Biography
Though the Reggae/Dancehall industry is dominated by men, Karamanti stands as a strong black woman, (in her home town of Kingston, Jamaica) raining showers of conscious lyrics to a generation far from reality.
Karamanti has been creating music since she was eight years old. Falling in love first with rap (or hip-hop), then embracing Dancehall and now ionate about Reggae. In spite of the fact that she has been making music for most of her life, she only began to pursue it as a career in 2011. Currently regarded by many as one of Jamaica's best female lyricist, Karamanti writes her own songs and operates her own record company; Blakkwuman22 Music.
Industry insiders began paying attention to her whenshe released the single “don’t it,” produced by RedBoom in 2012. The track exposed her to a hardcoreDancehall audience that was eager to hear more fromthe self acclaimed Pan-Africanist. Karamanti spent the summer of 2012 engaged in anationwide media tour which had her performing, and/or being interviewed on most of themajor entertainment radio and TV programs in Jamaica. That was followed by a Canadian tourwhich featured performances on big events such as the Montreal Reggae Festival and theToronto Rasta Festival.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Since she officially stepped out on the scene in 2012, Karamanti has been consistent inreleasing songs which focuses primarily on social and political issues. She has done severalmusic videos and live performances both in Jamaica and overseas.Karamanti's voice can be heard on some of the biggest Reggae and Dancehall rhythms comingout of Jamaica: Heights Riddim (“Gye Nyame”), Rock Island Riddim (“Fake Rasta”), Life TriangleRiddim (“Hold On”), Reggae Land Riddim (“Domestic Abuse”), Love Bounce Riddim (“Da One YaFi”) and that is just to name a few. She has also enjoyed success with singles like “Read,” whichwas produced by Denmark’s #1 Dancehall artist/producer, Pharfar. The song got heavy radiorotation and climbed to the #1 spot on the Top Ten Conscious Chart which airs on Jamaica’sRoots FM. It sat there for weeks beating out songs from now popular artist, Chronixx.
Karamanti has collaborated with major Jamaican artists: 3 Starr (from Mavado’s Gully Squad),veteran Mikey General, Asante Amen and many others. She has also done recordings withinternational acts: Iwan, Sonniballi, Blasto, Lise Ranks, Stonebwoy and several others. In herrole as executive producer, Karamanti, via her record company, Blakkwuman22 Music hasreleased projects which feature long time dancehall artist Alozade, iconic star, Lt. Stitchie and alot more respected Jamaican artists.In April 2013, Karamanti released her first and only studio album entitled Dancehall Retaliates.
It was released on her Blakkwuman22 Music label with production credits going to both Ricardo‘Red Boom’ Reid and Shamarie ‘Digital Sham’ Bogle. Karamanti was nominated as best thefemale solo artist for 2013 by the Dancehall Industry Awards (held in the UK). Additionally, oneof her videos for the song “Rise” (which is on the album Dancehall Retaliates) was nominated asbest Dancehall video for 2013. To top it off, Reggae included Dancehall Retaliates in theWINS REGGAE AWARDS in the category for Dancehall Album of the year for 2013. Here shewent up against two Jamaican heavy weights: Vybz Kartel and Mr. Vegas.
Karamanti has performed all over the world. She has graced stages in cities like Gothenburg,Stockholm, Hamburg, Prague, Copenhagen, Roskilde, Aarhus and more in Europe; andVancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Seattle, Bellingham and more in North America; and DominicaRepublic and of course, Jamaica in the Caribbean.
THE BUSINESS WOMAN
Aside from creating and producing music, Karamanti is also the owner and C.E.O of MJE (MariaJackson Entertainment: a company that operates as a digital marketer with an emphasis onpromoting music) and MJ Magazine (a magazine that promotes positive Black music, cultureand lifestyle: www.mjmagazine.org). Additionally, she recently became a member of Jam LinkInternational (a Europe based association focused on artist bookings and cultural eventspromotion).
HERE & NOW
Karamanti begins 2016 with a new approach to music. She now creates songs to comfort andenlighten lost souls, particularly those feeling misplaced and/or affected by racialdiscrimination. She arrived at the decision to take this new approach after meeting andcounseling several persons, while on tour, who felt marginalized because of their race. Inaddition to making music to address this issue, Karamanti has also decided to take it a stepfurther by writing a book on the matter. She began working on the book at the beginning ofFebruary with hopes to have it completed by the end of the year.
OTHER INTERESTS
When she is not busy working in the music industry or penning new content Karamanti spendsmost of her leisure time engaged in her other two ions: reading and exercising. She is anavid reader who enjoys expanding her knowledge on Religion, Psychology, History, Politics,Marketing, Finance, Wealth, Spirituality, World Cultures and a wide range of other topics. Notonly does she peruse these subjects but she sometimes attends seminars and conductsextensive research so as to acquire as much information on them as possible.
