Gospel Music’s Biggest Nights

Throughout this month and next month, the arts world takes a moment to celebrate the work that has been produced over the past year. Industries worldwide host events such as the Screen Actors Guild Awards, the Oscars and the Grammys. January 17 saw one of Gospel music’s biggest nights. Known as the Grammys of the gospel music industry, the 29th Stellar Awards were hosted in Tennessee. The 55th Annual Grammy Awards were held in Los Angeles on January 26.

Pulse Radio would like to congratulate all the winners representing Christ in the industry and wish them success in their ministries. Special mention goes to Mandisa and Tye Tribbett, who won their first Grammy awards in the category of Best Contemporary Christian Album (Overcomer) and Best Gospel Album (Greater Than [Live]). Hezekiah Walker was this year’s recipient for the James Cleveland Lifetime Achievement Award.

Rickey Smiley and Sherri Shepherd hosted the 29th Annual Stellar Awards – Gospel music’s biggest night.

For a full list of Stellar Winners click here and for a full list of Grammy winners click here. Click here for your favourite hits on Pulse Radio 365 – the Positive, Up-lifting Sanctified Encounter!

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KJ-52 + Team Holds Record For The Longest Freestyle!

Freestyling – the art of pulling rhymes off the cuff. Anyone who wants to be a performer should have this in their arsenal. In various genres it’s known as different things: ad libbing, extempores, solos. There’s little time between thought and movement, with no awkward pauses. Artists work hard on their craft because as amazing as it is to think off the cuff, there has to be lots of sense in what you say or do.

In hip-hop, everything revolves around the 16 (bars), which last roughly a minute. Many people scratch their brains to find 4 lines that rhyme, music less, make sense. So when I first heard the news that KJ-52 was attempting to break the World Record for the longest freestyle I thought, “Someone actually rapped for that long?

Dove Award emcee, KJ-52 and his team of rappers attempted to make the Guinness World Records for the longest team freestyle. On January 12, KJ-52, along with emcees Sicily, Isaac Knox, Heir Jordan, Jerrell Johnson and others, set the record by freestyling for 12 hours and 2 minutes at Crossover Church in Tampa, FL, breaking the previous record of 10 hours and 2 minutes. (Click here for the vlog recap)

Topics were chosen using live chat, various games such as Heads Up and Charades, and everywhere else topics could be found. Jam the Hype will be broadcasting it today, January 15, from 8am EST. The team is awaiting the official stamp from Guinness World Records. Congratulations to the team! It’s not as easy as it looks but it is fun to try. So throughout the day

Drop a line or a rhyme

Do it any time.

Your friends may like yours

If you had liked mine!

For the latest in gospel news and events tune in to http://www.pulseradio365.com!

Happy New Year!

As one year closes another opens. It’s been a busy year at Pulse as we seek to carry on the work to bring positive music to our youth. We’ve seen our share of highs and lows and we would first like to thank God for carrying us through 2013. We would also like to thank the Pulsers for their continued support of the station. 2014 looks promising. God’s speed in this new year and keep it locked to Pulse Radio!

 

For more information on the latest in gospel music, tune in to http://www.pulseradio365.com!

A Few of My Favourite Things

Sitting at the square table in the kitchen, we checked our phones. “Today’s the 18th!” It was 7 days before Christmas and we had hardly noticed. Busy in the shop, heads down and shovels high, we were preparing for the season that was quickly and silently creeping up on us. For me the Christmas spirit is only truly felt when I’m on vacation (Christmas vacation), otherwise it’s December. Vacation is the sunlight to my Christmas photosynthesis. 

I love Christmas; and there are many elements which make up the season. One of the pros of Christmas is the music (and movies). This is the time to play all your favourite Christmas hits at the top of what is an acceptable decibel range, and sing incessantly about snow, shoes and the Saviour everywhere we go. We watch movies such as Miracle on 34th Street, and retell How The Grinch Stole Christmas to children, adults and anyone who’s listening (or not). Of course, one of the cons of this season is hearing your least favourite songs (one man’s trash is another man’s treasure) played over and over in your ear. Those songs that take a full 11 months to leave your system, but by then the radio starts to play them again. 

But before the melodies start to creep back into our heads, let me share a few of my favourite things:

Social Club

With names such as Martymar and Fern, this duo may very well be the face of the Misfit Gang. Oh they are! Stage names are usually cool labels artists seek to find. These two have done the opposite, they have made these names cool. These are the songs of the misfits, the outcasts – no Big Boy. Their latest album, Summer of George, presents how God can take a nobody and make him/her “tell everybody about somebody who can save anybody”, according to KB. Their latest release, Turtlenecks and Blazers, is their Christmas gift to us. 

