Spotrushaz

Publishd SUN Apr 2. Sun Mix

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http://www.trinidadexpress.com/index.pl/article_mix_mag?id=147901952 - Trinidad Express Newspaper

Last night, Spotrushaz pelt ah skate tackle at the bourgeoisies at 51º. The ref waved play on, but the hard core Trini rappers bust out a whuppin that will clearly leave a mark on these people backside.

I’ve always said that hip hop in Port of Spain were two concepts that would take a ginormous effort to bring together.

Well thank God that Spotrushaz had the danglers to stick with their guns and keep singing that hippidey hoppedy music, cause POS got rap for real.

But keeping it real in hip hop, this far from he Brooklyn and LA womb, has always bin a difficult task.
We got the issue of the accent. Yuh really cyar rap widout adopting a freshwater Yankee accent eh. And in this town, freshwater Yankees doh gets no love.
But you gottah look past that. The genre demands a certain sacrifice. And what the Spotrushaz have evolved is beyond attempting to get the accents real and focused on the flow, the rhymes and the sick sick furkin beats!
Last night at the Phat Black Pussy Cat lounge session at 51º on Cipriani Boulevard, the crowd was mainly the lounge lizard variety, and there to floss the styles and bump the gums—not sayin that’s such a bad thing. And yeah, it had some bad ting there too, but we go leave that alone.

But the 51º scene, I doh know if that is really 1: the spot to hold a session called Phat Black Pussy anything, 2: the sound system really gottah be better in the club. The acoustics are really horrible and if yuh aint committed to fixin that then jus stick to the drinkin and small talk.
But I don’t want anybody say the Liming Team doh like 51º cause hells no that aint spot on. But we keeping it real. Handle yuh stories.

So anyway, back to the Spotrush Rhyme Syndicate…
The beats are tighter than a fly bamsie and the boys ride it harder than gay cowboys alone up on the range, during a cold spell, when they need to snuggle to keep warm…
No, the beats aint gay!
And the crew aint gay!
Im sayin they ride the beats hard…
Lol
Sorry. Ok, I’ll get serious now.

Since Ghettorians’ busted out what seems like a million years ago, the local hip hop community has had its ups and downs. From back in the day, hanging out in Archie’s bedroom high up above Charlotte Street, to the breakaways and the break ups. To the dub plates for the slew of young sounds that seemed to pop up every week and still do for some quite strange reason.

I remember a scene in the early 90s down at the Tunnel in Chaguanas, then another previous iteration of the Phat Blacks in the Up Top on Ariapita that closed off that decade. And through it all we witnessed the evolution of the Spotrush techniques.

I remember the 5 Piece, carefully wrapped in foil to lock in that icky stickiness.

The guys have come a long way and after last night, where people were bobbin the heads, and strangers were singing along to a big radio hit, well, you can’t shake the feeling that there’s a long way to go still.
- www.limingteam.com

The school of hip hop was in session on Saturday night.

The Principal: DJ Jus Jase, the Trini Tech.Nition; the location: Pabloz Bar, St James, Trinidad; the students: hip hop lovers of all ages, sizes and races.

If your idea of hip hop is the radio-friendly, commercial sounds of Nelly, TI, Dem Franchize Boys and Bird Man, then this wasn't the place for you.

I Am Hip Hop, a celebration of the musical artform that started on the streets and today has influenced the way the world speaks, dresses and dances, featured only hardcore, classic hip hop from the days when rap spoke of social ills, big dreams and bragging rights. Jus Jase organised the event, which he intends to be an annual affair.

Commanding the turn tables, Jase, who is also a radio show host, sent Trini hip hop lovers into a frenzy with styles from Eric B and Rakim, very early Busta Rhymes, Wu Tang Clan, KRS One, Xhibit, DJ Premiere, Mobb Deep, and of course Biggie Smalls and Tupac, to name a few.

