First they made us feel to paint something.
Then, they came back for a little low tide action.
There is no need for “hand in the air” with Bobo and Fadda Fox – they know how to make instruction time interesting.
Sitting in Monstapiece Studio recently, they revealed that this year they will be a bit more grounded in The Garden. The collaboration should be released early next month.
“There is a little anticipation about what we are coming with this year; we can feel it,” Bobo, real name Damien Bowen, said.
“So [this year] Boat run aground and we end up in The Garden.”
And while last year’s big tune reaped sweet success, their emphasis was not about besting the track, but rather on maintaining consistency.
As Fadda Fox, christened Nicholas Sealy explained, “. . . is not a competition for us, we just make music for the people. Once you are in that state of mind . . . you don’t have to worry about a competition vibe because you cannot compete against your own music. . .”
Bobo agreed with his collaborator, emphasing that the music must have the ability to live on.
“Boat will be Boat, unless you want to bring out a song named Anchor the next year and hope by some weird sense that the people will focus on Anchor. . . I would love for 20 years people want to drop it low tide.”
Competition and continuity are two areas which the two artistes had strong opinions on. The outspoken Bobo believed the search for a song to win a contest was hampering the growth of soca, especially its groovier version.
“Ragga soca has the ability to go further, but the guys are not taking it there because everyone is so focussed on competing . . .,” he said.
“It will get stagnant because people will sing about what they think the judges will love: being the biggest party animals and ‘this in my blood’ and ‘in my veins’ . . . Some of these things [are] being sung over and over again.”
He added that last year’s competition highlighted an interesting trend where the songs that were popular in the party were not the tunes competing in the soca bowl. This showed a “a growing disconnect with what was popular for the judges and what is resonating in the hearts of the people,” Bobo continued.
Fadda Fox acknowledged that DJs and producers also have their role to play in improving the overall standard of Crop Over music.
“If a guy comes in the studio and his material is not up to par, don’t just take it for the money, it is your product going out there,” he opined. (LW)
