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Local rap group, Spotrushaz will represent Trinidad and Tobago next Sunday during the fourth annual Hip Hop Weekend hosted by London-based urban radio station, BBC 1Xtra. In 2003, the BBC's influential urban radio station, 1Xtra broadcast it's first Hip Hop Weekend. Dedicated to the culture that has taken over the globe and dominated the music industry since the late nineties, the 1Xtra Hip Hop Weekend features 60 hours of non-stop music, live events, battles, interviews, turntablism, documentaries and some of the biggest name DJs and MCs in the world. 1Xtra's 4th annual Hip Hop Weekend takes place from Friday September 29 to Monday October 2, 2006 and will feature interviews with Def Jam CEO, Jay-Z; his former adversary, Nas; Busta Rhymes, Ice Cube, P Diddy, Lil Jon and many more. Spotrushaz will shine the light on Hip-Hop in Trinidad during a special segment entitled "Hip Hop All Over The World", which will air on Sunday, October 1st from midnight to 2 am (GMT). "We were blessed with this wonderful opportunity to represent our nation on this global platform before a potential audience of millions," said Spotrushaz member, Nigel "BDangerous" Telesford with a grin. "So naturally, we did what we do best: we rushed the spot, represented right and got the job done ahead of schedule. "In 2004," he explained, "one of the 1Xtra representatives saw our video for "Triniman" on Synergy TV, just before he left the country after covering Carnival and he was blown away by it. So, he tracked us down through some friends and the rest as they say is history. We sent him the song and the video and stayed in touch: keeping him up-to-date on the moves we were making. So when the Hip Hop Weekend came around last year, he asked us to submit a synopsis of hip-hop in Trinidad, which we did… and they aired it!"
The hip-hop loving trio said they did not make a big deal about it last year because their spot was not guaranteed. "We knew the quality of our spot was good enough to make the cut thanks to Marka and the good folks at Third Degree Studios," said TIM Starr, "but there were also spots from rappers in countries all around the world, so we didn't want to count our chickens before they hatched. "This time around, I think we're more secure because we had a lot more current events to talk about. Last year, we gave them the history of hip-hop in Trinidad from inception. We told them about the link between Kaiso and hip-hop, as well as the contributions of early groups like Rock Crush Crew, Harambe, MC Dominators and solo MCs like Architect and Vernacular. Of course, we also told them about our personal history and what we were doing at the time." "This year," Chromatics continued, "we spoke about more recent developments like Eclectik's success at the World Hip Hop Dance Championships, where they placed second for the second year in a row. And we spoke about local hip-hop DJ Jus Jase, who was admitted into the world-renowned Tech.Nitions DJ squad in 2003 and was featured on BET's "Rap City" with Mad Links in 2005." Earlier this week, it was confirmed that Spotrushaz will feature among twelve (12) DJs from around the world representing their Hip Hop scenes during the two hour show. The countries representing during this year's program, include: California, Kenya, Japan, Iceland, South Africa, Norway, Canada, Jordan, Netherlands, Trinidad, Nigeria and Croatia. "Trinidad is being represented in the hip-hop industry in major ways," concluded Telesford, "so we used this opportunity to tell people all around the world about it. We also dropped the names of some of the other local MCs representing too: MCs like Von Don, Scagnatty and Nemesis and we included a powerful track from Nacha Dharma called "Sound of Da AK" that talks about the crime situation here." Hold up. Wait a minute: isn't rap all about beef and blings? Since when are rappers giving props to other rappers? Just when we thought we had this hip-hop thing figured out… "Contrary to popular belief and what you might see on TV," Telesford affirmed, "hip hop is about peace and love and unity. Yes, beef sells records, but you have to be established before anyone will even care about your beef. We need to establish a movement in order to support all the aspects of the culture, so that artistes and DJs and dancers can all work and support their families. "This isn't a fad, or some American tripe that we're copying because we saw it on TV: this is a billion-dollar global industry that provides millions of people with sustainable employment. So as much as we're working hard to promote and establish our own brand, we understand that we have to unite with various players in the game to really create something that can corner the market." With so many formulaic events plaguing the party market, Spotrushaz will offer a unique product when they host their second full-length concert and party next Friday, October 6th at U.W.I. Social Club in St Augustine. For details, visit www.myspace.com/spotrushaz. To listen to the Hip Hop Weekend, log on to: www.bbc.co.uk/1xtra. |
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Spotrushaz
represent T&T Hip Hop on BBC 1Xtra