Do I like soca? Yes I do. By my estimates, roughly ninety percent of the T+T population express more than a passing interest in soca music...during the carnival season. Local enthusiasts of rock, dub, hip hop, pop, electronica, house, trance and what have you are liable to "throw some waist" on the famed last week coming into Carnival Monday and Tuesday. Yet a lot of these same people scoff at the notion of Soca music being a serious artform and watch me like I'm mad while I happily bounce to my Soca in the middle of the year. What kinda scene is that?
Apparently, Soca is seen to many as music to 'give yuh a vibes' and inspire jamming and wining during a certain period of abandon but is not expected to auger any serious thought or effect any social change. With the exception of the last part of the statement, I would support this view since I believe that Soca belongs to the wider genre of dance music inside which the goal of making you move takes precedence over all others (lyrical dexterity included). But then techno, house and other dance music are seen as serious music to its local enthusiasts as opposed to Soca so maybe it isn't the dance emphasis that lowers its rank.
Maybe then, the problem lies in the insularity of its topics; admittedly, popular lyrical staples of every soca artiste's rhyme book like "Carnival is bacchanal" seem irrelevant during the rainy months of August. However, how can you knock an entire genre for the foils of some or even many of its practitioners. Would you say medicine makes no sense because of experiences with a few bad doctors? No you probably wouldn't so don't blame the game because the players are lazy.
As a music enthusiast I usually find myself defending soca. It's not that people don't like it but uniformly, once a serious musical discussion takes place, smirks begin to crack once soca is referenced. We might be talking about how important a hook is to a song and I may say something like: "Repetition is an important ingredient to many great hooks, like soca music for instance..." and then the eye rolling and half grins begin. These situations really make the patriot in me want to body slam someone.
I believe that soca has two main strengths: its ability to mix well with different genres of music (a fact that Machel has made lots of money on) and its intrinsic malleable nature (more complex but related to the first point). At its best we have "No war" by Machel Montano, a song that winers probably didn't realise was a 'conscious' song until the video came out. At these levels, soca can send a message without being preachy. At its worst we have Iwer George repeating the word "hand" almost ten billion times in one song. This song revels in banality with part of its appeal being its notoriety for lack of creativity rendering it a landmark in lack of imagination. Bad songs make it hard to defend soca but I believe a genre, like any system should be judged by its best products even when that best is rarely reproduced.
I know it may seem weird that I've decided to write about soca but this stuff has to be said. As an underground artiste in Trinidad, soca music is seen as the enemy mainly because a lot of terrible soca songs slip through the cracks yearly to make it big on radio whereas many more talented artistes in other genres can't 'eat a food'. Frankly, as cruelly ironic as that maybe, I find such contempt misplaced and counter-productive so in the second part of this discussion I'm going to quantify and qualify the reasons why soca is a serious musical artform. Until then, Face out.
4 comments:
Me for one always hated Soca music. And no matter how much I tell people I hate it - is the more folks push it on me. I get from the " is yuh culture' guilt trip to "yuh go get trouble gettin' girls" threats. Musically; it doh make sense. It's a cacaphony of mal-adjusted rythms, basslines, brasslines and mostly a non-existant melody that hides behind the non-sensical rythm. Top it off with cheap ass'd lyrics that don't impress - there you have it; Soca at it's best. I mean man; how many times have we sent bands to music festivals; only to have the panel of judges; men with doctorates in music - cringe until the performance song was finished. Quincy Jones himself said that the music of itself is painful to listen to. So did Sergio Mendez. What does that tell you. We have alot of work to do where developing Soca music is concerned. I think Soca beats are lame as hell. The drum patterns sound like what you'd get from a 4 yr old with down syndrome after you give him a drum set. Further more; if you want Soca to have international appeal; we'll have to cross over and seriously re-think our hooks and melody. If you don't like what I've said here - tuff. I'm not hating - I'm giving good advice. Miguel BoOgie BrOwn Hernandez
Nah Boogie, I'm not hating. I respect your opinion but I believe you're wrong on at least one point. No soca beat ever created is worse than the beat for Soulja Boy's "Crank Dat" yet he captivated the world therefore even if soca beats are mess according to you then why can't soca do the same?
