IslandMix - Soca, Reggae, Zouk and Caribbean Entertainment

everyone is to be blamed..soca music has to much hurdles...

1. some ppl are not open to other islands style of music...

2.SOME djs within di islands or stateside not pushin other islands soca music via virginislands st kitts anguilla into barbados trini svg and vice versa...

3.dancehall to powerfull and every1 on the reggae/dancehall vibz...

4.soca artist say they support other isalnds soca..buh dont do colaborations enuff wit di artists or bands from those islands i,e will u hear machael mantano do ah collaberation wit ah band from "smaller islands" besides flames from yrs back.....or di "Queen of Soca"..do a collaboration wit ah band from anguilla..or ah band from dah VI do ah collaboration wit SKINNY Fabulous...until we open up our MINDS AND EARS.we will not progress even further...i love my soca music doh care wah islands...buh to see my culture not opening up and di islands not unifying on this matter..we will be 2nd or 3rd rate....

montano

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~~When your character is built on spiritual and moral foundations, your contagious way of life will influence millions.~~

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FyzoBadMan

Outta Road... Delhi Road

true on that my friend

that is so true my friend .if we want our music to prosper we the whole caribbean have to work together.when we have a opening of the minds great things can come from it .

It is always easy to lame lack of unity and DJs but some of the artists and heir managing partners are downright horrible at marketing their product as well as making their presence felt even when requested. I personally recieve musc from countless producers and artists but there are some that you have to jump through hoops to find if you wnt them to perform or be interviewed. Some you may ask for their material and they never get back to you. I agree unity is lacking and do not deny that some DJs are uninformed or simply biased, but everyone has a role to play.

Another thing I have noticed over the years is that some artists in soca over estimate their importance in the scheme of things. I wont call any names but a few popular artists have had the audacity to want to charge DJs fro something as simple as drops. Now me personally i have drops and plates from artist spaning various genres. reggae artists have no shame about plugging themselves so once they see a recorder and a script with names it flows ever so easily. do that with soca some soca artists and its almost as if they feel they need to show off on DJs and make a fuss. With the rise of bootleg and internet radio almost every DJ has a massive audience and something as simple as a drop saying "Dis is _______ and when I in ________ I always listen to_________" can go a long way in increasing artists popularity and recognizability. Our industry needs to wise up from top to bottom.

DROPS

From the other end of the spectrum - drops cost money, you have to rent a studio pay a producer to be there - yes I understand that in the scheme of things it looks as if the artist should get something out of it - you believe promotion. How long is the DJ going to use this drop? How many DJ's should aritsts do drops for? At almost $100US a pop to make, it becomes an expensive proposition for a genre where very few artists make any money.

Sending Music To DJ's

Some of the response you get back is mind boggling. I like this, its different, I will play it once for you. If an artist steps of the soca genre with soca music not this diluted stuff we are hearing, DJ'as don't want to play the music, especially if the music is not uptempo.


I am not going to disagree, but the bias in the soca music industry has kept good artist and artist that could move the genre from any form of recognition. Even the award shows we have for this music are outrageous.

That is so true .There are a lot of changes that needs to be done .To me the business has became greedy in some areas .Some artists preformances are poor .

really? wow. no wonder soca not goin anywhere. cus it is also people like u dat does believe so much hype. did u see any of "machels guys" do this? do u know any off "machel guys"
cus beenie said so?

i saw a fight amongt d djs bro. U got 10 djs tryin to play for beenie man wat wud u expect. i saw machel's band on stage when dat fight broke out.

"machel's guys"
which one. tell me.stups

dat is why soca not goin anywhere cus a dancehall artist get on stage and say someting and everyone wants to believe de worst. like if anyone really knew wat went on.

soca cant go no where when u got stupidity like this in d fetes.

now really, wat does machel has to gain from pullin out beenie man plug?
u really think that machel sent someone and said, "daug, go pull beenie man plug"

stups.

for soca to go forward them have to get rid of people like u coming and spreadin stupud rumours.

"machel's guy" hahaha

dats really lame

the caribbean has so many cultures first thing. the carnivals too makes it hard also cus most artist only record music for carnival. makin it very cultural. so ajans gine only want to hear tunes to mek dem wuk up at crop over, trinis gine only want to hear tunes to mek dem party all nite, grandian only want to hear dem jab jab durin dem festival.

in bdos, as crop over done, d radio goes back to hip hop n r&b. so cross over artist dont stand a chance. i dont know if it is d same in other countries.

but i think it is d radio statons n djs that have to support the soca more.

start playin more soca outside d carnivals n introduce more outside music to the countries.

Listen i was at the front of the stage ......... i saw when beenie man dj and machal dj started to fight.......and they were fighting because machel dj unplug the music.......so you relax......

beenie dj came onstage and told him what happened and he announced to the crowd that machal aint want him to do his work.......and then beenie left the stage and then machal came on.....so dont act like u know anything....i stood right next to the fight......

so mr pinehill i aint believing any hype...i witness it

P.S... people like you dont appreciate soca music so thats another reason..... so stick with your pinehill juices and market that...

As for the Beenie Vs Machel situation: That's phucked up to say the least. I tried to look up info on what happened but it seems that only I-Mix has it...oh well.

As for the music not going anywhere: Ever since i've started listening to the music, i've turned other people on to it and they have also. Me personally, I love music in general and open to new things. I always wondered about music outside of JA and that it actually exist. That's when I found soca music. Ever since, i've been listening to the stuff, playing it everywhere, telling people about it, and so on. Even got some cds and shyt on the way in the mail. So really, I look at it like I look at hip-hop back in the day. People said it was gonna go anywhere mainly cause people wasn't working with people from other parts of the country. Look at now, NY artist are doing songs with southern, mid west and west coast rappers like crazy and this been going on for 15 years or so. So really, as like another poster said, the problem lies in the dissension between islands and not many folks being open minded to doing songs with other islands and really putting down for the genre. Also, DJs gotta push the music more really. And also that fans gotta have more respect for the artform and really get behind it. Yes, the DJs got the final say in what they play but they also gotta listen to the people in order to keep a fan base.

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"Not all glitter is gold."

I agree..some djs need to push di music...me personally im ah dj in nyc....even though roots are from "small islands", i always play soca from both leeward and windward islands....reason why is dah i have different ppl comin inna di dance from other islands and countries i.e central america which also listen to soca. But at di same time some of my fellow djs only play "deh" soca cause of their "fan base". Yes too much seperations inna di islands buh at di same time u have those that love all styles....listen soca music is easy to blend mix or waheva....its up to all parties from di artist management djs party goers and listeners and club owners to open up...its well than enuff soca chunes to buss rather than play 1 or 2 islands soca....to me if u doin ah soca jam or event, wit lots of ppl from all islands u need at least 3-4 djs from those respective areas, leeward and windward islands...so we need to buss all parties involved in deh heads especially djs for not promoting our beloved culture how it suppose to be done di right way...soca is soca no matter what!

This is interesting, I noticed here in Bermuda a few thing about Soca.

1. It's not "gangster" enough for some, they love it in Private, but won't dance to it in Public, now play some Mavado, Serani etc. they go off their heads.

2. It seems seasonal, like you can't have a Soca show in Bermuda after October. But have one in July/August it ramm out.

3. Most people here say " I like Soca, but can't handle it all night," but dancehall they'll listen too until the cows come home.

4. What converts some Bermudians is a trip to Carnival, where they learn that Soca is actually cool anywhere, anytime.

I'm a Soca Lover 24/7 and get an attitude if I don't hear it in the club.