"This is an education right here," he shouted, as he threw some James Brown songs into the mix to show just how big of an influence the late Godfather of Soul was in the creation of hip hop. Just about every song he played was sampled, and continues to be sampled, by hip hop artistes.

By now there are probably raised eyebrows and people are wondering why there was a hip hop party in the land of soca. But it may surprise many to know that there is a growing hip hop movement in Trinidad, and there are local rappers who make the underground circuit putting on shows, shooting videos and producing mixtapes for sale.

The most popular group is Spotrushaz, who once dreamt of securing record deals in the US, but today is dedicated to developing the artform locally.

Richard "Chromatics" Rajkumar and Nigel "B Dangerous" Telesford of Spotrushaz, hosted the event, which featured a freestyle battle.

Music aside, that was the most anticipated spectacle of the night, and patrons lapped it up. Freestyle battles aren't for the faint hearted, the sensitive or people who can't think on their feet. It requires a lot of verbal skill, a resolve of steel and wit to make it in a freestyle battle. And by the end of the night, one dude in an oversized, gold print hoodie, who went by the name Hollow, successfully slayed all comers to be declared winner. It was like a scene straight out of Eminem's movie, 8 Mile.

There were also prizes given for the best dressed hip hop couple, and out of the pool of oversized hoodies, T'shirts,caps, slim jeans and tights, a girl in a red plaid mini dress and black boots, and a guy in a green stripped T'shirt and matching kicks(sneakers)were chosen.

In all, it was a good night. If anyone thinks hip hop is dead over in the US, maybe it's because it came to the Caribbean for resuscitation.

Posted by Laura at 6/10/2007 08:43:00 AM

Labels: hip hop, music, Trinidad - Caribbean Beat Blog

NOT many local artistes would appreciate their much-laboured-over music video being called grimy, but there is no better word to describe "Trini Man Pt.1" by rap group Spotrushaz.

"The video honestly doesn't have a concept... (smile)... I am being honest," said MC Tim Starr. After some thought, Starr, known as Wade Christian off the mic, corrects his first statement. There was, if not a concept, at least a purpose behind the group's second video. "We just (wanted) to let people know it was local."

Hence shots of the Twin Towers, Jean Pierre Complex, even Frederick Street, crept their way into the video. "It had a lot of people that were disappointed with the first video, although it did a lot for the group," continued the rapper. Being exposed to a new market with a video directed by BET's John Veloney has its upside, but left the group open to criticism by hard-core rap fanatics and fans that couldn't make the connection between beautiful women wining in two-piece camouflage short sets and a song about surviving the streets.

According to Starr, the group initially had no say in the direction of the first video, a scenario that was not to be repeated. In fact, "Trini Man Pt.1" is directed by Starr himself.

"At first I was really sceptical. After going through the first video experience last year, knowing that it took a level of professionalism... Tim not having any experience doing that before, I was understandably sceptical," said fellow MC Nigel Telesford, aka Blonde Dangerous.

"Once there is a will, there is a way, yes?" stated Starr in a voice that broke no argument. Bringing zero camera experience and a wealth of ideas, Starr undertook the task of creating a product that both Spotrushaz and fans could be proud of.

"As it started to take shape and he explained it more... I really began to support him a whole lot more but when I saw some of the footage I was like 'yeah' and then I threw my full weight behind it," said Blonde Dangerous.

Shot with a digital camcorder mostly by Starr, the video also uses footage from the MC's first video as well as material from the group in various modes of creation, i.e. recording and performing. "The material in the video is real... we actually have footage of us recording the song... We didn't dress up or nothing. It's not about ice and flossing," said Starr.

It almost seemed as if Starr had his personal fortune-teller foreseeing the future, when he insisted on carrying along a camcorder everywhere the group went over the past two years. Now that material has come in handy not only for the video, but for a planned DVD project.

"I think everybody, when they see it, they won't believe that it is little me that did it," said the MC. Counting coup, the biggest victory and challenge, according to Starr, was convincing a group of bikers to be in the video.

