself. 

New vid: Alexandra Burke's 'All Night Long'

Islandista and X-Factor winner Alexandra Burke unveiled her latest music video this week -  for her dance tune All Night Long.

While the song itself is pretty generic dance pop, the video is something else - a raucous, raunchy house-party with girls kissing girls, club kids in Crayola shades and Alex herself in a dramatic look - a black leather leotard with one puff-ball shoulder and glittery eyeshadow.

Check out the vid and a closer shot of her look below and tell us what you think

Nicki Minaj dishes to Details

[caption id="attachment_2256" align="alignleft" width="180" caption="Photo credit: Cameron Krone/Details.com"][/caption]

Trini-American raptress Nicki Minaj is featured in the May edition of Details magazine.

Along with the light-hearted stuff (signing female fans' boobs and her variety of performing personas), she's talking about some  heavy stuff - hip-hop's homophobia and how her father tried to burn their house down.

Nicki's sexuality has been a subject of some fascination in and out of the hip-hop community (is she gay or bi? does she really like girls or is she putting it on for the boys? etc.).

She talks about it to some extent in this interview - or at least, does not challenge the interviewer's statement that she is "openly bisexual".  Check out the quotes under the cut.

Island combination - Gyptian feat. Nicki Minaj on 'Hold Yuh' remix

Seems like islandista Nicki Minaj is all over the place these days (except on tour with fellow islandista Rihanna on the Last Girl tour).

The latest track that she's on is a remix to Gyptian's stripped-down hit Hold Yuh where Nicki spits a little patwa in her verse which opens the track.

People either seem to love or loathe her contribution to the track so take a listen and let us know what you think, islandistas!



... I do wonder though how the more hard-core yardies will take her last line about her having 'nuff gal inna bungle'. Hmmm... alright Nicki!

New Melanie Fiona video - Ay Yo

One of our favourite islandistas on the musical scene, the talented Melanie Fiona, has a new video out for her single Ay Yo - and we are loving it.

It's an inspirational, get up and do what you have to do kind of track and the video has a cool concept and an actual storyline. And they threw in a lil sassy West Indian flavour in the scene right at the beginning too ... lol!

Check it.

Islandista on the rise: Natalie Storm hits MTV UK

Jamaican dancehall/R&B artist Natalie Storm is moving up inna life.

Her video for the single 'Look Pon Me' has made it into the rotation of both MTV UK and MTV Base.

Check it out below.



The video was already making moves regionally, airing on Jamaican music channels Hype and ReTV and on regional music network Tempo.

But it's  her British inroads that has Natalie excited:

"People been linking me from all over the UK via Facebook and Twitter saying that they've seen the video and how much they love it. I am very excited cause this is big for me, for dancehall music and a good look for Jamaica as well."

Palancing in Kingston!

[caption id="attachment_2237" align="aligncenter" width="360" caption="Photo credit: SociaLingua"][/caption]

 

 The 'little carnival that could' - Jamaica Carnival, would have wrapped up today in Kingston. 

In the face of all resistance from many in JA society who decry Carnival as slackness (including, ironically, many supporters of the dancehall community) and lick out against it, Ja carnival keeps pressing on and growing. 

One of the best nights of JA Carnival is Jouvert - and even though Islandista is more partial to Joker's Wild Jouvert than Bacchanal Jamaica, these pics from Socia Lingua of Bacchanal's Jouvert on Friday night, kinda make us wish we were there!  

[caption id="attachment_2238" align="aligncenter" width="360" caption="Photo credit: Socia Lingua"][/caption]

 

 

Check out even more photos under the cut!

New vid: Nicki Minaj ft Sean Garrett 'Massive Attack'

Islandista Nicki Minaj debuted her new video for her single Massive Attack this week.

And it's ... odd. Not just the video with its double-jointed army men wukking up but the song itself just sounds disjointed and you can't really hear Nicki's flow as well as you can hear Sean Garrett on the chorus. Dunno... but check it out below and tell us your thoughts.

New vid - Shontelle's 'Impossible'

To paraphrase Timbaland...

It's been a long time... we shouldn'ta left you...

But now we're back islandistas! And with something new - Shontelle's video for her single Impossible. Check it below and then our take on it after the cut.

UPDATED:Islandista on the rise: Nicki Minaj

Guess who's an islandista?

That's right, Young Money's sole femcee, the Barbie-fied Nicki Minaj - known in her former life as Onika Maraj, a dougla and the daughter of two Trinis from Queens. Onika Maraj... it sound like a Trini gyul yuh know ent? Something very familiar and Trini-ish about the name.

Check the vid with her repping T&T below. (NSFW)



Following in the footsteps (well, hopefully aside from the beating Korean nail technicians t'ing) of fellow Trini-descended NY femcee Foxy Brown, Nicki is very serious about bringing the glory days of femcees back, telling MTV:

"With the album, I think it's more important that people get accustomed to seeing a female rapper again. Before I drop an album, people need to come out and see. People don't even know what a female rapper does. We're so not used to seeing it. It's nonexistent in categories. We don't get nominated. I need to work [the people] up to accepting a female rapper again and accepting my style and all of that — then the album will come."

While speaking about her song 'Envy' to MTV's Mixtape Daily, Nicki also declared:

Islandista anthem! Shema McGregor's 'Independent (Ladies Anthem)'

This song has been on REPEAT - on our computer, our iPods and in our heads, from the first time we heard it.

We don't do much in the way of endorsing around here but we haffi endorse Shema McGregor's hot new tune Independent (Ladies Anthem), featuring the one and only 'fluffy diva' Miss Kitty.

