Trini Trent 🇹🇹
@trinitrent.bsky.social
36 followers 19 following 69 posts
Trinidadian · Artist · Media producer · Host · Showrunner: MACO SOCA · I tell stories like your favourite tanty · Big links: https://linktr.ee/trinitrent
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trinitrent.bsky.social
Let me start by bigging up meh self!

I'm from Trinidad and Tobago and I'm an artist in the field of media production (video, photography, audio and design).

I love soca music and Carnival culture and I produce a show called MACO SOCA on my YouTube channel www.youtube.com/@TriniTrent
Trini Trent
Welcome to the channel! Subscribe for unique conversations about soca music, pop culture and diaspora life. Let's have some fun!
www.youtube.com
trinitrent.bsky.social
I didn't realise how much Amerie sounded like Mary J. Blige until I watched her Tiny Desk. Similar inflections and all. But more soprano.
trinitrent.bsky.social
Well...most of them were over 25. Mike City was 31.
trinitrent.bsky.social
And there were challenges getting the sample cleared. It didn't stand a chance lol I always wondered why it didn't make the deluxe edition back then.
trinitrent.bsky.social
The producer who put it on Soundcloud years ago mentioned that it was probably because it was similar to Stay the Night, Circles and Your Girl, and Mariah wanted more variety. It was a close race between that and Stay the Night and she chose the latter.
trinitrent.bsky.social
Trinidad is the central soca market. There's a reason why most of the music is released during our Carnival season: It is tied to our cultural expression.

The leading artists in the genre are all Trinidadian.

If you can't accept that then go argue with the ghost of Ras Shorty.

Facts are facts.
trinitrent.bsky.social
There is a glaring level of ignorance among people in the diaspora regarding soca music.

Many don't know its history or cultural significance in Trinidad. Some even attempt to separate it from Trinidad, claiming "no one island can claim soca."

That is bullshit.

Soca is a Trinidadian genre.
trinitrent.bsky.social
Reggae is considered Jamaican genre, although it is performed globally. It was developed in a Jamaican cultural context and is tied to their national identity.

Soca is a Trinidadian genre created by a Trinidadian in Trinidad for Trinidadians. Others have added to it but the music is Trinidadian.
trinitrent.bsky.social
Jamaica's carnival of today was started by Trinidadian people in the late 1980s. It doesn't have a cultural or historical foundation that makes it distinctly Jamaican. Regarding soca, it's a Trinidadian genre; invented in Trinidad by a Trinidadian for Trinidadians and it spread to include others.
trinitrent.bsky.social
Then I say keep it simple and focus on genres that are considered primarily African American in origin - jazz, gospel, doo wop, hip hop, disco, funk, house, go-go, etc. They may have wider diaspora influences and participation but the social, geographical and cultural contexts are African American.
trinitrent.bsky.social
It's an interesting challenge because Caribbean people were also involved in the development of hip hop, etc. It's undeniably American but can't be divorced from the wider diaspora. Then there's salsa that is Caribbean but it took form in America, specifically NYC, thanks to Puerto Rican musicians.
trinitrent.bsky.social
Might be. There's also the cultural divide between Jamaica and Trinidad; the long history of competition and rivalry between the two. And the difference in the rhythms. Soca, especially music from Trinidad, is generally very different from dancehall and reggae. PS: Some Jamaicans love soca!
trinitrent.bsky.social
Salsa and merengue are Caribbean genres.
trinitrent.bsky.social
It's also important to understand that Caribbean musics as well as releases from the rest of the diaspora influenced what those in America. It's a big exchange of ideas and culture. There would be no reggae or even hip-hop without calypso, for instance, which has roots in Africa.
trinitrent.bsky.social
I was today years old when I found that the voice actress for Storm in X-Men: The Animated Series and X-Men 97 was born in Barbados 🇧🇧 and raised in Canada. Caribbean people everywhere!
trinitrent.bsky.social
The joy in that title track and the way she uses her upper register. I wonder if it was the structural template for Mariah's Emotions single? The way it builds higher and higher with each chorus.
trinitrent.bsky.social
The name of the book is Capitalism and Slavery, and Dr Eric Williams never ran for President. He was our first Premier in 1959 then first Prime Minister when we became an independent state in 1962. He later led us to became a Republic in 1976 when our first President, Sir Ellis Clarke, was appointed
Reposted by Trini Trent 🇹🇹
panyol.bsky.social
Someone knows it!
Dr Carol James (Biologist, honoured for her contributions toward people-centred environmental management 🇹🇹)
“Haven’t seen them for decades! They make fabulous smoothies and punches because of the sweetness. Great to purchase slightly turned so you can eat over a longer timeframe!”
panyol.bsky.social
#Trinis especially …
Got these in the Savannah Market. The vendor said they’re called Mataboro. I’d never seen them before but I was told native to 🇹🇹
I found them a tad too sweet for me. Do you know them?
trinitrent.bsky.social
Thinking of this one by Rebecca Ferguson today.

It always speaks to me when I think of who and where I want to be ✨

Some black British pop and soul for your Sunday!

music.apple.com/tt/album/run...
Run Free by Rebecca Ferguson on Apple Music
Song · 2011 · Duration 3:12
music.apple.com
trinitrent.bsky.social
She worked with them again + Layzie Bone and Bow Wow on Lil L.O.V.E. in 2007. She also had Krayzie with Brat on the I Still Believe/Pure Imagination remix in 1998 youtu.be/xj8npgf0BRc?...
I Still Believe / Pure Imagination (Damizza Reemix - Official HD Video)
YouTube video by MariahCareyVEVO
youtu.be
trinitrent.bsky.social
(And I can teach it too)
trinitrent.bsky.social
Is there a university course on Mariah Carey?

I think a study of her life and career as a case study of race, ethnicity, gender and sexuality in American culture through the late 20th into the 21st century would be great.

Mariah sits on a very unique intersection that hasn't been fully explored.
trinitrent.bsky.social
If we are going to discuss black musics and culture in America or otherwise, it is important to acknowledge the existence and significance of the wider black diaspora.

All of our contributions are valid and none of them were created in a vacuum.
trinitrent.bsky.social
And I have heard instances when non-American black music is mentioned - usually by guests on said podcasts - and it is either brushed aside or mocked as somehow less important.
trinitrent.bsky.social
I listen to several podcasts discussing black music and I find the glaring omission of black Caribbean, South and Central American, British and continental African works to be incredible.