SOCA International

[QZA]

Soca it seems is sweeping the American music mainstream. Not long ago a barely heard of niche genre, today Soca is fast becoming the new dance revolution.

Soca, a musical artform that originated in Trinidad and Tobago, fuses Indo-Trinidadian elements with traditional Calypso music. Added to the mix of the new generation of Soca are African American influences, mainly Hip Hop and increasingly R&B.

Rising star kevin Lyttle made the initial breakthrough with his R&B inflected Turn me On which peaked at number 4 on the hot 100 and had sucessful runs on MTV TRL and BET 106 and Park. and now Bajan superstar Rupee is riding the Soca wave with the dance heavy remix of the two year old recording Tempted to touch. Debuting six weeks ago the single now sits at number 46 having jumped 18 places in a single week up from number 64. The top forty beckons next week. In fact the single is so popular that a remix of the remix featuring Lady Saw is already planned.

Kevin Lyttle, Rupee, can a native of the land of Soca be far off? Six months ago this whole story might have been deemed Crazyness.

Story by Valston Yearwood
a.k.a Qza
                     

[TriniXaeno]

Who you think locally has the best chance of pulling of this stunt?

Bunji?
Blueboy?
Destra? (samplin may hamper that)
Machel Xtatic 0.3.4 Alpha Unstable CSV snapshot?
Second Imij (they sing anything it seems)
Darlene Bedoe? (not a soca artist afaik, just makin sure alyuh awake)
Blueboy Daughter?
                     

[SUPR3M3]

lol@blueboy daughter, she still have some way to go. Winning road march one year doesn't make you a toppa top soca artist.

IMO I like Destra to really go forward with it, but as u said the sampling can hamper her greatly. Other than that, her songs are perfect for clubbin, radio, tv etc. I can actually see and hear "Carnival" on BET and over several foreign airwaves and especially in the clubs.                    

[QZA]

Come dig it by machel debuted on the UK charts couple years ago. I think Machel has the right "Package" but he needs a slight makeover , like they did with rupee, look what they have done with tempted to touch. If lil jon is featured on a Crazyness remix and its hip hop heavy it will blow up big time. Apart from machel Destra is the best option , looks , attitude  and talent. she could go places with a slight adjustment. less sampling. her style fits.

And this just un. Soca it seems will be on the Grammy ballots come 2005 as a seperate and specific category. I read an article on that  a couple weeks ago, i just remembered it yesterday when i saw the big strides rupee was making.                    

[MASTER_RAGE3]

but ent kevin from trini?  what qza mean by a native of the soil?                    

[QZA]

nah, he from vincy dread                    

[Bourbon_Ghost]

Who you think locally has the best chance of pulling of this stunt?

Bunji?
Blueboy?
Destra? (samplin may hamper that)
Machel Xtatic 0.3.4 Alpha Unstable CSV snapshot?
Second Imij (they sing anything it seems)
Darlene Bedoe? (not a soca artist afaik, just makin sure alyuh awake)
Blueboy Daughter?

hmmm.........yuh know i think Destra could pull it off
and YAY! fuh th man !

BOOYAH!                    

[QZA]

Yes destra fits the bill . a slight makeover and she could be the first woman to chart with soca. on a slight tangent, Lady saw who will be featured in the remix of tempted to touch has herself debuted on the billboard charts as a solo artist. her year old rcording, "i've got your man" broke into the billboard hot R&B charts listing at #69 (what an apt position for lady saw to debut at ) if it gets sufficient rotation it could crossover to the hot 100                    

[ShinSagat]

Horse macheal and destra is d team to do it CARNIVAL and CELEBRATE !!! carnival is a big one to me as someone who leave tdad and miss it bad