IslandMix - Soca, Reggae, Zouk and Caribbean Entertainment

I'm wonderin' if I am the only 1 bothered by the amount of Trinidadian artists who seem tuh be into d' follow-fashion ting! Sounding like imposters. Don't get me wrong... there is nothing wrong with how Jamaican's do dey ting, but why does it sound like so many of our soca artists seem like imposters. Sometimes, even as a Trini when dey get up there tuh talk, they have me fooled! Not putting anybody down, all I'm sayin is...We are a strong nation with a definite culture and we don't need tuh sound like anybody else. What do u guys think???

Well most ragga soca artist trying to do what they think will make their records get more recognition also to make their music flow year round. you know how trinidadians is, as soon as carnival done they want reggae! so why not give them reggae in the soca and done? people complain bout how the artist only singing one kind of rhythm all the time then when they switch it up they still hearing noise, damn if they do damn if they don't.

Theres now different genre of soca if there is such a thing - groovy soca, ragga soca even have some stupid popso, now popso is a whole new topic.

music is all about sampling and crossing over mixes and trying new things that is how soca was born in the first place else we would of still be stuck with calypso, just my opinion.

p.s just this weekend i was listen to some soca jazz on the radio, nice and mellow.

YEAH Theres rapso what Ataklan kindred 3 canal & others sing without trying 2 sound jamaican.Rapso has deep messages so its not only fete music we have after carnival.That fake accent thing is so 90s.

ah jus awaitin VP arrival...allyuh gih d man ah free pass tuh lick mout in hey...

Since when???

Nothing wrong with experimentation, but I'm with Trinigual...wtf does changing yuh accent to sound like something you clearly are not have to do with progressing soca forward?

How is it that we are the only jackass country that sees it fit to emulate the way others speak/sing in order to sell records?

Why is it that we have to give into the idiots who rather keep soca/calypso a seasonal thing? That is a colonial mentality that needs to be done away with...we don't need to water down soca, cross it over, remix it, reconstitute it, re-badge it or re-define it for nobody in order to make it a year round genre in TnT. We just need to push and support it...and I don't mean half-ass support neither.

Do like me buy original, tell d dj play ah baron next time yu go ah party.REAL SUPPORT!

That is the thing it's gonna stay in trini and trini only if the level of soca stays the same and most of it is already water down so it's to late for that, no need to mix to get water, keeping the original soca flavor is good to preserve our culture but would our soca just mash up the caribbean? instead of trying to mash up the world? and i don't mean just island people all over the world i mean mash up the whole world. bunji garlin and the likes have their own way of putting across their talent and at any soca concert the session always sell out. where all the older calypso/soca artist that tried to keep it real? would they get sell out crowds if the go international?

reggae riddims starting to sound more and more like soca but me en hear nobody complaining about it. what's the difference between riddim and voice? change is change.

If you think Bunji and the Asylum is the answer to taking soca global then you are sadly deluded. Born bred Trinidadians cyah understand what the fack he saying, is foreigners would? Other than niche music lovers, how many people do you really think buy music that they can't understand or on some level relate to? Bunji would probably confuse them poor foreigners, having them think that West Indians are a buch of crazed pyromaniacs if anything.

Machel has a much keener appreciation for the foreign ear if you ask me and his brand of soca would better go over with the mainstream...and despite the fusion of hip-hop and reggae in his music, it is still indubitably a 'soca' sound...he too drops the 'yardi speak' from time to time, but one could hardly ever accuse him of being a ragga soca artist.

You don't need to speak/sing like a facking jafaican in order to sell records.

I think there is room for the ragga soca and the traditional soca sound. I do agree, that there is no need for the culture to become watered down. The one solution is to show support to the traditional artists (i.e. Machel,Destra,Shurwayne). Make them want to try and break into the mainstream market with the "real" Trini sound.

BIG UP D TRUE SOCA ARTIST "DONT STOP' as sherwayne would say"WE NOT GIVIN UP" as machel would say

That's what I'm saying! There's still to much people who don't respect the genre. We need to show more support!

Amen Bredz!!! I'm not saying that there is anything wrong with involving other cultures and sounds into our music, but that has nothing to do wit' how dey choose to speak or pronounce their words. It's a shame that only Carnival time is reserved for Soca and the rest of the year is "tuh hell wit' that" --- Is that supposed to be the type of support given to the music of our land...PURE NONSENSE.

OKAY, my point is this... If Bunji broke into the real worldwide mainstream today, would he be classified as a Reggae or Soca artist? Because of his sound and the way he speaks when performing, by no means would he be called a Soca artist.... he's already considered a reggae artist by some... not Ragga. Especially to foriegners who may not really know any better, it is the artist's responsiblity to make it known that they of a different sound and feel... and the best way to do that is through their music.

Yo that accent thing gets embarassing when real reggae artist hear dem wannabes messin up there dialect.

I want to make a small but very relevant point here...

Has anyone stopped to think that there's a large portion of the population of TnT (particularly the young people) who speak LIKE THAT all the time?

If you were to hang out with the Asylum you would realise that they talk like that ALL THE TIME. And when I say Asylum I don't just say the artists like Bunji, Scar and Ninja or even the band.. just the boys from Arima dat Bunji grew up with and hangs out with...

Or better yet listen to 96.7, 96.1 or 94.1... when people call in they all have a "accent" or use Jamaican slangs and pronounciations... or something so...

Maybe what the artists are doing is a reflection of what is going on in TnT...

And also while we discussin that look at this new movement of "local Jamaicans" as they're referred to... I-Sasha, Million Voice, Khari Kill, Juicy AKA Jahbami, King David, Marlon Asher, Prophet Banjamin....

They all do exactly that (use accents) ... but singing Reggae (well for the most part)!

Perhaps the accent is the result of radio here bombarding us with Reggae all year except for two months around carnival? Anybody study that?