Things are moving fast and furious on Rootfire.net. If you haven’t yet had the chance to check out our previous issues, they’re conveniently packaged in our archives and make for fun late night reading when you’re craving a reggae music rabbit hole to swim down.… Read More
“Patience my friend. The key is just time,” sings Eric Rachmany on Through The Roots’ newest single “Bear With Me”. The electro-roots track is a collaboration between Through The Roots, Eric Rachmany of Rebelution, and Oahu’s freshest production trio Live Animaux (JP Kennedy, Leslie Ludiazo, Christian Mochizuki).… Read More
I’ll never forget the first time I heard “Rasta Courage” off SOJA’s debut album, Peace in A Time Of War. It was just about 10 years ago, long before the radios had played it, the promoters hyped it, and the record stores sold it.… Read More
“You must kill them. All of the batty men run when you see them. All up in your community, mon, me gon’ kill them. Man need a woman, can’t live without them, that’s why me comin’ after them!”
That’s what I sang into the microphone.… Read More
In high school I had a friend, two years older than me, who had Judah’s Lion tattooed on his arm. In D.C. that meant Bad Brains and to me it was cooler than cool. Never mind he was a star soccer player, had a hot girlfriend, and drove a brand new Mazda MX-6.… Read More
“I want you to get together, put your hands together one time.”
St. Germain’s “Rose Rouge” is playing in my headphones. It’s 10:03am EST on Friday morning and we’re putting the final touches on this week’s issue of Rootfire, the second since we relaunched.… Read More
Photos: Evil Vince
The low E string of Jay’s guitar broke on the opening chords of “Until We Burn In The Sun.”
It was Nov. 4, 2007, and I was with Bedouin Soundclash at the Zodiac in Oxford for the first of an 11-show run in the UK.… Read More
“Oooooh Reggae? That’s fun! My girlfriends and I went to Jamaica. We were naughty!”
“Ooheaa?” I muttered.
Her hands plunged deeper into my mouth, a streak of saliva slipping out the side.
“Oh yeah! They told us not to leave the resort but we did.… Read More
A Nigerian political dissident working in Austria. A Jewish bike messenger from Long Island. A fashion designer in Manhattan who grew up in a Durban township. A writer from an apple farm in Western Massachusetts. An Oglala Lakota painter raised on the Rez in South Dakota.… Read More
New Kingston’s fresh new single “Honorable” turns everything you know about the band upside down.
The song is like graduation day. Picture hundreds of students and their families sprawled out on the campus lawn. There’s a high that ripples through the crowd, a sense of accomplishment, yeah, but also of abstract anticipation.… Read More
Welcome to the first chapter of Rootfire’s new era. Issue #1 celebrates three articles released this week that speak on some fresh ideas in progressive reggae; think of it as a zine delivered to your inbox. The layout, revamped sections, and new contributors come to you live and direct just 7 days since you got my note about Rootfire’s rebirth as an online community.… Read More
My roommate still had a dumb grin on his face and said he didn’t want it, he was just kidding and thought I was just kidding. I said I wasn’t kidding and he had to eat it because I ate mine and I wasn’t going it alone, which was a mistake. You’re always going it alone. Anyhow, he said he was drunk when I arrived and was just goofing around but he would do it since he said he would, and I was sort of miffed so I went back and killed time with the acid man at the bar and the girls he was hanging out with until I started to feel it happen, and then I went back to find my friend.
