Nov 9, 2012

Dancehall Superstar Mavado and Super Producer Da Genius Produce Soundtrack for HTC Smartphone Campaign

After several years of making hits together, Mavado and Stephen “Da Genius” McGregor have scored big again with the Genius-produced ”Di Gyal Dem,” which spearheads the new European advertising campaign for HTC, one of the world’s biggest makers of smartphones.

HTC is launching its new One X handset and contracted Da Genius to produce the music for the campaign’s video clip. It is the next stage inHTC’s ”As Recommended By” campaign, highlighting the audio and video credentials of the new handset via a video shot at a party in Miami’s Little Haiti, with Mavado and Da Genius providing the soundbed.

“Stephen created a riddim he christened One X and told us he was working on the HTC project,” said Julian Jones-Griffith, Mavado’s manager. “He said the creative directors putting the project together were huge fans of Mavado and would love to have him provide the vocals for the campaign. Genius sent us the beat, I spoke with the ad agency about direction and they said they wanted Mavado to just do his thing. Mavado recorded “Di Gyal Dem” at Platinum Sounds in New York and the ad agency loved it. Its a huge look for Mavado, Stephen and for Dancehall to be at the forefront of such a huge commercial campaign and hopefully helps to break another barrier.”

The campaign launches in Germany this week, before spreading to Russia, Switzerland, Austria and Turkey and from there into Asia and the Middle East. There is a 60 second spot and a long-form 3 minute clip, both of which feature ”Di Gyal Dem.”

Stephen plans to release ”Di Gyal Dem,” to radio immediately.

The footage from Miami has been used to create a fully integrated campaign, with the 60-second spot, behind the scenes film, documentary and digital elements running across selected European markets from 1 November.
View the 60-second spot below:

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View the long-form spot below:

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View the behind the scenes documentary below:

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The campaign is part of the ‘As Recommended By’ integrated marketing strategy that sees the power placed firmly in the hands of real users in real-world product demonstrations.
Feh Tarty, creative director from Mother, said: “We wanted to show how the HTC One X+ is the only phone to take sound as seriously as people involved with music so we went to Little Haiti and found an amazing group of people who put on an unforgettable night – all powered by the HTC One X+ .”
The work breaks in Germany and will also be seen in Russia, Switzerland, Austria and Turkey.
Credits
Creative Agency: Mother
Art Director: Mother
Copywriter: Mother
Planner: Mother
Agency Producer: Mother
Photographer: Ewen Spencer
Director: Daniel Wolfe
Production Company: Somesuch & Co
Producer: Dougal Meese
Editor: Tom Lindsey @ Trim
Post Production: Framestore
DoP: Jackob Ihre
Track: One X Riddim
Original Music: Stephen ‘Di Genius’ McGregor
Lyrics: Mavado
Music: J Wells

Oct 29, 2012

Vybz Kartel Murder Trail Starts Today

Jailed dejay Vybz Kartel and two co-accused are scheduled to go on trial Monday in relation to the murder of a St Catherine man last year July.

Kartel, who has been in custody since last year September following his arrest in a Corporate Area hotel, is to be tried along with Nigel Thompson and Lenburgh McDonald for the shooting death of Barrington ‘Bossie’ Bryan.

Bryan was shot to death in his community of Gregory Park, St Catherine by men in a motor car.

Kartel, whose real name is Adidja Palmer, is on $3 million bail in relation to that charge but he’s been held in custody as he is facing another charge of murder for which he is to be tried in November.

Others to be tried with Kartel for the August 2011 beating death of Clive ‘Lizard’ Williams in Havendale, St Andrew are Calvin Hay, entertainer Shawn ‘Shawn Storm’ Campbell, Andre St John, Kahira Jones and Shane Williams.

Williams was reportedly killed over a missing gun.


Vybz Kartel Murder Trail Starts Today

Oct 26, 2012

Sean Kingston Get His 3rd Jesus Piece from Ben Baller

Sean Kingston and Ben Baller been known each other for 16 years straight. Sean Kingston woke up one day and called up Ben Baller for his 3rd jesus piece. Sean said he wants 3 jesus pieces because his ‘mentor’ “Rick Ross” has 3 jesus pieces. Black Jesus Piece made by Ben Baller and If&Co, which features 161 grams of gold, 11.5 carats of black diamonds.

The cost? $22,000.