"The biggest thing in this video for me were the bikers," he said, although it almost didn't happen. Starr, after trying to arrange various meetings with the riders that hail from Laventille, Morvant and the South of Trinidad, assumed that he was being put on "scenes" when the group arrived two hours late for the shoot.

But, much to his surprise, after waiting into the wee hours of the morning, the bikers did not disappoint. "Twenty two bikes after 12 (midnight) in St James--that was crazy," said Starr when traffic drew to a halt in St James to let the bikers through.

Crazy would more likely be Starr who, while in director mode, stood through the sun-roof of a speeding car travelling on the Lady Young Road taping the bikers. "When they came through with the bikes, I forgot all my shots for this video."

Starr got so caught up in the shoot, he almost parted ways with this world when a bike rode into him because he forgot to move out of the way while filming a few stunts. "That was like the icing on the cake... that was some s--- right there... the bike literally hit him," said Blonde Dangerous.

But all is well and good and that's one scene that won't be edited out for content. According to Blonde Dangerous, even trying to find an editor was somewhat of a trial. After being approached by the young but talented group Milatainment, it was a case of "show me, don't tell me" for the rap group that wanted the video to be perfect.

"Never having heard of them before, we wanted a little show and prove, so they were working on the Machel video, and from the footage that they had, to the video that they did, they worked a real miracle... and the video is looking good so far," said Dangerous.

"A lot of fellahs rapping out there trying to get their songs play on the radio. That was us a year or two ago. If we still trying to do that, that means we ain't learn nothing yet," said Starr, who is now gearing up for the next Spotrushaz moment-an all-access DVD.

The DVD will be an inside look into the life of the group and will feature the two videos plus a third short visual - Trinidad Express Newspaper

It was a magical start to a magical night, as scores of Harry Potter fans, young and old, turned up to witness the unveiling of Part Three in the Harry Potter series Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban. The Express Children's Fund hosted this event for charity at Movie Towne last Tuesday.

Zalayhar Hassanali, wife of former president Noor Hassanali and board member of the Express Children's Fund, actress, Penelope Spencer and Giselle La Ronde-West, Angostura corporate communications manager and former Miss World, were among the many present to witness the gala event.

The pre-show lime was heralded by performances from students of The International School, who under the direction of Naima Thompson, were able to pull off quite realistic duplicates of characters from the movie. A miniature version of 'Harry Potter' could be seen making his way through the theatre accompanied by other character look-alikes who all maintained their roles throughout their time there. There was also a student orchestra, whose music could be heard echoing through the theatre.

The magician, The Great Alakazam, was up next, setting the mood for what was to come later on in the evening, with his magical tricks. The children were literally at the edge of their seats as they watched in anticipation of his every move. His performance brought repeated cheers from the audience, especially when he pulled a rabbit from a box and more so when he was able to leave a young boy suspended in mid air after pulling his support from beneath him.

Live performances were done by rap sensation Spotrushaz and Kees Dieffenthaller of Imij and Co. who both hyped the crowd up with their spirited music and contagious energy. Dieffenthaller encouraged the screaming fans to " get up and dance, we all Trini " While Spotrushaz invited members of the audience to participate in the singing as they made their way through the audience, giving them their chance on the microphone.

The elated voices died down to whispers and then silence as the movie began and then erupted into cheering and applause once more as the movie came to its end. Members of the audience could be seen leaving the theatre with smiles on their faces as the young ones recounted their favourite parts.

The Express Children's Fund has hosted numerous events of this kind in the past, all in aid of assisting underprivileged children with requirements for school. This movie premiere has raised approximately $50,000.

Cheques will be disbursed for the provision of school books, uniforms, meals at school and transportation within the next two weeks.

http://www.trinidadexpress.com/index.pl/article?id=26817474 - Trinidad Express Newspaper

2003 is certainly a year we will all remember, much like the phrase "Trini To The Bone". It was certainly a massive hit, but entertainer, David Rudder opted not to come home to perfom this mega smasher during the Carnival season. He would, however, return to Trinidad later in the year for his 50th birthday bash at Mo2bs.

