Pull-Out
23 | THE VOICE JUNE 28 - JULY 4, 2012
HAD ENOUGH
Wiley blasts his record label BRANDED FRAUDSTERS
Khloe Kardashian hits back
STYLO G
Call Me a Yardie
24 THE VOICE APRIL 11 - 17 , 2013
HOT SONGS TO PUT A SPRING IN YOUR STEP The British weather has given us a rough time this year. Let’s entice the sun with the help of these songs 1
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DEAR SUMMER Jay-Z
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AIN’T NO SUNSHINE DMX
HOT HOT HOT Arrow
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SUN IS SHINING Bob Marley
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SUMMER WIT’ MIAMI Jim Jones
HERE COMES THE HOTSTEPPA Ini Kamoze
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SUMMER BREEZE The Isley Brothers
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THE HEAT Toni Braxton
NO MORE RAIN Angie Stone
Rebecca Graham
YOU ARE THE SUNSHINE OF MY LIFE Stevie Wonder
HOLIDAY Dizzee Rascal
SUMMER OF LOVE Lonyo
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FILM AND media student Rebecca Graham will take the drastic step of shaving off her hair if she is able to raise £500 for the charity Cancer Research. The 28-year-old was affected by cancer through the tragic loss of her mother, who passed away at 40 from breast cancer when she was aged seven in 1992. The fund-raiser, who has managed to raise 10 per cent of her target, told The Voice: “Even though I was raised by my father it has been hard becoming a woman without a motherfigure in my life.
SUNSHINE Gabrielle
HEATWAVE Wiley
SUMMERTIME DJ Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince
SUMMER LOVE Justin Timberlake
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“By fund raising for breast cancer research I want to contribute to the advancing treatments that have helped save so many lives so far,” added the former care worker who used to look after people with mental and physical disabilities. Her father was also diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2000 when Graham was 16, but fortunately he survived. “Thankfully it was caught early and after one treatment of radiotherapy he has been in remission for 13 years,” she said.
SUMMERTIME Beyoncé
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APRIL 11 - 17, 2013 THE VOICE 25
www.voice-online.co.uk/entertainment
UK dancehall star Stylo G talks to YV’s Dionne Grant about his famous father, fans in Japan and explains the true definition of a ‘yardie’
“I
FELT like it was cool to be called a ‘yardie’ so I took it upon myself to turn the word into a positive with a song,” says UK (via Jamaica) dancehall star, Stylo G whose hit Call Me a Yardie celebrates the term considered derogatory by some. “Back in the 1980s they used to say ‘yardies’ [were just into] drugs and guns, but from my perspective there was room to change this powerful word into something that people would be proud to call themselves.” Stylo G, real name Jason McDermot, moved to England from Spanish Town, Jamaica, shortly after his father, legendary dancehall star Poison Chang, passed away. As a 15-year-old he recalls
that his British classmates weren’t as accepting of his heritage as he might have been. “When I first came to England and I was going to school, they used to call me ‘yardie boy’. Some of my friends took offence to it, but every time I heard one of them say ‘Don’t call him a yardie,’ I was like, ‘Why? It’s just a word. They don’t know what the real meaning of a ‘yardie’ is’ In his 2012 underground smash, he raps: “Call me a yardie, call me a yardie, we love [Mercedes] Benz and Beamers [BMWs] and Audis. No girls inna the club, we nah party. Give we Hennessy, we nah drink Barcardi” So that’s his definition of the widely used term, then? He laughs. “The song is just saying,
‘Jamaicans, stand up and be proud of who you are and what you are.’ That’s me. Music is freedom of speech.” Call Me a Yardie crossed continents and received kudos and radio play as far afield as Japan and the USA, which has subsequently sparked a number of international visits for the star this year. “I’m planning to travel the world this year and take my music with me. I want to wave the flag for dancehall music,” he says. Listing fellow dancehall acts such as Shabba Ranks, Capleton, Bounty Killer and Vybz Kartel as musical inspirations, talk soon moves onto how the incarceration of many of the genres most-loved stars has affected the scene.
