2009 was a bountiful year
for the gospel reggae genre as the number of artists worldwide rose to over 600
strong. Christafari hit a milestone with their 20th anniversary. Artist touring was on the rise, Twitter came on the scene and Facebook edged
out MySpace as the new platform for the latest artist news and video blogs. Top
artists like Papa San, Monty G, Mr. Lynx, Koen Duncan and Christafari released
groundbreaking albums and GospelReggae.com released a staggering 70 reggae
releases. That's double the amount released in 2008! We launched our Boomshots
podcast and the HMSS radio show in addition to adding a host of gospel reggae
albums to iTunes. Here are the top stories in gospel reggae for 2009:
Moses found dead as the murder rate in Jamaica soars.
Jamaican gospel dancehall
artist, the late Kasim' 'Moses' Grant was found dead in a gully in Gordon Town,
St. Andrews, Jamaica in January of 2009. A whirlwind of speculations and
accusations still surround his death. Was it murder, suicide, an accident or
gang related? It seems that there are still more questions than answers. What
we do know is that the senseless violence in Jamaica has to cease. Jamaica
currently has the third highest murder rate in the world (per capita). The
island had about 1,660 homicides in 2009, close to the record of 1,674 set in
2005 when it had the highest murder rate in the world. Moses was an incredibly
talented soul that genuinely loved the Lord and will be sorely missed. At the
time of his death, reports are that he was in the studio working on his
sophomore release. There is no news as to what will happen with these
recordings. Moses' first album "Testify" is currently available on both CD and
download and every cent goes directly to his widow.
Christafari gives away new album for free, crashing
their server.
In July, Christafari
released "No Compromise", the bands 20th anniversary release that
features guest appearances by over 30 of the top gospel reggae artists in the
world. As a tribute to the late Keith Green (who had an album and biography of
by same title), for the first three months, Christafari made the album
available for whatever fans could afford--or even free. The response was so
great that it actually knocked down their web server a few times! This album is
now available for purchase and after counting up the physical sales after the
promotion was over, the album still ended up being the top gospel reggae seller
of 2009! In promotion of the release Christafari toured Europe and South
America extensively in addition to a few spot dates in the USA.
Lion of Zion started in 1998
by Mark Mohr of Christafari and almost 50 releases later, they have the
broadest distribution in the genre and have been credited for launching the
gospel careers of top artists like Stitchie, Sherwin Gardner, Mr. Lynx and
Avion Blackman. Monty G initially signed with Lion of Zion back in 2002 and
since then has co-produced over thirty titles with DJ Frost under his own label
Lion of Judah Sounds. This new partnership that was cemented with the release
of Positive's "Never Let Go", made it
official that the two biggest tastemakers in the gospel reggae industry had
united.Subsequent LOZ/LOJ
releases are Mr. Lynx's "The Seeds You Sow", DJ Frost's explosive "Streetlight
Mixtape Vol. 4" and Monty G's highly anticipated "World Domination" CD. Monty,
Lynx, Frost and the LOJ crew toured the USA in November and December in
promotion of these new releases.
Given unsure times due to
worldwide economic turmoil, the Marlin awards (that were initially scheduled to
be held in July of 2008) were postponed to October of 2008. Just a few weeks
before October they were postponed again to March of 2009 to the dismay of many
artists. While there were a few doubters, no one has ever accused Kevin Harris
and his incredible team of being quitters. Thanks to their stick-to-itiveness and
sheer tenacity, the third time was a charm! Bravo for a phenomenal evening and
another incredible show! They also released their first CD of top nominees and
winners. This compilation was added to our store this week. Order it now!
Isaac Blackman wins big at Marlins and marries
Dixie-Ann Hunte!
While a gospel reggae artist
getting married may not be top news, in early spring 2009, when two powerhouses
Isaac and Dixie wed, all of Trinidad took notice. Their wedding was the week
after the Marlin awards, a good reason why Isaac wasn't available to collect
his four awards (including "Song of the Year") in person. Dixie's full-length
gospel reggae debut is now available online and rumor has it the two have
another collaboration that is expected to be delivered from the stork in
2010--Congrats guys! Pick up a copy of Dixie's "Rooted" today (Available on CD
and Download).
