2011: The year of Soca

2011 has presented the best soca I've heard in a while. Some of the artistes have returned to the roots of soca and stopped trying so hard to copy dancehall or hip hop; most of these songs are truly soca songs. Listening to Red 96 online everyday is really amping up my excitement for Carnival....Big kudos to big producers/writers like Kernal Roberts and Kerwin Du Bois for bringing back the soca! But my fave this year is definitely Machel....it is safe to say that Machel is back with a bang! Illegal, Advantage, Hard Wuk and Coming Again prove that Machel still has what it takes to be a soca mega star. Following behind Machel is Kes, oh gosh...all yuh know how I feel about this man! But seriously, 2010 really gave Kes an opportunity to perfect his skills and solidify himself as a true soca artiste but I still find he could do without those back up dancers...My ringtone choice is Benjai's Trini; I LOVED this song when I first I heard it. It's a nice groovy song that makes us all proud to be Trinee and it is a sure road march contender; people do forget that a slower song could be good for the road. My guilty pleasure song is Iwer's Come to meh; just because I never liked any of his songs but this Grenadian- produced song is maadd! All I could say is Soca Monarch better watch out. The out-of-Trinidad fave is Lil Rick's Go Down (love my Bajan peeps!) but especially the mix with Machel. I've been loving the original tune since Miami Carnival and went crazy when I heard the Machel remix...woooiiii

But my geatest concern is what's up with the women? For so long the women were holding their own and giving the men some real competition but I feel like the female artistes are somewhat on the periphery this year. Destra has released so many songs but nothing really grabs my attention except Proppa which has a definite Bajan sound to it and is my kind of wining tune. As always Patrice Roberts has a strong groovy contender, Mas and Wining which is one of my top 5 picks for this year; this song is lyrically sound and captivates the feelings that are synonymous with Trini carnival. The comeback female is without a doubt is Ms Saucy Wow herself with Dance and Dingolay who could still perform a song like this and make some big men blush!

There's still some time for some songs to grow on us and for artistes to release new songs. And we know Machel has about 3 more tunes to drop but these are my picks so far:

1. Illegal- Machel Montano

2. Trini- Benjai

3. Advantage- Machel Montano

4. Wotless- Kes the Band

5. Mas and Wining- Patrice Roberts

6. Proppa- Destra

7. Dance and Dingolay- Denise Belfon

8. Come to meh- Iwer George

9. Go Dung- Lil Rick feat. Machel

10. Hard Wuk- Machel Montano