Atta Boafo

Alias, “The Worship Warrior”, Atta Boafo has impacted gospel music with his powerful and spirited worship songs. His first Christmas single is a self-penned chorus called Saviour of the World. It adores Christ, full of God’s glory and mercy and love. It swings on the pendulum between a worship song and a birthday song. Its simple lyrics hold familiar but profound truth – Jesus is the Saviour of the world. What a great reminder!

Lights

There is something magical about Christmas lights. The onset of the Christmas season comes to us in gentle waves of joy and colour. Nativity scenes, Santa, and of course, the only time I have ever seen a reindeer are results of these artworks. It’s all light but it shouldn’t be taken lightly. We all love silent nights but can you imagine seeing the dark night at Christmas?

Shows and Parties 

In addition to Christmas lights, Christmas shows are the bomb (#80sBaby)! Concerts, recitals, plays all enhance the festive atmosphere of Christmas; with New Years riding behind like a sleigh. Friends come home (or you do), crash your place (or you do), clean out your fridge (or you do) and enjoy each other’s company. It’s wonderful!

Food

This is a separate blog in itself but a quick synopsis shows that chocolate and Christmas go hand in hand to mouth. Christmas is that acceptable time where the spoils of November’s exercise war are enjoyed with family and friends. I don’t think it is acceptable to post photos of food because Christmas isn’t here yet. To all those on their last lap (no pun intended)…just keep swimming! 

“Gum drops and Wispas,

House smells like Christmas.

Music and movies and light shows that move me.

Family and friends and the gifts that we bring

These are a few of my favourite things!”

So as we sing, dance, and go about our Christmas traditions and activities, we at Pulse pray you have an enjoyable holiday. And whatever you do, do it to the glory of God!

Grammy and Stellar Awards Release Nominations

This is the season for celebration. As the year races down the home stretch of December, we often pause and reflect on everything that was done this year. For some, it was graduation, birthdays and anniversaries, or it may have been that we tried something for the first time – like acting? Who knows! The music industry also begins its celebration around this time. The Dove Awards was hosted last month, with Chris Tomlin and Toby Mac taking home the lion’s share of awards. 

This month, the nominees for this year’s awards were released:

The Grammy’s 

Probably the most famous award show in western culture, the Grammy’s celebrate the years finest artists in the music industry. There was a nomination show. It was good. But I think it would have been better if we had seen some of these featured in it. 

Energetic gospel artist, Tye Tribbett. Nominated for Best Gospel Album (Greater Than [Live]), Best Gospel Song (If He Did It Before…Same God [Live]), Best Gospel/Contemporary Christian Music Performance (If He Did It Before…Same God [Live])

The powerful voice of Mandisa. Nominated for Best Contemporary Christian Album (Overcomer), Best Contemporary Christian Song (Overcomer) and Best Contemporary Christian Performance (Overcomer)

William Murphy and/or Tasha Cobbs, whose albums, God Chaser and Grace respectively, are nominated for Best Gospel Album.

(For a full list of nominees, click here)

 

Also, the nominees for 29th Annual The Stellar Awards were shared, and can be seen in this video by Don Jackson, Chairman and Founder of the Stellar Awards. 

For more information on the latest in gospel music listen to Pulse Radio 365! The best in online radio! http://www.pulseradio365.com 

Sherwin Gardner Releases New Track “Standing”

The Intellect is back again with a fresh new release! Across the Caribbean and North America, for many years Sherwin Gardner, aka “The Intellect”, has blessed us with his powerful voice and God-centred lyrics. Many people fell in love with at various points of his anointed career – whether it was “Hotta Redda”, “Draw Me Closer” or more recent work like “God’s Design”. Sherwin Gardner is one of the names in modern Caribbean gospel.

And now he has blessed us with more. Set to be released this Friday, December 6th, is a new soca single “Standing”, produced by the man himself. This song explores the strength that God calls us to in a life in Christ. Life can be tough but God has not called us to cower in fear and hide. Instead, He commands us to be strong and courageous, and to abide in Him. “Standing” is a declaration of God’s power in the lives of His people.

In the midst of every storm (I’m Standing)
God give me strength to hold on (I’m Standing)…
Tell them I will never flop (I’m Standing)
Tell them I will never drop (I’m Standing Up)

For more of the latest in gospel, tune into http://www.pulseradio365.com!

Special: Independence

It was a dark and stormy night – a rainy midnight, yet a bright day for one little country in the middle of the ocean. This country, invisible on a map, this day, insignificant on the world’s calendar, proved to be one of its most significant days. Like when a child is born, this little island screamed its first cries of freedom on November 30, 1966.

Fast forward through over 40 years of rich history and one can tell that this nation has been gifted with talent and tenacity which has given it a voice in the international scene. Barbados is not simply the beach life and club life, but athletes, academics and artists  have walked these paved and potholed streets called home. But this should come as no surprise because, as the saying goes, “you can find a Bajan anywhere.”