The local entertainment industry made massive strides in the direction of self-development and overall input of essential infrastructure. Peter C Lewis' Breadboy Entertainment led the pack by producing a new crop of music-oriented television programmes (IETV and Synergy) and attracting local, regional and international viewer-ship.

Carnival 2003 was huge and we saw the younger soca artistes paying respect to the veterans, both in-song and onstage. A global drought in the entertainment industry, accompanied by declining record/CD sales forced many soca artistes to remain at home after the season ended-more so when initial visits to foreign shores proved less than fruitful. Local radio stations increased the percentage of local music played throughout the year-albeit ever so slightly-but even after prolonged pleas from local artistes and organisations, there exists neither home nor school for local talent.

Aside for the BET-bound mega-stars local promoters gave the Jamaican artistes a bit of a rest from our stages and concentrated more on the numerous soca artistes, who had remained at home for a change. The sponsors and the advertising sector followed suit. The government smiled and the Ministers in charge nodded their heads and shook hands as usual.

The more things change, the more they stay the same, ent?

Andre Tanker passed away on Carnival Friday, while Neil "Iwer" George took home the Soca Monarch title at the Queen's Park Oval. Respected Producer/Vocal talent, Kirk Mitchell died in a car accident a few weeks later, just before he was scheduled to open his own recording studio. 50 Cent-mania consumed the adolescent population and local promoters all tried to secure his services for what might have been the biggest concert in recent history. We're all still waiting for it to happen as so many promised it would.

Tanker's death was not allowed to pass unrecognised, as we subsequently witnessed the release of a Greatest Hits Volume I LP launched at a spectacular concert, titled "Making of a Lion". Held in September at Mo2bs with venue decor done by Peter Minshall, it was a fitting tribute to the legacy of this great composer.

The August vacation passed by almost morbidly with very few entertaining events. We did see a revival of the long-standing "Colours" event, which featured dancehall favourite, Sizzla alongside Destra Garcia and Machel Montano as the headline acts. After months of hype and advertisement, one-hit rap artiste, Bone Crusher was a no-show on Independence Night for the biggest buss of the year: as few as 50 people might have graced the venue before the lights were turned off.


Last year's Soundstage winner, Nzinga Job successfully completed and premiered her debut video, while the female duet known as Mirage won this year's instalment of the youth-oriented vocal-talent competition. Local rock group, Orange Sky began negotiations for a major recording label contract and are currently working on their international debut album, scheduled for release in March, 2004. Almost simultaneously, local hip-hop group, Spotrushaz successfully filmed and launched their first video, which was styled, filmed and edited by BET personnel and is currently being aired on local/regional and international television stations.

Chutney star, Adesh Samaroo sang "Rum Till I Die" and everyone agreed. In fact the success of this song-combined with all the Carnival 2003 chutney offerings and the like minded "Dahl Belly Indian"-seems to have spawned a whole chutney scene for the 2004 Carnival season, with Destra and Shurwayne offering "Come Beta"; Denise Belfon offering "Ah Looking for An Indian Man" and General Grant's "Apache" hinting that there are more still on the way.

On the international scene, R&B giant, Luther Vandross suffered a stroke just prior to making his first appearance in Trinidad and the show had to be cancelled. Legendary singer, Barry White died in July and more recently, in November, The "King of Pop", Michael Jackson was arrested and charged with child molestation.

Earlier in the year there were the very successful series of concerts titled Panyard Sensations held at the various panyards. These have without question given new life to the pan scene and helped to introduce a new concept for generating revenue to the pansides. Here's to more Pan yard Sensations in 2004.

On the jazz scene there was the QRC Pan Royale, Pan Ramajay and the world premiere of Robert Greenidge's CD From The Heart with Ralph MacDonald and The New York All Stars.