You've given me a lot of stuff to think about for my follow-up article though and for this I thank you.
Oh gosh - well me personally wants to slap Souljah Boie, lil Wayne, Ice T, Snoop Dogg, 50 Cent, Fabolus...All dem men so. Wanna know why?
Dem men is d ones reponsible for the commercial death of Rap music and Hip Hop culture. Dem is d men responsible for rubbing out skills in rap and replacing it with swagger. Now as we (who love hip hop) can remember. Skill was one of the most important things factored into the "So you wanna rap" starter kits for any incumbent.
Swag was what the Drug dealers, Pimps, Gangstas and Trigger men had. Swag is just having a way about you. It wasn’t a skill.
Now because of men like Diddy, Birdman, Tony Yayo and dem. Swag is all there is...So kids like Souljah Boie who wants to go out dey an try ah ting - doin what they do now. America and the rest of the world eats it up because Men like Ice T and the above mentioned changed the game to be like that.
Look at. Q-Tip ketchin he royal ass to sell albums. Tallib Kweli entered the urban charts at number one with "Ear Drum". Sales were poor. Why ? 'Cuz men like Mim's an lil Wayne was already set up to win top billing to sell to a 'dumbed down public' who don't even know what Hip Hop is any more.
Yuh eh realize Will -I- Am of the Black Eye Peas start to make cheap dumb down music too - he just want to 'eat ah food' dis rounds. I cry out for groups like The Roots, Common, Mad Skills, Dj Jazzy Jeff, Murs, Pete Rock even Redman and dem. I wish I had the money to finance a world tour for KRS 1 and Afrika Bambataa and the Soul Sonic Force. Show the whole world what and who we are as Hip Hop children.
We doh give two shilling 'bout a dinner mint price (50Cent) or some dude who cyar rap lookin' to use a vocoder to sound interesting (lil Wayne)...But the women like him; the alternative people (who only like folly) like it and white people one the whole (who don't get black people culture on the whole) love it; and buy up the material to be 'down' with us.
I take the Souljah Boie shot to the guts with stride. But you and I both are Hip Hop men. You know we know better than that.
On the rest of what I saying. The Soca Bands need to hire more musicians and not 'vibes men'. Is still music yuh playing. Melodies have structure and harmony takes a science to understand. Drumology and drum lines take careful study. Soca Bands need more innovative musicians who can read and write music and are willing to take calculated risks. Not people who will interpolate a Cindy Lauper, Seal or Enya Song off ah some midi song site, re-sequence and put a soca beat to it. Come on man. Desmond Waite use to cut meh ass fuh playing wrong note and sour chords. Them Soca Men need that I figure.
The Brass festival is a cryin’ sham (note I don’t mean shame). Why? When last did you see a tight ass’d Brass Section rippin’ up Customs Grounds? Hoss; friggin’ James Brown came down here to match licks with men like Joe Louie an dem.
What you see now is a set of tired ass’d police band men that back up all the stage acts. Shit – I don’t even think Machel have a good Brass side anymore. Now I not knockin’ the new keyboardist that in the band now. Bayete Williams does kick ass; and can emulate a good brass lick on a Yamaha Motif 8. I rate dat fella! But before; him; was a set a jokey men; who callin’ themselves musicians.
Men who cyar read or write; some even tone deaf. Where in any band you does have an ‘MPC Specialist’ other than in Xtatic? Man Joe Hahn from Linkin Park; handles a Dj rig and 2 MPCs….Is he a specialist? No1 He’s a Dj!!!! Jokiness I tell yuh!
Look at again; Kernel Roberts went an friggin’ rip the score from an Enya song to make a hit for the road. Yuh call dat creativity? I know; you want to hit me the Hip Hop producers does sample shot.
But look at it; Hip Hop producers don’t have the money to spend on the kinda rigs that I see them Soca bands have. They get the best of everything (gearwise) and under utilize it to the max. Machel band alone have ‘bout 4 Motif, 2 Triton Studio, 2 MPC 4000. Atlantic….Well oh gosh; Cliff Harris I believe is a gear junkie.
