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Half the TJJ Team slated to cover Tempo Turns 2, touch down in St. Croix (the x is silent) USVI on Thursday. A quick cab ride to the hotel to rest up for a few hours, and then it's time to get to work. Imagine the VIP Pre-Party not starting until 8pm and TJJ reaching just after 7pm.... yes folks we on time! Early even, and this is after keeping the taxi man waiting for over 30 mins!! Big up to Big Jon for waiting. The first thing we notice upon arrival is that, even though it's an hour before, the venue is setup, decorated and ready to go... no last minute frantic running around. We were welcomed and directed to the check in table to receive our media kit, then made our way into the conference room. While reading the materials we discovered that Mr. TEMPO, Frederick Morton Jr., is a native of St. Croix, which explains why where are here on the beautiful island once again.

Since we were early, there was time for a little smoozing with ladies at the Cruzan Rum bar, Pineapple Rum + Pineapple Juice, and smoozing with the ladies from Where Magazine. Slowly but surely folks started to arrive all decked out and looking fancy, and after all the VIP's arrived, the press conference was ready to kick off. Jeanille Bonterre, hostess of "Downtown Island," served as MC, introducing everyone at the head table. Each person then took a turn saying a few words about TEMPO and the TEMPO Turns 2 event, the theme for which was “Badness Outta Style”, inspired by Mr. King's song "Borderline."

There was an underlying tone of thankfulness from each of the artist in the speeches, for the exposure that TEMPO has provided to them throughout the region. This was most evident when Ziggy Rankin, explained that earlier this day was his grandfather's funeral, but yet he still made the trip to show his gratitude for what TEMPO has done for his career. Similar sentiments were expressed by CeCile, when she explained how excited she was to see some of the other artists in person, that she had only seen prior on TEMPO. The press conference started with a prayer from Jamie Thomas, host of "Rise & Shine," and concluded with a gift being presented to Frederick Morton. A beautiful handcrafted Domino's table that could actually hang on the wall as a piece of art.

Upon exiting the conference room we were surprised to see the number of people who had showed up in that space of time. So now it's time to parrrrty! Lead off by DJ Poppy Pop and closed out by Stroker Band, who during their performance managed to tear down a tent and get Mr. TEMPO to demonstrate that he could still move his waist with the best of them.

Spudz McKenzie

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Related Galleries
TEMPO Turns Two Concert
TEMPO Turns Two Pre-Party