All in all, it appeared to be a pretty stale year for entertainment on the surface, but behind - Trinidad Express Newspaper

Sunday, February 27th 2005


The Hip-Hop genre has always enjoyed both good and bad times here in Trinidad, the migrant tracks that have landed here from Uncle Sam's land at least. While acts such as Grandmaster Flash, Grandmaster Melle E Melle, RUN DMC, Curtis Blow, Too Short, Dr Dre, Notorious BIG, Tupac, Luda, Jay Z, 50-Cent and countless others have run things here through the years from their throne rooms in America, local hip-hop acts have had to endure ridicule, disrespect, nonchalance and other ills even if the lyrics they spat were much more relevant to life here than whatever it was some of those foreign wanksters had to say.

Over the years we have seen very talented local hip-hop acts such as Big C, F1-Connect, Guage & Silent Star, Scientist, Jus Jase, Dreadthren and so many more fall by the wayside because people believed Trinidadians should not be doing hip-hop because that is a Yankee thing. Yet many of these same people rush to the store to get original copies of the latest Will Smith and L.L. Cool J CDs just as soon as they are released, while they sneak to the music pirates or borrow their friends Machel, Bunji and Sparrow CDs and burn copies. It's a pure hate situation with these people who love music but hate musicians.

One local hip-hop act that has managed to survive in spite of the lack of support is the quartet known as Spotrushaz, which has been making music for the better part of the past decade. Over the years the members of this group have scrimped and saved whatever money they earned in their respective day jobs as well as from projects they have done to slowly compile this debut 14-track collection. Along the way they managed to secure time in various studios from time to time and lay down tracks, the best of which they have taken and included on the 10-Piece. Make no mistake, these young artistes have worked long and hard to make it to this level and they deserve a hearing. At least.

The CD kicks off with a short intro that takes the form of a short country & western ode to marijuana in which the singer laments that he will be spending Christmas without his spliff. On "Gonna" one gets the first taste of the originality of the group as far as the music and rhythm track are concerned. The mid-tempo groove features bright keyboard riffs with the Spotrushaz crew making the statement that they intend to take control of the music arena. The guys spit it rap, dancehall and rapso style on "5am," a track that features profanity, so you know this is not a CD for the little ones to listen to. I personally don't appreciate obscenities in music, but to each his own and if that's your thing, There is quite a lot of it here for you to enjoy.

Like with most of the tracks featured on the CD, "Incredible" was produced and mixed by Giandre "Pheonix" Diaz who seems very gifted and should try to develop more of his own beats than biting left, right, side and centre. This track for example is quite refreshing even if it's a bite from Jay Z's "Big Pimping" and one of the guys is trying real hard to sound like Eminem. It does have a refreshing feel and harmonies from the female backing vocals. Worst than Diaz is Brizan who should be ashamed to accept producer's credit for "You," which is a straight forward chomp from another producer. The Spotrushaz crew must be complimented for their performance though.

Popular DJ Rodney Fireball King makes a cameo appearance on "Blaze The Dutch," a rock influenced piece in which Spotrushaz crew-members Regazzi, Tim Star and B-Dangerous declare war on drug dealers and others who contribute to the ills of society. Reigning International Soca Monarch, Bunji Garlin joins the guys on "The Anthem," a piece in which they boast that they run things on the streets. Chromatics and B-Dangerous take the lead on "See The Light," which blends the Jamaica dancehall with hip-hop. This track sees the crew lamenting the sorry state that society is in these days.

More blending of the reggae and the hip-hop as singer Jadi joins the Spotrushaz on "No Good," an acoustic piece featuring a piano taking the lead as Jadi croons Sizzla style. The 10-Piece collection also features the previously released hits "True Soldierz" and "Triniman" as well as "Destiny," "Trodding" and "Go Ahead." Although there is the use of nonsensical profanity as well as too much biting throughout the CD, it is still worth a hearing.

http://www.trinidadexpress.com/index.pl/article?id=64077402 - Trinidad Express Newspaper

Multi-platinum recording artiste, Ludacris delivered a sensational performance to close Saturday night’s Jingle Jam Festival, hosted by A1 Promotions and held at Pier 2, Chaguaramas.