Papa San finally releases his album and gets a
Stellar nod.
In a genre that is already chock-full
of delays, Papa San's "Higher Heights"
takes the cake. In 2008 everyone was awaiting Papa San's fourth release that
kept getting pushed back month after month. Finally a release date was
announced and his album launch was set for Sept 26th, 2008 in
Jamaica. The only problem was that after his official release concert in
Jamaica, the rest of the world had to wait almost an entire year to receive the
album due to drawn-out label negotiations in the USA. While the final
international release may have been a bit anti climactic, the end result was
well worth the wait when "Higher Heights" debuted at #4 on the Reggae Billboard
Charts and #19 on the Gospel Billboard Charts and received a Steller Award
nomination. I guess good things do come to those who wait! Order this CD today!
Prodigal Son strikes Reggae Gold and launches Radikal
Yawd.
Few gospel reggae artists
had a better year than Prodigal Son, yet he didn't even release an album in
2009. Instead he released a barrage of singles and landed a coveted spot on VP
Records' "Reggae Gold 2009". The song was "Head Cyaan Hot So" earning Prodigal
the privilege of being the first gospel reggae artist to ever be featured on
such a massive mainstream compilation. He also won three Marlin Awards
including "Album of the Year". While most artists were just talking about
starting their own label and stable of artists, Prodigal was actually doing it.
In addition to recording his own material and producing a plethora of music
videos, he also managed to sign, record and release albums by Dwayne Murphy
(released in December) and Shepherd (who's album drops on GospelReggae.com this
week).
Thanks to all
our loyal customers, GospelReggae.com
and Lion of Zion Entertainment just had our biggest sales month ever! In fact, in the 30 days preceding
Christmas, our sales virtually doubled what they did in the same period last
year. That's unheard given the current state of the music industry and the
global recession! This proves that the gospel reggae genre is growing! A lot of
this is credited to our growing staff and hit CDs by Monty G, Mr. Lynx and DJ
Frost (along with dozens of other key releases). Thanks for all of your help
and for giving us our best sales period in our 12-year history of selling
Christian reggae online!
It was a great year for Lion of Zion. Thanks to their new
partnership with Lion of Judah, they landed five out of the ten top sellers
including the best-selling album of the year with Christafari's, "No Compromise".
The surprising thing about this album is that the physical sales started
counting only after the band had given away the album for free for 3 solid
months! In fact, "No Compromise" sold more units than the other top nine albums
combined! A lot of this is due to the all-star cast featured on the project and Christafari's relentless touring schedule.
Another noteworthy album is Monty G’s "World Domination" that
released on December 15th of 2009. Despite only having a 15-day sales cycle,
the album reached the coveted second spot on the year-end chart. It's no
surprise to see veterans like Mr. Lynx (#4), St. Matthew (#5) and Koen Duncan
(#6) make the cut. But what shocked us was that Papa San didn't fare as well
coming in at #14.
In many ways this was the year for the rookies. They did great in
CD sales and virtually controlled the Most Downloaded Songs chart. Relative
newcomers like Positive (#3), Eddie Neblett (#9) and Emrand Henry (#10) held
strong positions in sales making all of us stand up and take notice. Other
newbies that didn't make the top ten but landed in the top 20 are Ricardo
Clarke (#16), J Square (#17), Edward Holland Jr. (#18), and Benjah (#19). Here
are the charts:
TOP 10
BEST-SELLING CDS (Released in 2009):
1. Christafari, No Compromise (Lion of Zion Entertainment)
2. Monty G, World Domination (Lion of Zion/Lion of Judah)
3. Positive, Never Let Go (Lion of Zion/Lion of Judah)
4. Mr. Lynx, Seeds You Sow (Lion of Zion/Lion of Judah)
5. St. Matthew, Fellowship Ova Fellowship (Readyback Records)
6. Koen Duncan, Shine High (GospelReggae.com)
7. DJ Frost Presents The Street Light Mixtape Vol. 4, Various
(Lion of Zion/Lion of Judah)
8. Yow 5, Reggae Street Gospel, Various (Main Street Music)
9. Eddie Neblett, Prophecies (GospelReggae.com)
10. Emrand Henry, No Retreat No Surrender (GospelReggae.com)
