Trinidad Killa, Mr Famous keep local music Blazing

Kern “Trinidad Killa” Joseph wants to leave a trail of uplifting music, starting with his latest soca release with Junior “Mr Famous” Noel, called Blazing.

The song was released in July and the official music video on July 30.

Trinidad Killa told Newsday that Mr Famous wrote the song last year and contacted him asking for a collaboration. His call for local artistes to come together is interwoven in his mission to uplift, and Trinidad Killa said Blazing “bigs up” all local artistes no matter the genre.

“It could be dancehall, soca, chutney; once it come from the same umbrella, which is Trinidad and Tobago, we should big up the local artistes.”

The covid19 pandemic and other challenges showed him and Mr Famous that this was the apt time to deliver such a message.

“And this is a time we living, this is a time we have to uplift each other instead of bringing down one another as artistes no matter what.

“No matter if they singing about the gun content. Sometimes a man might be singing music with gun content... and people might watch at it as a negative.

“But that is just music.”

He said there are so many talented people and artistes in TT but there are “no opportunities for them” while artistes in other countries support their own.

“In Jamaica, New York, Barbados, St Lucia, when you go to these countries you hardly hear our music playing. That shows how much they are into their thing. I feel is time for us to make that change and give each other that support in terms of the music.”

He said there are many local artistes, like himself, whose music gained worldwide attention but it was not played on local airwaves. He feels proud when his music is played abroad.

“I get that support outside. I was booked for over 106 gigs in the US before the covid19,” he said.

That uplifting does not just stop at music. He thinks anyone who represents TT on a global scale, anywhere, should be appreciated. He said the positive message is also needed because many artistes lost hope in the industry which has been hard hit by the pandemic.

“If you look right now, all the soca artistes in New York making money. I also want to send the message that this is also time for artistes in we genre, TriniBad (TT dancehall), to come together because unity is strength and strength is power.

“If we keep doing this, we just killing out one another and giving people a whole bad picture of the TriniBad when it is not like that. It is just a way and a means of surviving.”

To him, TriniBad is the next step in TT’s musical evolution and TriniBad artistes are the voices of this era.

He said, initially, local dancehall was not played on the radio, and there were some DJs who said they would never play some local TriniBad artistes because it promoted violence.

But, he said, it was the same kind of music being sung by Jamaican dancehall artistes which would result in deals and record labels.

But as the genre gained a bigger foothold in TT’s musical playspace, radio stations began playing the songs.

“Then they realise if they not playing that, they not up to the time. It is like a wave that just break through. So they have no other choice…”

To him, this is the voice of the new generation and so Government and other investors need to pay attention to it.

He said if that investment is made things can change.

“We as the artistes come like influencers but we come from the ghetto…”

Trinidad Killa said the genre’s origins often feeds into the perception of badness and violence and it is often stigmatised because it comes from the “ghetto.”

“Anything that comes from the ghetto, they intend to stigmatise it. They have nothing good to say about it but we as the artiste now have to come together.”

He said said he has been trying to get the artistes to unite and give a different picture of TriniBad. He said many of them are very talented but lost, and should be guided in the right direction.

“They don’t have a direction where to go with this thing and they feel badness is all…”

He said the evidence of Trinibad’s global appeal can be seen in rapper Drake singing his 2020 Gun Man in She Hole or retired Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt dancing in the gym to his Power in Soca (Dy Zess), he said.

Trinidad Killa also believes that some soca artistes are “fighting down” the whole dancehall movement, and this is the reason for his call to uplift and unite.

“When you see somebody get an achievement and they represent TT, we must be glad because it is our country. I am all about doing some more positive music and uplifting our people.

“Time for us to unite. It have food for all of us to eat in TT.”