HEY PEEPS!  Sorry for the delay!! 

 

Is it just me or did last week fly by?  I remember Monday…and Wednesday…and all of a sudden, Friday just leaped in front and took over.  There were so many things going on – the investigation into Michael Jackson’s death, learning that the doors to Vibe Magazine have been permanently shut and Steve McNair being shot to death.  Nothing but bad news across the board.  I also wanted to do a Maxwell countdown to the release of BLACKsummer’s night (which I have decided to do in my Facebook status instead).  Obviously, the best intentions always go awry.  So I turned to the only thing I know to drown my sorrows: MUSIC.  

 

As much as I wanted to be at The Essence Music Festival, it wasn’t going to happen.  So I headed to see The Roots on Wednesday at their weekly jam session, Thursday I headed to a soiree that Thisisrealmusic.com had at R Bar, Friday I went out to a club with the ladies and Saturday, I ended up doing the same thing.  Needless to say, I am BURNT.  But it was a great July 4th holiday weekend spent with my peeps.  I hope you had a lovely one too, spent with family and friends.  And because of last night’s unplanned outing, I have a smidgen of a rant today.

Last night at the club I attended, I was a bit peeved at the DJ spinning and representing for the “West Indian” massive as he called it.  Here’s my thing: his constant MC’ing (dancehall style) was quite annoying to tell you the truth, because hey, I wasn’t in a dancehall.  He represented well with the reggae sets.  The first set was a mix of old school and new school classics.  The second set was a mix of recent tracks with new tracks.  As the DJ kept on saying he was representing for his West Indian massive, I thought to myself – really?  And then finally a soca set came on.  However, the soca set was what had me on pins and needles.  

As I enjoyed the tracks, I realized that they were all old.  Among every single track played, there was absolutely nothing from the 2009 soca season.  And the huge matter at hand is – this is across the board at many clubs I attend.  Here are my problems with this equation: 

1) IF you can play reggae, hip hop and reggaeton from 2009, you can surely find 2009 soca from your record outlets.  If not, find it.  

2) IF you can play two to three sets of reggae, you can balance it out with some soca and reggaeton as well.  Don’t discriminate, balance it out!

3) IF you decide to keep on saying how you are representing for the West Indian massive, please be prepared.  Not to be facetious, but don’t be half-assed about it, nuh man!  Yes Jamaica is in the West Indies, but it is not the only island there.  And please check the percentage of islands that churn out soca on the daily.  There is a plethora of soca artists and they are not only from Trinidad and Tobago.  Do your work!

 

Some of you may think I am bashing Jamaica, but that is surely not the case.  I love my reggae just as much as the next guy.  Nonetheless, I think it is important to appropriately represent for the massives, if you plan on ranting on about doing so.  There are only so many times I can hear Rupee’s “Jump.”  Don’t insult the patrons, we know what you’re up to!  A lot of DJ’s out there have some work to do – GET ON THAT.

 

Flashback of the day: Here’s some new soca to aid the musical soca selection and direction you should be heading in.  I am giving y’all two to snack on.

 

 

Here’s a mix of soca AND hip hop – don’t sleep! *WARNING* this video is a bit Drake-ish…lol  You have been warned.

 

See y’all soon…

 

Tha Connoisseur