“It has definitely affected the scene,” he says matter-of-factly. “Even with me being a signed artist in the UK right now, dancehall is still seen as a risk. We need to tighten up a few things as far as dancehall is concerned. People think that artists going to jail is cool, it’s not. We are role models that people are looking up to. We don’t want to have that jail thing hanging over our names.” He adds: “Dancehall is not aggressive, I’m showing them that. The fact that it is viewed in some cultures as aggressive is what’s holding the genre back. I’ve got my foot in the door now and I’m showing them that it doesn’t have to be viewed that way.” He attributes this mindset to his late father. “RIP to my dad Poison Chang who passed away in 2000. I was only 13 at the time. He would always push school and education on me. I passed all of my examinations and he was proud. He never told me to pick up a microphone, he was always pressuring me about my schoolwork. He would often say that the music industry wasn’t easy, but I said, ‘Dad, I like what you’re doing and I want to get involved.’” Asked what he thought his dad would make of where he is now and what advice he might bestow, Stylo replied: “He would tell me to make sure that I’m investing my money into the right things and make sure I have my head screwed on. Just make sure
I’m doing something positive.” His acceptance in the UK music scene would suggest he has done so, something he believes will be replicated in his Caribbean hometown despite the blatant “cultural differences”. “My music in Jamaica is accepted. Call Me a Yardie plays down there, most of my tracks play down there. I’ve got fans, girls and the man dem saying, ‘Yo Stylo, we want to see you come down,’ but it’s not at a place where I can say that I’m happy. Jamaica is the heart of dancehall music. I have to go and make sure that I please them first.” His new track Soundbwoy is a far cry from the ode to dancehall that Call Me a Yardie was. It’s style rather a melting pot of the famed Jamaican genre and a more “European sound”. Does
ARNOLD OCENG:
he think this will resonate with his Jamaican fanbase the way its predecessor did? “The Jamaican and British cultures are very different. I’ve been in England for some time now so I have to adapt to this environment and make music that the UK can relate to. I’ve seen Jamaican stars come over here and they’ve been so good, but the music is not connecting with the people. “With my new track Soundbwoy, it’s still got the reggae feel to it, but it’s reggae mixed with a more English sound – a crossover. Music is about the beat and the groove. I have Radio 1 DJs supporting me now, Kiss FM DJs playing it and Choice FM. I’m very happy with the feedback.” Sounbwoy is out on April 14 through 3 Beat Records. For more information follow @StyloGee on Twitter
D’BANJ:
The UK actor has landed a major role in a Hollywood movie alongside actress Reese Witherspoon
The Oliver Twist singer has inspired a new Afrobeats musical, Oliva Tweest, in London’s West End
KHLOE KARDASHIAN:
The university of Louisville basketball player suffered a horrific leg break live on national television last week
OR BUSTED? F F U B
Dear Kat,
My ex-boyfriend and I have been friends for years, but he recently got a new girlfriend and all of a sudden things have changed. We continued a physical relationship when we broke up. I still had feelings for him, but his were stronger and everyone knew it. He never wanted to break up and always wanted us to get back together, but I just wasn't ready to settle down and didn't want to hurt him. I thought he'd always be there, but it looks like he's giving this new relationship a go. He says he wants to remain friends, but won’t talk to me and refuses to meet to discuss things. If he is truly over me, why can’t he talk? I'm hurt and angry because we've always been able to talk about everything. What can I do? Anon
Hi Anon,
To be honest, you can't do a thing right now. You already called time on the relationship when you broke up with him. You were both filling a void by continuing a physical relationship and now he has filled that void elsewhere. He has decided to invest his heart and his body somewhere else and you must do the same. Your physical relationship was preventing you both from moving forward. Someone needed to break the ties, they were counter-productive to your growth. By texting you’re just going to make him and his new girlfriend’s relationship stronger and he will eventually start to resent you. You didn’t want him when he was available, I’m going to take a wild guess and say you only want him now because he has moved on and that’s not fair. If he is truly yours he will come back to you, but DON’T wait!
KEVIN WARE:
The reality star was forced to deny claims that her basketball star husband has been operating a fraudulent cancer charity
BUFF
BUFF
TWEET OF THE WEEK UK grime MC Wiley announced he would not feature in his Lights On video because he doesn’t agree with the label’s decision to release it
BEYONCÉ: Simple, chilled , colourful
TAMAR BRA
XTON:
Cute, bright, flattering
Wiley
"My label are doing Lights On next but I do not like that so you will not see me in the video”
ASHANTI
26 THE VOICE APRIL 11 - 17, 2013
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