In a few days, we will be celebrating our 47th year of independence. Many questions are being raised in the society about the economic climate and the overall culture as it is evident that the Barbados of the previous generations is not the one we live in. Advances in education, health and entertainment have brought with them vices manifested in our countrymen. Newspapers have become tabloids and it may be hard to find good, but good exists locked away for the sake of sales.

One thing is clear, the present is the past’s future. We live out the decisions we made years ago. Indeed the Lord needs to be the people’s guide (as we have claimed for 47 years). I went to a seminar where a young entrepreneur defined wealth as a legacy; a way of life that benefits our children and their children’s children. For what does it profit a man to gain to the whole world and lose his soul?

Chapter 7 – Blessing After Blessing

It was a time to celebrate blessing after blessing (7 years to be exact) as Positive hosted his Gospel All-inclusive concert on Saturday, November 9. In the city of Port-of-Spain, Joel “Positive” Murray gave God glory for the mission and ministry that He has gifted Positive with. Accompanying the Caribbean reggae minister was The Signature Band, along with guest appearances by Isaac Blackman, Sean Daniel, Rizon and J. Prince.

Crowds of supporters, government officials, business men and the media gathered to witness this historic event. Also in attendance was journalist of the Billboard Magazine, Patrice Meschino . This all-inclusive event not only featured a full length concert but a buffet style dinner.

“I believe 7 represents the number of completion and after 7 years of ministry, I began to reflect on how God has transformed my life and my music over the years and I instantly become overwhelmed with gratitude,” commented Positive. “I strongly feel as though I am accomplishing my purpose for this season of my life, feeling a sense of wholeness in Him.”

The new year promises more blessings as Positive, now engaged, is currently working on the deluxe version of his second album, Forever My King. Below is a clip of his performance of Sweeter and Sweeter with The Signature Band.

For more information on the latest in gospel music listen to Pulse Radio 365! The best in online radio! http://www.pulseradio365.com 

James Fortune & FIYA New Single “Live Through It”

Gospel sensation James Fortune & FIYA does it again!

His new single “Live Through It” , are deep words of inspiration and encouragement. We all will face trials and temptations but should we give up and give in? NO!! Giving up is never an option. God wants us to overcome and pass each test once we put our faith and trust in Him.

This single will be available for purchase on November 11th on Tunes.

Hope you enjoy this awesome song.

Special: That’s A Rap!

If you are a CHH fan (Christian Hip-Hop) then this has been a wonderful week for you. Being in touch with youth, sometimes the question of what to listen to is raised. If ever we are faced with that question, here are a few suggestions:

Beautiful Eulogy – Instruments of Mercy

Lyrical acrobats, Braille and Odd Thomas, teamed up with producer Courtland Urbano to produce their sophmore album Instruments of Mercy. Fusing rap/spoken word with folk beats and harmonies, Beautiful Eulogy has developed their characteristic sound first heard on the album Satellite Kite. Click here to preview their single “The Size of Grace”.

 

 

 

Alex Faith – ATLast

The term “breath of fresh air” has been used to describe many stale albums released recently. But alas, Collision Records’ Alex Faith, releases his debut album ATLast. The story of Faith’s life and faith (no pun intended) as he grew up in Atlanta is unmistakably seen through his transparent lyrics and creative beats. A great example is his single Letting Me Go

 

 

Benjah – Haze & Reflections

Former Group 1 Crew member and Grammy-Nominated and Dove-Award winning songwriter and producer, Benjah, released his third album Haze & Reflections (Vanity Fare Remixed). It peaked at #10 on the iTunes Christian & Gospel Charts and features a stellar line up with Tedashii, Trip Lee, Propaganda, Json and many more.

 

 

Papa San – One Blood

Gospel reggae giant, Papa San returned to the studio to produce his latest album, One Blood. Known for his rapid lyrical flow, Papa San has honed his skills, his love for Dancehall and his love for God. This is not a hip-hop album. However, with features such as Lecrae and Da’ T.R.U.T.H. it should quality. Additionally, Papa San’s impact on the CHH arena is felt in his son, Tyshane Thompson, who has produced for established artists.

 

 

Lecrae – Church Clothes Vol. 2

Grammy-Award winning rapper, Lecrae, is “back on the scene, crispy and clean” with the sequel Church Clothes Vol 2. Presented by DJ Don Canon, Lecrae brings together his two loves – Hip-hop and the gospel – with the aim of reaching the culture with the message of Christ. CC2 is set to be released tomorrow but the single “Was It Worth It” featuring Derek Minor and Crystal Nicole is available.

The past 7 days have been epic for hip-hop lovers as ugly faces abound. I wouldn’t be alarmed if I see some folks spazzing out.

For more information on the latest in gospel music listen to Pulse Radio 365! The best in online radio! http://www.pulseradio365.com