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Richie Spice is the guy next door - the type
of neighbor that will voluntarily fix your
irritating leaky faucet, or he'll come
through with that last egg for Sunday
morning pancakes. I imagine he's the type
of man who prefers to climb trees with his
children than to stay in the house with the
adults. He put others' interests ahead of
his own, and that, in the reggae industry,
is an anomaly. We're living in the epidemic
of the "me" culture that not only plagues
the reggae industry, but plagues our entire
culture in general. So, in that regard,
Richie Spice is a double anomaly. In fact, I
would go as far as to say that Richie Spice
is the anti-superstar...
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The Jamaican newspapers depict altercations - Mavado
and the police, Movado and Vybz Kartel, Mavado and
Aidonia, Mavado and an engineer. His body shows the
wear - a prominent scar on his forehead and under
his left eye, remnants of stitches all over his
hand. This is the man whose signature phrase is
"Gangsta For Life." It's also the man who came out
with over 60 tracks this past year or so - the
unanimous proletariat King of the Dancehall. And as
this goes to press, his album, Gangsta For Life:
The Symphony of David Brooks, hasn't yet even
been released.
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For the second time in the last three years, a true
dancehall riddim has risen to the top of the
U.S. pop charts. Following his success on Lenky's
"Diwali" riddim in 2004, Sean Paul rode Jah
Snowcone's "Applause" to the top spot in 2006 with
"Temperature." He then followed this up with a top 10
hit on a hardcore riddim produced by Don Corleon, "When
You Gonna (Give It Up to Me)"...
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