The amount of studio and band gear they have. Traffic in a mess too. But are there enough musicians creating riffs and melodies on them? No!
This is what I sound like on an MPC and a PSR 740 low end keyboard here:
http://www.myspace.com/boogiebrownsplace
....... Yuh know what? I still can’t afford a band, or even quarter of the gear that the garden variety Soca band even has in their band room. But back to the point!
I pay something like 8 grand for my MPC. I suck salt for the better part of the year. Hip Hop producers go through the same. So after we spend that type of money. Do you think we could afford to hire a band? Ofcourse we sample. Some of us; like Madlib, Pete Rock, Dj Premier and Large Proffessor. Do some real great jobs at creating music with other music.
Other jokey producers like Jus Blaze and Diddy do terrible work. Some even go as far as to just use the instrumental for their artist to rap on. Then turn around and say they produced. Once again; those dudes are the ones who make Hip Hop look friggin’ bad and lame.
Sorry for straying off topic.
My point is this. In my mind to be in a band the band members have to have a good understanding of music; as well as have the exceptional talent to be in the band. James Brown only took the phenoms, wizards and idiot savants to be in his band. That’s part of why I like Nigel Rojas. He has the same work ethic. If he’s a freak behind a guitar; he’ll need a freak behind the drums; a freak on bass – etc.
Follow the rules in music. To hell wid dis vibes ting! Leave dat for the corner when yuh smokin’ yuh tings an dem!
I still don’t like Soca because of it’s corny ambience. It’s poor riffs, melodies, drab basslines and brasslines. I even hate it more when they try to emulate Hip Hop (that’s even worse than corny).
So send it out there. We need to do better. We need to take it back to men like Fitzroy Coleman (a real musician….one of the baddest guitarist in kaiso ever). Take it back to the Mighty Shadow (the original bassman from hell), Andre Tanker (Trinidad’s only funkster), Black Stalin and Brother Valentino.
Start the music over again. Tell Olutunji Yearwood to take a prozack, tell Destra to take a pin and stick it in her over blown egotistical and vain head. Tell Machel to start back practicing his scales on keyboard and guitar again, tell Shurwayne to go back to a vocal coach (and tell him that music is music – not melodramatic banter), tell Kernel to behave.
Let Roy Cape play….I serious ‘bout dat….Let Roy play.
Tell Shelshok to read over the MPC manual. Tell Kes to make up he mind on what the hell genre he is (cuz’ Caribbean is not a genre). Tell Bunji to get a better producer too.
That’s my 2 cents. I’m out.
Oh yeah! If you still think I’m hating – I’m only holding up a mirror. Y’all don’t like what you see – change!
Long Live Hip Hop…Peace to all my Junglis’ and Drum ‘n Bass Fam!
Peace bro!
Good informative post man even though you called Just Blaze a 'jokey man' (hoss doh knock de man just because of de lazy sampling on "Live your life"). You actually educated me a lot because even though I'm a music nerd and know a lot about various genres and such, I don't know sh*t when it comes to the actual production and equipment used in production.
Although I agree that in recent years like 80% of the soca music is mess, there is always some redeeming ones where the music production, 'lyrics' and vibe is up to snuff. And I say 'lyrics' because all in all, soca as a genre is more about the vibe than the lyrics. That doesn't excuse Iwer George for his limbo-like songwriting execution (I swear he must be hit rock bottom and drilling for oil now) but oh gosh...comparing it to the lyrical expectations of rap is unfair.
I also agree that the biggest soca stars are falling off but that just means that the evolution for soca is coming. It happens to all genres. From 1992 with Super Blue until 1997, the year of "Big Truck", soca music was ravaged by clones of flag waving music until songs like "Pretty Gyal" and Ataklan's "Flambeau" etc switched up the genre for good. Hip hop is also going through the same thing now and at some point there will be another golden age...either that or the music will die totally (which has a probability of like 1 in a billion). In any event, I acknowledge that the execution of the soca genre if poor but I like and respect the carefree, breakway nature of soca dance music by definition and I guess that is where we disagree.
Post a Comment