The last major concert of 2002 attracted more than 8,000 patrons and was divided into two parts: a special children’s show which ran from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. and the main show which followed and continued until about 4 a.m. The children’s show featured as its headline act: teenage hip-hop star, Bow Wow (Shad Moss) and attracted roughly 2,000 screaming children and teenagers, accompanied by parents and guardians.

Local hip-hop group, Spotrushaz, as well as Naya George and Invasion also performed at the children’s show, which ran without a hitch amidst widespread speculation that Bow Wow would not attend. Joint Soca Monarch, Iwer George and Denise “Saucy Wow” Belfon also appeared during Invasion’s set to start the frenzy that would intensify when Bow Wow finally hit the stage at 7 p.m. Performing his many hit selections, the 15-year-old wonder drove the excitement to fever-pitch, while skilfully acknowledging his screaming fans and avoiding the thousands of hands that clawed and groped to touch him as he worked the unique stage setting.

A host of local performers filled the major portion of the main event, after two of the advertised international acts failed to appear. Organisers said that Def Jam recording artiste, Nore, members of his entourage and the host of Rap City: From Da Bassment, Big Tigger encountered problems with their passports and were unable to board their flights to Trinidad on schedule.

The local contingent included: R&B quartet, H20 Phlo, soca band, Traffik, along with more than 10 DJs including Merry Perry, Radioactive, X-Caliber, Sel Construction, Coppershot Disco, Jugglers, Matsimela, Che In The Mix and Signal II Noise featuring Clyde D Outlaw. Rock/reggae band, Orange Sky delivered a creditable performance of their past and present hit selections around 11 p.m. and received heads nodding in appreciation.

As the night wore on and speculation surrounding the missing acts began to mount, Jamaican dancehall artiste, Mr Lexxus performed without a band to accompany his set and introduced his protégé, Baijie to the audience.

At around 1.30 a.m., Machel Montano took the stage. Adorned with the Bobo Shanti-style head-wrap that is becoming his latest trademark and backed by Roy Cape All Stars, Montano “mash up de place” with “a spectacular performance” of his hit selections—past and present. Adding fuel to the already scorching flames ignited by his repertoire, Montano brought on crowd-favourites, KMC, Benjai, Treason and Blazer in succession and each added popular tracks to enhance the spontaneous combustion of the segment.

Finally, at 3 a.m., Atlanta representative, Ludacris (real name: Chris Bridges) came on with his Disturbing The Peace (DTP) family members, I-20 and Titty Boy. The multi-talented entertainer worked the already ecstatic audience into a frenzy as he delivered hits like “Area Codes”, Roll Out “Saturday”, “Move B---h”, “Throw Them Bows”, “You’s a Hoe” and his verses from tracks like “U Don’t Have 2 Call (remix)” and “Fatty Girl”.

Pier 2 erupted into pandemonium when Ludacris brought his “baby”, Miami-based rapper Trina on-stage to sing a verse for “What’s Your Fantasy?"” The appearance of the female phenomenon left most patrons paralysed in awe at her presence, just before they began pushing forward to try to touch her as she manoeuvred along the runways of the specially-designed stage.

By the time Ludacris announced his impending departure, patrons from the general admission and pit sections had climbed up onto all the runways and corralled the rapper and his crew into the right-hand corner of the main stage area as he performed his latest duet with Trina, “Got My Mind Right” and the mega-popular selection, “Welcome to Atlanta”.

While some people questioned and complained about the non-appearance of the other advertised acts, Nore and hosts, Tiffany and Big Tigger, by the end of the show, most were thoroughly satisfied with the entertainment they had received and left with happy faces and sweaty, tired bodies.

http://www.trinidadexpress.com/index.pl/article?id=29546700 - Trinidad Express Newspaper