Lexus LS 600h L

Here we have the most expensive hybrid available to U.S. consumers, one that is rated at just 2 mpg better than the $33,000 less-expensive, non-hybrid LS 460 L. A cost-benefit analysis certainly isn’t what this car is about; after all, when the Wall Street Journal crunched the numbers, it figured that the hybrid version will save its owner enough on gas to break even after 2.1 million miles.

But how does it drive? Seamlessly, we must say, despite weighing 805 pounds more than our long-term LS 460 L. For as complicated as it is (a V8 supplemented by an electric drive motor, generator, a nickel-metal-hydride battery pack, all-wheel drive, etc.), it’s by far the smoothest hybrid we can recall driving, though it’s hard to say how much of that can be chalked straight up to the eight-speed transmission.

It is also impeccably built and extraordinarily quiet, even when approaching go-straight-to-jail speeds.

Still, it’s hard to justify that enormous premium, even if Lexus deserves credit for pushing the hybrid envelope.

Passa Passa not affected by Tivoli shooting

The weekly Passa Passa street dance held along Spanish Town Road in Kingston was back to its usual hype when it was held Wednesday night into Thursday morning.

Many feared that the weekly events held in Tivoli and surrounding areas might not have had the usual strong turnout following last week’s shooting of five persons in the area during a joint police and military operation.

“Last Tuesday made one week since the Tivoli thing, and we never had any events since that, because di whole community was in mourning, but we will know by tomorrow (Thursday) when Passa keep to see if people afraid to come out or dem will come support it,” Meely, one of the promoters of Passa Passa told The STAR on Tuesday.

However, when THE STAR contacted the Passa Passa promoter yesterday, following the event, he said he was surprised at the turnout.

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Black Judah - an unusual combination

When you hear of a musical duo that is part Jamaican and part American, you probably think that the Jamaican will be the deejay while the American sings. This is not the case for Black Judah.

The duo comprises a Jamaican singer, Sugar Black, whose birth name is Patrick Hall, and Caucasian deejay Dylan Judah, whose birth name is Dylan Hyde.

Each had an interesting story before they formed the duo in 2004. Sugar Black was a recording artiste who worked with Penthouse Records. He was also was signed to Tony Rebel’s Flames Production since 1995. During this time he formed linkages with artistes like Ras Shiloh, Tony Rebel, Garnett Silk, Lebanchuleh and Jah Mason. He was also part of the Jah By My Side Tour, which ended prematurely in 2000.

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Uncle Murda Speaks Out After Shooting, “I Think It Was The Police That Shot Me”

Uncle Murda, was shot in the head Tuesday (Jan. 22) night in Brooklyn. The Roc-A-Fella rapper suspects police may be behind the shooting, which left him with no major injuries.

SOHH caught up with the rapper and got the low down on his beef with cops, how he escaped a hit on his life without so much as a concussion and the new album under Roc-A-Fella.

As SOHH previously reported, Murda was shot while sitting in a parked car in Brooklyn. The rapper, whose latest release is titled “Respect the Shooter,” checked himself out of the hospital the next day and headed into the studio with the bullet still in his head.

The irony isn’t lost on him.

“The shooter got shot, but I’m good,” Uncle Murda told SOHH this afternoon, in an exclusive interview, making light of the graze he suffered in an apparent attempt on his life.

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Uncle Murda Shot, Refuses To Cooperate With Police

Rumors were circulated on the net over the last few days that Uncle Murda was shot in the head. Well today it is finally confirmed that Brooklyn rapper Uncle Murda was shot in the head on Tuesday night (Jan 22) while sitting in a parked car.

The27-year-old rapper, whose real name is Leonard Grant, was grazed by abullet around 10:30 p.m. during a shooting on Linden Blvd. in East NewYork. Sources says that Murda was not seriously injured. Murda only suffered a minor graze wound.

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February officially ‘Reggae Month’

When Governor-General Sir Kenneth Hall acknowledged those gathered in the ballroom of King’s House, Hope Road, St. Andrew, on Thursday morning, he asked if he should say reggae or music industry. There was a general call of ‘music’ and he duly hailed them, adding “and particularly members of the reggae family”.

Those members of the reggae family duly applauded enthusiastically after he read the proclamation beginning, “Whereas reggae is the heartbeat of Jamaica”, and ending, “I hereby proclaim the month of February to be celebrated now and henceforth as Reggae Month.”

And they applauded also when Minister of Information, Culture, Youth and Sports, Olivia Grange, in giving thanks all around, asked, “Isn’t this a wonderful feeling? From the corners of Trench Town and west Kingston to the halls of King’s House.”

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