Rapsonic, the star-studded rapso concert held at Coco Lounge in Port-of-Spain on January 22, was billed as “lyrical, alternative, vibes,” but its true significance was that it placed back on the scene—small as it was however—a reunion of talent that heralded the spirit of the mid-to-late 1990s when rapso’s success was tangible and potentially a crossover to the global music scene.
That night was a kind of renaissance. Long, but potentially meaningful in harnessing a kind of rebirth, the audience and artists commended show promoter and a rapso star himself, Ataklan, for this effort and suggested a few more shows before Carnival.
The link between soca (ragga soca) and this second generation of rapso has even been written about in scholarly books—“What makes this ‘brand-new style rapso’ so powerful is the accomplished blending of soca rhythms, underlying hip-hop beats, and recurrently inserted reggae beats” and to validate that link, in person, were stars of both genres to pack a show with the kind of talent that should have been a sold-out crowd paying top dollar.
An important cultural music genre is being ignored or under-served by poor marketing as reflected by the paucity of fans at the beginning to hear Rebellious (Joel Clark) or young new talent like TejaTizzy (Mical Williams.)
A late start to the show did not help either. A confidence flowed in Teja’s delivery that was replicated by Jr Soy, another upcoming rapso artist who delivered simple rhymes, innocuous lyrics, great flow. (Second generation rapso didn’t seem to have the bite of first-generation lyricists like Brother Resistance, Karega Mandela, Lancelot Layne.)
Ozy Merrique, formerly of Homefront, opened his short set with the ironic and intelligent Nigerian Money in which he dealt with the spam e-mails promising riches. Merrique is unique in creating a song that uses with finesse, the difficult word Chaguaramas. It’s a funny and brilliant song about a stush woman who is more like her social opposite.
A recurring theme or topic that night was the patriotic or chauvinistic refrain, “I’m a Trini.”
Mark Hardy, who admitted that he began his musical career in hip hop continued this trend. His recent hit Nah Boy, with Young Rudd had an energy that excited the now increasing audience to a frenzy. Andy Venture echoed the midnight robber’s meter and beat to showcase a uniquely Trini flow to spoken word.
Chanting over song tracks with vocals and the lack of auto tune is rapso’s enemy, so when a cappella rhymes are rapped or chanted, the words are heard and intent is understood.
After a break, the second half began with Curious Ringo, who provided the most apt description of the night’s raison d’être: “Is spoken word, a oral tradition / To bring it back is the mission.”
The connection with the audience was now coalescing in anticipation. Trio 3Suns with Ace, Crym and Menace showed why they got international label attention in the early 2000s. The ragga soca rebirth was loud and dangerous that night.
After Sheldon Blackman debuted the Lazabeam produced track, Love Revolution, Kisskadee Karavan stars Kindred (Omari and Akinde) made what was called a “historic reunion [to] mash up de place!” After individual solos, these childhood friends—now, older, without dreadlocks and admittedly plumper—delivered the hits like Dis Trini Could Flow and Ha Da Dey which still have impact.
Producer Sheldon “Shel Shok” Benjamin who died in 2009 was remembered and given tribute as the audience was reminded that the role of the producer cannot be diminished in rapso. The crowd returned in a frenzy at 1:21 am to listen to soca star Olatunji deliver his recent hits. Surprisingly, when the earlier artists sang soca, there was limited connection with the crowd.
The return of KMC was the pinnacle for many that night. Quoted in the past as saying, “[he] is no longer a soca artiste,” and that “I not trying to big up Trinidad industry—they never supported me,” he began with his soca hit I’m Not Drunk and sustained the highest audience energy that night of all acts, ragga soca or rapso, for over 20 minutes. He told the DJ at one point, “not the EDM [track], this is a soca crowd.” That was a smart move.
Ataklan closed the show with percussive support throughout by hot producer and instrumentalist Lazabeam (Keshav Chandradathsingh)—Ataklan noting that Lazabeam is the “next Shel Shok”—eliciting boisterous singalongs to his hits, De Flood [on the Main Road], Carnival Time Again and Naked Walk.
It was after 2 am and the music would not stop. An endlessly improvised freestyle “chant-off” with Ringo, KMC, 3Suns, Ataklan, Omari, Mark Hardy ensued. It is clear that the rapso artist community is a fraternity with loyal followers. If Rapsonic was a catalyst towards a rapso renaissance, it was a positive beginning.
