DysChick's Music & Carnival Blog

Hey folks 👋🏾,

Holy hell am I exhausted! I can’t believe the amount of outsiding I did this summer. From stoop sets to fetes, I was in everything like salt.

New York experienced a harsh winter with record-setting snowfalls (over 43 inches). The recurring wind and snow advisories caused many to take to the internet and vow that, once summer starts, we will be outside! Well, with the support of our new mayor and the New York Knicks, we kept that promise.

For Caribbean people in New York, the summer ends with the Labor Day weekend. As a GT Brooklynite, I took full advantage! I kicked off the weekend on Thursday with Machel Montano on the steps of the Brooklyn Public Library. If you were there, you know that you can’t just ask Machel to introduce his documentary, Like Ah Boss: Journey of a Soca King. He’s going to gih dem performance!

I went to Coffee Uplifts People on Friday and, although I know he’s part of Federation Sound, I’m going to need DJ Danglez to put out a back-in-times soca mix. Just sayin’.

Speaking of nostalgia, I want to give a shout out to One Gyal Army and her Ka Ka Lay Lay boat ride! The music was amazing, curated by deejays like DJ Toonkie of LFS, D’Bandit from Toronto, and the riddim section known as Boom Boom Room. I also must note that the doubles that I waited way too long for (pro tip: don’t make them to order) were tasty and did not hurt my belly. A huge win in my book!

Sunday, I went to the big show. Rum and Music held their annual concert at Brooklyn Navy Yard headlined by the boss Machel Montano! The long trek to the party area was worth it. Signage letting you know where to enter, decor that somehow managed to make the huge dock feel inviting, and multiple bars. I mean, it can’t be rum and music without efficient rum distribution. The stage was huge and the artistes were great. However, what was up with the lighting? It was not until Machel was about to take to the stage that suddenly a spotlight appeared. You mean I didn’t have to squint to make out Bunji’s shape. You had spotlight capabilities the whole time?! Despite this one NOTABLE exception, the show was great and I know I will be back.

I capped off the weekend by finally making it to Riggo Suave’s backyard jam, Back 2 Backyard (a humble nod to the late deejay Back 2 Basics). What I thought would be a cozy Monday morning lime with good music played by Kevin Crown and Private Ryan, turned into a whole ass concert with Trinidad Killa spontaneously grabbing the mic, Iwer George bringing the water, and Skinny Fabulous making us jump like we never did before!

Due to double-fisting Puncheon in the early AM, I did not make it to jouvert or the road. However, I definitely heard the reports.

Labor Day is meant to be a day where West Indians celebrate the culture and pageantry of the Caribbean with a parade/street party along Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn. However, this day was full of disappointments and tragedy. Attendees noted that the annual parade was, not only marred by violence, but was basically a lackluster crawl with few costumes and lags between trucks. The early end, which ended up being even earlier than planned, did nothing to curb the violence and the odd setup of barricades seemed to make it harder for police to break up fights. There is a lot that I can say about the disproportionate reporting of violence at THIS parade versus others, but I’ve made my opinion on that clear before.

Here’s my issue: as a Caribbean community, we keep saying it’s the young people’s fault. Ummm... but who’s raising these young people? And before we talk about teaching them about the culture, how about we teach them how to handle their emotions so that violence is not the only response to stress that they know? I have been talking about destigmatizing therapy in our community all year (well, longer than that, but I made content about it this year). The parade is not the only time we have seen our young people exhibiting wildly violent behavior with only the slightest provocation. They are floundering. The world that we knew is not the one they are growing up in. There are very few “third spaces” that allow them to socialize and find community. Also, we can do more than just throw Caribbean-themed parties. Let’s expose them to the history of the culture and the work that goes into putting on something like the parade by encouraging them to get involved. I’m looking at you Jouvert City International and WIADCA.

Let’s not just blame a lack of “respect for the culture,” when we haven’t taught them respect for each other and themselves. I guess BK Rant and Rave will have to do more IRL events since it seems like too many organizers are only focused on cultural performance and not cultural endurance.