It is like Shema sit down and decide to make a song just for islandistas - a education, independence and classiness she a defend in the song and we are feeling it, particularly the lines in the chorus which go:

I will never pose like some gal weh a depend pon man no

A no mi dat

Couldn't mi dat

Dem a eediat

I'm an independent first lady,

That's how my momma raised me

Yes a mi dat

Yu fi pree dat

Cas a mi dat...

Dat we seh! Love. it.

It of course helps that it is produced by her super-producer brother, Stephen 'Di Genius' McGregor so the beat is as tight as the lyrics and vocals.

Big Ship a go hard... they need to move like the Marleys and put out an album of just them. They have the talent to do it.

Islandista music notes - new Livvi Franc vid & Shontelle's princely pay-day

We've got news for you on two of the Barbadian islandista singers who have followed in Rihanna's wake over the last two years - Livvi Franc and Shontelle.

First let's start with Livvi Franc who brought out the video for her new single Automatik, just last week. Check it out below and then our take on it...



For some reason, we were shocked to realise that this is just Livvi's second single of her still upcoming debut album. It just feels like she has been around for a while - she was signed to Jive Records as far back as October 2007, after all.

But it may well be a good thing that Jive is taking their time to cultivate her sound and it shows in the song which is really nice and catchy. The chorus in particular is sticking in our heads and it has a dance-pop beat to it that should do especially well in Europe and maybe even farther afield. The video is nothing to shout about conceptually - it's clubbish - beautiful people dancing in a club. More could probably have been done with it especially since the theme Automatik allows one to play around with all kinds of fun and futuristic concepts like machines and robots. Oh well ...

Now in some serious money-making news, Shontelle is in for a very big pay day as young Prince Azim of Brunei is flying her in to perform at a private party for him this weekend self for US$ 200, 000!

Get. In. DEY Shon! Get yuh money girl!

Even Shontelle herself seemed a little bit bemused by it all, telling Women's Wear Daily at a NYFW show on Monday:

"They’re paying us $200,000 just to be there. It’s a pretty major situation. I think it’s all oil money."

Palancing to de crown!

Well that was easy to predict - JW and Blaze's huuugely popular Palance secured the Power Soca Monarch title last night in Trinidad. Click here for the video of the winning performance.

The smart money is on them to take Road March as well since they not only won, but won convincingly - by a full 17 points over defending monarch Fay-Ann Lyons'  True Lies - 81 to her 64.

It was much, much tighter in the Groovy Soca Monarch contest, with Shurwayne Winchester's Murdah prevailing over defending monarch Fay-Ann's Start Wining by just one point - 58 to 57. In fact, the whole top four was tight as Rikki Jai's Barman placed third with 56 points and Patrice Roberts Wuk It (she like de wukking ting yes?)  placed fourth with 55 points.

Rihanna's new video - Rude Boy

Rihanna's new video for her song Rude Boy dropped this week and it's a hot one!

The video is full of Caribbean flavour - nuff wukking up and some Jamaican dancehall moves too - including some classic, back in the day stuff like bogling and go-go wining.


So what are your thoughts islandistas? You like?

Jackson doctor CHARGED!

Well, I think we all knew it was just a matter of time.

Dr. Conrad Murray, the Grenadian/Trini former doctor to King of Pop Michael Jackson, has been charged with involuntary manslaughter.

It all went down a while ago in Los Angeles.

Murray's lawer says his will plead not guilty and "fight like hell" to defend himself on the charge.


Several members of the Jackson fam were present for the arraignment including father Joe and mother Katherine and siblings Jermain and Latoya.

Island folk part of massive Hope for Haiti telethon

And I can't tell you how...  how moved I am that everybody cares. It means a lot because for so long, no one cared. For so long, no one knew us. And this really means a lot.

- Garcelle Beauvais-Nilon

[caption id="attachment_1937" align="aligncenter" width="405" caption="Garcelle Beauvais-Nilon (at right) on LKL, along with Ben Stiller (left) and Benicio Del Toro (center)."][/caption]

Those were the words from a tearful Garcelle Beauvais-Nilon earlier this week on Larry King Live, during a mini telethon which CNN held to raise funds to aid Haiti which was ripped apart by a huge earthquake on January 12th.

Islandistas, we have to tell you -  Garcelle's words really grabbed us - the emotion in her voice when she said "no one cared... no one knew us" was really moving. It made us think of the burden and conflicted emotions that her and other Haitians have to bear loving a country that can be so unremittingly sad.

[caption id="attachment_1938" align="aligncenter" width="405" caption="Distraught: Garcelle Beauvais-Nilon manning the phones at CNN's telethon. (Photo credit: CNN)"][/caption]

This is really what it had to come to for the world to look at Ayiti, to pay attention to the injustices that have been wrought upon it since they first declared independence in 1804.

But at least now they are looking.

And a huge cast of stars, including island folk in Wyclef Jean, Rihanna and Alicia Keys are getting together tomorrow night for what could be one of the biggest telethons of all time - the Hope for Haiti telethon, spearheaded by George Clooney and MTV Networks.

Brand new Shontelle:Licky video premiere & new single

Islandista Shontelle has been hard at work, prepping her sophomore album - the follow up to her moderately successful debut, Shontelligence.

Her music video for her lead single, Licky (which was released in October) was released last week (see above), while the power ballad-ish song Impossible was released online earlier this month.

Our thoughts on it all and the Impossible single after the cut.