Her love for reading is not to be sured by the pleasure she gets from working out and livinga healthy lifestyle. Karamanti has been consistently training for well over two decades. She jogsand participates in rigorous exercises for approximately two hours at least six days a week.Karamanti is also a vegetarian who periodically goes on alkaline based diets.Persons wanting to work with Karamanti may do so by sending an email [email protected]
Karamanti has been creating music since she was eight years old. Falling in love first with rap (or hip-hop), then embracing Dancehall and now ionate about Reggae. In spite of the fact that she has been making music for most of her life, she only began to pursue it as a career in 2011. Currently regarded by many as one of Jamaica's best female lyricist, Karamanti writes her own songs and operates her own record company; Blakkwuman22 Music.
Industry insiders began paying attention to her whenshe released the single “don’t it,” produced by RedBoom in 2012. The track exposed her to a hardcoreDancehall audience that was eager to hear more fromthe self acclaimed Pan-Africanist. Karamanti spent the summer of 2012 engaged in anationwide media tour which had her performing, and/or being interviewed on most of themajor entertainment radio and TV programs in Jamaica. That was followed by a Canadian tourwhich featured performances on big events such as the Montreal Reggae Festival and theToronto Rasta Festival.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Since she officially stepped out on the scene in 2012, Karamanti has been consistent inreleasing songs which focuses primarily on social and political issues. She has done severalmusic videos and live performances both in Jamaica and overseas.Karamanti's voice can be heard on some of the biggest Reggae and Dancehall rhythms comingout of Jamaica: Heights Riddim (“Gye Nyame”), Rock Island Riddim (“Fake Rasta”), Life TriangleRiddim (“Hold On”), Reggae Land Riddim (“Domestic Abuse”), Love Bounce Riddim (“Da One YaFi”) and that is just to name a few. She has also enjoyed success with singles like “Read,” whichwas produced by Denmark’s #1 Dancehall artist/producer, Pharfar. The song got heavy radiorotation and climbed to the #1 spot on the Top Ten Conscious Chart which airs on Jamaica’sRoots FM. It sat there for weeks beating out songs from now popular artist, Chronixx.
Karamanti has collaborated with major Jamaican artists: 3 Starr (from Mavado’s Gully Squad),veteran Mikey General, Asante Amen and many others. She has also done recordings withinternational acts: Iwan, Sonniballi, Blasto, Lise Ranks, Stonebwoy and several others. In herrole as executive producer, Karamanti, via her record company, Blakkwuman22 Music hasreleased projects which feature long time dancehall artist Alozade, iconic star, Lt. Stitchie and alot more respected Jamaican artists.In April 2013, Karamanti released her first and only studio album entitled Dancehall Retaliates.
It was released on her Blakkwuman22 Music label with production credits going to both Ricardo‘Red Boom’ Reid and Shamarie ‘Digital Sham’ Bogle. Karamanti was nominated as best thefemale solo artist for 2013 by the Dancehall Industry Awards (held in the UK). Additionally, oneof her videos for the song “Rise” (which is on the album Dancehall Retaliates) was nominated asbest Dancehall video for 2013. To top it off, Reggae included Dancehall Retaliates in theWINS REGGAE AWARDS in the category for Dancehall Album of the year for 2013. Here shewent up against two Jamaican heavy weights: Vybz Kartel and Mr. Vegas.
Karamanti has performed all over the world. She has graced stages in cities like Gothenburg,Stockholm, Hamburg, Prague, Copenhagen, Roskilde, Aarhus and more in Europe; andVancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Seattle, Bellingham and more in North America; and DominicaRepublic and of course, Jamaica in the Caribbean.
THE BUSINESS WOMAN
Aside from creating and producing music, Karamanti is also the owner and C.E.O of MJE (MariaJackson Entertainment: a company that operates as a digital marketer with an emphasis onpromoting music) and MJ Magazine (a magazine that promotes positive Black music, cultureand lifestyle: www.mjmagazine.org). Additionally, she recently became a member of Jam LinkInternational (a Europe based association focused on artist bookings and cultural eventspromotion).
HERE & NOW
Karamanti begins 2016 with a new approach to music. She now creates songs to comfort andenlighten lost souls, particularly those feeling misplaced and/or affected by racialdiscrimination. She arrived at the decision to take this new approach after meeting andcounseling several persons, while on tour, who felt marginalized because of their race. Inaddition to making music to address this issue, Karamanti has also decided to take it a stepfurther by writing a book on the matter. She began working on the book at the beginning ofFebruary with hopes to have it completed by the end of the year.
OTHER INTERESTS
When she is not busy working in the music industry or penning new content Karamanti spendsmost of her leisure time engaged in her other two ions: reading and exercising. She is anavid reader who enjoys expanding her knowledge on Religion, Psychology, History, Politics,Marketing, Finance, Wealth, Spirituality, World Cultures and a wide range of other topics. Notonly does she peruse these subjects but she sometimes attends seminars and conductsextensive research so as to acquire as much information on them as possible.
Her love for reading is not to be sured by the pleasure she gets from working out and livinga healthy lifestyle. Karamanti has been consistently training for well over two decades. She jogsand participates in rigorous exercises for approximately two hours at least six days a week.Karamanti is also a vegetarian who periodically goes on alkaline based diets.Persons wanting to work with Karamanti may do so by sending an email [email protected]
