YGPONECAMP Promotion and entertainment

Seven years ago, Kym Hamilton was on the verge of launching an enviable career in dancehall. She had taken on the name 'Gaza Kim', and was one of the 'princesses' affiliated with Vybz Kartel's then-expanding Gaza Empire. But her rise halted following an infamous expulsion from the crew. Now, she has stepped back into the limelight to the surprise and pleasure of many. "I never went away, I was always here, always recording," she told   THE WEEKEND   STAR.                 Though she was always recording, there was no indication that anyone was listening. After being forcibly, and embarrassingly removed from the Gaza Empire, the singer went back to her real name. That attempt to rebrand left her in limbo. Posting music as Kym Hamilton did not get the desired response, and she thought everyone hated her. "Life has been rough. During that time I was really depressed because the thing I loved the most, hurt the har...

When Kareen Duggon came home from the bookshop last Friday afternoon and saw a massive crowd converged in her community, she had no clue it was her youngest son who had attracted their attention. And, when she learnt that her son, 12-year-old Renaldo Reynolds, was being swept away in the swift murky waters in the gully along Collie Smith Drive in Trench Town, Kingston, she fainted. "One likkle boy say a Garnet (Reynolds' house name). Mi just start bawl and di people dem have to hold mi because mi a try jump inna the water, and mi just block out from that. Mi nuh know myself," the cookshop operator said. Duggon told    Local Paper  that she never got back to full consciousness until the morning after when Reynolds' father brought him home from the hospital. Duggon had gone to the bookshop to purchase textbooks for Reynolds' Grade Six Achievement Test preparation, but if it wasn't for the heroic effort of a soft-spoken 24-year-old man named Tremayne B...

Over the past few years a number of local Jamaican female celebrities have been going under the knife to get their bodies done. Some ladies like Yanique Curvy Diva and DHQ  Sher have been getting criticism for doing boob and butt implants, but Vybz Kartel is now coming to their defense and we all know once the Gazanation deejay says he like something, the rest of dancehall falls in line. The incarcerated deejay drop a new single this week titled “ Luxury Doll ” where he cosign all the ladies who do surgery. “Yo do your batty and your breast and them vex / Gazanation girls them grudge yo for your breast them and for your bumper / Girl you look like a luxury doll / So much perfection without the flaws,” Kartel deejay. Dancehall fans have been weighing in with some mix reactions. The vast majority of Gazanation fans cosigned the single. “This song is pure fire! Miss Kitty and Curvy Diva anthem this Lol GazaNation thumbs up one time,” one fan wrote, while another fa...

Commissioner of Police, George Quallo, met with caterers on Wednesday who are contracted to provide meals for members of the joint forces who are working in the Mount Salem Zone of Special Operations to ensure that the members are being fed properly. This after a picture, which has been circulating on the Internet, suggested that members are being fed meagre meals. Head of the Corporate Communications Unit of the Jamaica Constabulary Force, Superintendent Stephanie Lindsay, said that Quallo met with the caterers and outlined 'the quality meals that should be served to the members'. "We are taking these men from their homes so he wants to make sure that they are comfortable. It won't be like home, but to make it comfortable enough," Lindsay explained. Committed to the task Lindsay said that it is not confirmed that the picture that is being circulated is an image of the meals members are being served. "One of the things that they also looked...

Live: Tracking Hurricane IRMA to SLAM Florida, Orlando, Georgia, East Coast VIDEO UPDATE Live update on Hurricane Irma: Hurricane Irma: Live updates Updates: Orlando Hurricane Irma path LIVE stream: Watch the terrifying hurricane path in real time HURRICANE Irma is moving across the Caribbean with cataclysmic winds forecast to reach Florida later this week. Watch the life-threatening hurricane develop in real time on webcams from the region. The category 5 hurricane is slowly making its way cross the Caribbean sea with powerful winds of up to 185mph (297km/h). At 5am CDT (10am BST), Irma’s eye was moving away from Barbuda and heading towards St. Martin. The storm is on track to move over the northern Leeward Islands later today before possibly moving near or over the northern Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico later today. Irma is then forecast to move northwestward towards Cuba and possibly make landfall in Florida. <script

Dancehall artiste Lisa Hyper is hoping to reclaim her spot among the top female artistes in Jamaica. Once a protÈgÈe of incarcerated deejay Vybz Kartel, Hyper, whose given name is Felecia Gooden, was rated among the top entertainers in dancehall. But following the collapse of the Kartel-led Portmore Empire, the Gaza crew lost its grip on the dancehall industry and most of its members pursued solo careers. Many of them, however, failed in their attempt to stay relevant and were no longer household names. Lisa Hyper, in an interview with THE WEEKEND STAR, admitted to taking a back seat following the misfortunes of the Portmore Empire but explained that her remaining quiet was a strategy, one that is now setting her up for a comeback.                                         THINGS TO REARRANGE "I took a break because there were a few things that I needed to rearrange team...

An assessment would have to be done today on a fire that broke out at the Masonic Building on Barbados Avenue in New Kingston, last night. The Friendly Lodge No. 239, a Freemasons Lodge in the District of Jamaica and the Cayman Islands, holds its meetings in the building. The inferno, which began in the basement area, propelled thick chunks of smoke up through the first, second and third floors. The Ministry of Health occupies two of the floors, however, our news team was told that section was spared even as smoke escaped through some windows. An area close to the A1 Restaurant, which is situated near the basement, received the brunt of the damage. When FLtv arrived on the scene, the fire crew was working assiduously to contain the blaze and perform cooling-down operations. Three units, two from York Park and one from Half-Way Tree responded to the blaze. FLtv was told that tables, chairs, doors, and a partition were totally destroyed. The origin of the fire was undetermi...

The Jamaican Government to declare Mount Salem, St James, a Zone of Special Operations in an attempt to dismantle gangs affiliated with the area, the management of dancehall artiste Tommy Lee Sparta, who hails from the parish, said the deejay wants peace in the parish. Tommy Lee's manager Tanya Thelwell told THE STAR that "Any type of curfew is bad, even though the intentions are good. This is because good people lose their freedom because others are misbehaving. It is like you are an adult, but you are under your parents rule because you can't move about as you like. The sad thing is that the good has to suffer for the bad because they are being held to the same rules." She also said that the Spartan Solider deejay has been using his live performances as a medium to denounce violence. "Tommy recently performed at Margaritaville and he cut his set to speak to the youth to let them know that MoBay is a good place and a tourist destination, and they sho...