My Love/Hate Relationship with Machel Montano
Well I am pretty sure most of the people who follow me on twitter are duly convinced that I HATE Machel... and on some days they would be quite right. Ever so often Mr Montano a.k.a. Mr Fete does things that gets me sooooooo irritated i just wanna punch him in the nose... but seeing as I ain't tryna catch a case that will prolly never happen LOL ... who am I kidding I would never even dare
But the fact of the matter is I have the utmost respect and love for the man, like soca for me usually begins with memories of Machel and Xtatic... Tay Lay Lay will always be one of my FAVORITE songs EVER!
I mean.. that song was EVERYTHING!!! *raises leg and tay lay lays*
Machel is the smartest man in the soca business or maybe I should say him and his mom are the smartest people in the business and it's because they realised the power of the industry way before the rest of us did.
Machel has sold out Madison Square Garden (repeatedly) that in itself is crazy... but it's no little wonder why, the man UNDERSTANDS how to build a hit. He also works with the BEST and has cemented his place as the best.
So why do I sometimes want to poke him in the eye?
Because every now and again Machel does things that is beneath an artist of his caliber and THAT irritates me. (I can't even talk about this current case against him, cause that is a rather disappointing and vexing situation)
One of these things is perhaps just a series of coincidences, I don't know but there is are these reoccurring instances of 'sampling' that just irks me... there was the 3 yrs theme of madness (Madder than Dat, Craziness & Scandalous) after Fireman's Madder Dan You, then we had Mr Fete after Maddzart declared himself the Fete King this year was perhaps the WORST though... the absolute WORST... Float like superman... after Ricardo Drue sings a superman themed song but the BIGGEST one was 'Life of The Party'.... the sound of that song was enough to drive me into a rage (I almost pelted a DJ one night back in Vincy, almost)... maybe it was a coincidence,I probably will never find out but even so... he must have heard Problem Child's version of that song, he must have! Spanish Fly is still blazing everywhere and even if Problem's song didn't get played a soften as Lil Wine, his version of the song still gets a LOT of love everywhere. And even if it wasn't an intentional copying, why would you redo a concept that hadn't even been buried in the soca archives for a little bit... and his version wasn't even that good... I tell you whenever I hear that song, i feel the steam coming out of my ears... STEAM I tell you!!! STEAM!!!
But having said all ah dat... I still have to admit that although he started the year very slowly, and rather low key Machel came through blazing! He racked up a fair bit of BIG tunes. She Ready, No Lie, WITCH DOCTOR, Doh Mind My Business, Indian Gyal with Drupatee, Possessed with Kerwin even Float is catchy which I will again say was not a fave when I heard it at first, but the blasted thing is a creeper....urgghhhh sooo annoying LOL. But the song of songs for him this year is definitely THE FOG!
At first I will admit, I did not pick up on its epicness... I was all very meh, but to be honest I think I didn't want to like it. The bitterness from the Life of the Party scenario lasted LONG... who am I kidding I still cant stand the blasted song even though I love the Project 5 riddim. (also someone was like mmmmmm Fog Up the Place and Flock Up the Place... those wild, possibly very coincidental, sampling scenarios arise again *sigh*)
But once I shook off the hater jacket and stopped sipping my haterade and just listened to the song, I was BLOWN away. The lyrics are very erm... interesting to say the least. That song can be interpreted in quite a number of ways. It is beautifully and cleverly constructed and executed to perfection.
Kudos to the writers.. I know Precision was involved in there and of course MM himself.
The other thing I will say about Machel is that he isn't afraid to push those boundaries. He has collaborated with some of the best in other genres.. names like Doug E Fresh, Busta Rhymes, etc which I am sure influenced this now very popular cross genre soca collabs (Popso, etc) he also always works with the best and this year he has worked with the best in film making namely Damien Marciano who directed the videos for The Fog, Float and Represent remix (which also comes in a short film format).
The video for Possessed with Kerwin also warrants a top mention the director, Cowin "Dori" Thorpe was able to brilliantly pull in footage from Machel's South African trip to create a cross cultural experience that even my South African friend who isn't such a big fan of soca actually likes... or maybe that's because Ladysmith Black Mambazo who knows.
But I will end this little ramble to state that contrary to my many rants, cursings and temper tantrums, I am a huge Machel Montano fan... I even downloaded his app!
I have a lot of respect for the work he has put in to raise soca to the levels it has attained and I know it will continue to grow in the future with him setting the bar higher and higher each year (providing he doesn't have to spend time in jail *side eye*)... I think he is someone other artists can strive to emulate musically and I have heard he has a strict work ethic which most might probably find quite daunting...BUT
It's nice when people produce great music year after year but a lot of these guys need to always remember that it is still very much a business, it needs to be developed, managed and MARKETED properly. And NEVER forget that your product represents your country and ultimately all of us as West Indians... so TRY YO BEST EH!
Stay Blessed All and I leave you with the FOG!!!
