IslandMix - Soca, Reggae, Zouk and Caribbean Entertainment

Why does it have a "one size fits all" in soca? It gets frustrating reading post after post year after year by socaheads that you cant do this you cant do that in soca. If an artist try this, or that he's selling out. Thank God the artists aren't listening to some of you guys, or else they would be biting their nails wondering if they're doing the right thing. Fact is, an artist should be able to do what he likes. The funny thing is the median age around here is probably 24-25, here's a shocker guys, i can show you about 15 ways or more that soca has changed in tha last 15yrs., older heads will know what i'm talking about. From the deep bass (a la reggae) to recording the music minus that riddim or horn section (some islands still include it). In other words it will keep changing like it has been and there's not much you can do about it. Maybe it's because i'm l;ooking at it from a "reggaehead's" point of view, but there should be the Scrunter,Rudder,RPB,Inspector,
Bomani for purists like SOS, Bunji,SkinnyF,Maximus,Lil Rick for some, then still the Leeward style bands and Machel and Alison for others. In reggae there are 7 or 8 subgenres, so you wont hear the Gregory Isaacs fan telling the Sizzla's fan that Sizzla is selling out,the GI's fan wouldnt give a sh1t. Machel should be able to do whatever he wants to by now, he's earned it. Sure he was a purist in the early 90s (yeah i remember) but man grow up and wants to try different things. I'm guessing here that 75% of heads want it remain as it is (50% reggae in content lol) to be consumed by only West Indians, and 25% would like to see it "blow up" (whatever that means), but it's not going to "blow up" as it is. Sure you will have a "one off" in it's purest form, but the big guys will treat it as a novelty act like the macarena or polka then it will fall off. Picture Beres "Rockaway" reaching mainstream untouched and playing from Texas to Toronto on their Kiss this or Kiss that stations nah....... right? But we all love it still. Now this is where dancehall comes in because it's elastic, you can stretch and tweak it anyway you want cause it's expected, and no one will say "you cant do that" Soca has changed big time over the years and it will continue to change like all other music forms.When your mom heard "Maxi Taxi" for the first time she was probably saying "wah de hell is dis".

Generation gap my friend... and the bad thing is most people doh even recognize that they have fallen into the same trap their parents did.

But i heard DE QUEEN OF REGGAE DIS ELEPHANT MAN FOR HIS SONG WITH TWISTER "JOOK GYAL".

But my ting is... why does the artists have to feel cornered?
I cant think of another music form that so much pressure is put on the artist.

Fix dis fi mi.....who is the queen?

SISTA MARCIA!

People afraid of change... but change is inevitable. And the quicker they can accept this and just enjoy the music the better.

I have to agree. And worst in the smaller islands I think, because their artists are scorned for even adopting styles similar to T&T or Bim. Its totally ridiculous to me. Whatever happened to artistic freedom? How can these guys be truly creative if they are not allowed to express themselves? I have asked a number of freiends in the business and they all tell me that the way an artistes express themselves is all in accordance to the way music first affected their lives. If your parents liked jazz, or classical music, you were raised in the chruch, you were trained formally, you learned music on your own, you played pan, you sang on a choir, and so on and so on.

I hope this makes sense. But I am so tired of all this nonsense.
Dance-hall artistes take so many liberties and experiment as they see fit with some criticism but not like the kind soca artistes get.

this is my first post on this website and I must admit i agree what you'll are saying, I personally would like to see some change in soca cause, same year in and out is the same old thing, same artists, same soca monarch contenders, compare to other genres, there are hardly any new artist breaking through for whatever political reason cause I know there are loads of good artist in the business who can't get no airplay and all that rubbish, i was looking at dhr and found this record label in the uk that doing something different in soca, but i think it is a step fwd Katana House Records but the soca business and ppl behind it need to fix up first for change to come, cause too much controversy in the business....

Correct is right!

BOUNTI KILLER said de dancehall world is de most stagnant in de world he said its de same people in de dancehall from ten years ago includin himself.Same beenie bounty, capleton, sizzla,chuck fender, spragga, lady saw, macka diamon,ninja man yu see we know alot about soca but de dancehall has much more fight down and concerns.Ten years ago in soca monarch was different dey had crazy,denise plummer,ajala,super blue,ronnie mc intosh,nigel lewis,colin lucas,melanie hudson,gillo,mac fingal,de list goes on so we do have our issues but doh bash soca like if we so stupid.

Well, if I have to BASED that comment on the CURRENT STATE of DANCEHALL, I will have to say that BOUNTY KILLA is ABSOLUTELY INCORRECT.

By the way, where did you get the IDEA that Chuck Fender, Sizzla, Macka Diamon were BIG ACTS 10 years ago??

And where did you get the IDEA that NINJAMAN and even LADY SAW are RELEVANT on the AIRWAVES today?

THIS IS WHAT DE MAN SAY BOUNTY HIMSELF IN AN INTERVEIW ON PLUSH TV HE CALLED ALLTHESE NAMES and i would asume he is in a better position 2 say what he said.

Do you hear any HIT SONGS from Ninjaman and Lady Saw currently on the AIRWAVES???

Were CHUCK FENDER and MAcka Diamond HIT MAKERS 10 years ago?>

What are some of the BIG DANCEHALL tracks CURRENTLY on the AIRWAVES and who are the artists that made these SONGS.

When you ANSWER those 3 QUESTIONS tell me if what you QUOTED Bounty KILLA is CORRECT.

DIVERSITY in SOCA is not a SIN....it is PROGRESS.

Good POST.