Thursday, July 28, 2005

Caribana

Image hosted by Photobucket.comWell boy its Caribana weekend! Which means all the white folks are running out of town to their cottage while all the black folks are invading from Detroit, Buffalo , NYC , the Caribbean and elsewhere. Holla at ya boy!

With a rag in me hand wuking up and getting on bad

Yes Fete is fete! We blocking up traffic all over the town or is that just on Yonge street and Lakeshore. This will probably be my last blog till maybe next Monday or Tuesday. I will be on the road, I will be in competition, I will well am I technically playing mas? I'm not sure but like Rupee would say 'When 50,000 people right there on the Lakeshore I will be there!'

So here I am just sharing some of my photos from last year, Yes I promise I'll share some of this year's as well and hopefully they are a lot better.

Anyways Caribana weekend is usually a pretty fun weekend assuming no one gets shot. Yea its pretty sad that I have to make that sort of disclaimer but violence at Caribana is always foremost in my mind after that Grenadian lady got paralyzed by a stray bullet back in 96 which was my first year going to Caribana. And in the lead up to this weekend I think there were like 7 shootings in Toronto last weekend but they were NOT AT ALL RELATED TO CARIBANA or at any Caribana affiliated events let me stress. Still it suggests that Toronto got a bit of tension running through it and with large crowds on Saturday someone sees someone from another crew who they're beefing with and something pops off as payback if we're not lucky. So I'm praying that wont happen and that we'll have a violence free weekend.

Still to all you folks venturing to the parade just be vigilant and stay safe.

Image hosted by Photobucket.comWell I'll be at Pan Alive (the steel pan contest tomorrow night (supporting if not playing) and the Parade on Saturday.

Yo last year was my first year checking out Pan Alive and let me tell you it was wicked. Steel Pan music sweet for days star. Me love it bad.

I'm skipping the Yonge street festivities which used to be for me the coolest part of Caribana. Why am I skipping it? Well the last few years, I've found that the music isn't as hype anymore cause the cops stop all the loud stereos from playing. I remember when I could just go down there and be surrounded by hip hop blasting from car to car. It was always about who had the freshest whip too.

"Ladies tell the truth you know I'm cute
But what really turns you on is the rims on my coupe"


Dudes be fronting in the Escalades and the sportscars with the crazy spinners and the like trying to catch the eyes of the ladies strolling down the street dipped in their finest gear. Hair matching nails matching shoes matching lol. Which is all good unless your hair is orange or blue. ha ha

These days now everybody and their momma seems to have a camera trying to make Toronto Girls gone wild or some other slack homemade video. And the main reason I wont be going is that the crowd has become way too young for me. Especially the girls. Once I could go down Yonge street and just view some of the beauties on display and be like yea those are some fine sistas but last year when I went down there I felt like R Kelly. Every girl I saw walking around looked like she was under 16 so I just said ok I'm outta there. Thing is there are still like lots of dudes my age who are chatting up these young girls out there. Its highly disturbing. Come on dudes have some pride. And for all the young girls do your parents know where you are? Man if I have a daughter I'm locking her ass up on Caribana Friday until she's 18. Word!

Still all in all the weekend is pretty live and I hope to enjoy myself. Every Trini calypsonian must be in town so there are some great shows to check out and the Parade after parties are always off the chain.

LOL. I remember one Caribana I partied Friday night for 5 bucks, Saturday night for 10 bucks and Sunday night (Machel Montano) for 25 bucks. Now you cant get into one party for under 35. Actually funny thing about that weekend was I was standing in a long line the Saturday night waiting to get into someone's big fete when all of a sudden I heard a commotion, someone shouts "oh s***!" and next thing I know myself along with the entire crowd starts running down Queen Street. I didn't stop for a couple of blocks come to think of it. Asafa Powell aint got nothing on me! I was in 5th gear blazing down the street. I think it was a year that something had happened so folks were a bit tense and thought something was going in line but it just turned out that a girl had thrown up. Chupse. Made me lose my spot in line for nothing.

Image hosted by Photobucket.comAnyway I just wanted to chat a little today and wish all my T dot people and anyone who comes up a safe and fun Caribana. Look fe me on the road!

Pump me up with the music! Pump me up!
cause ya know it addictive!

18 comments:

Amadeo said...

I keep telling myself I gotta go to one of these joints...my man came back from Trinadad's with pictures and I was ready to book a flight...The D.C. Carnival is fun but I know it ain't got nothing on the real joints.

Luke Cage said...

In NYC on Labor Day they have the Carribean Day parade. Probably a teaser compared to the REAL thing. But for that day, it's a little bit of Island magic for a day. The festivities are off da chain. Don't hurt 'em out there Jdid!

Abeni said...

Have yourself a ball.Yes guys y'all have to come to the Caribbean carnivals

Abeni said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
summer of sam said...

i was s'posed to come to this shit.

but, uh, iono what happened. maybe next year.

dorna! said...

Make sure you bring back plenty of photographic evidence. :D

Campfyah said...

Caribana, Crop Ova..too much jumping gine on this weekend. Enjoy, plan pan, play mas and have a ball. But mostof all bring back stories.

For those of you who havn't seen or jumped in a Carribean carnival. It's definitely a must.

Jdid said...

@amadeo - seriously you need to come to one of these things. its bigger than DC and its as big if not bigger than NYC's
@Gunner - umm guy you're going to have to tell us these stories sometime
@Nikki - hmmm souds interesting
@Luke - Yea the real island festivals especially Trinidad is of the hook. we just get a small taste here
@abeni - thanks
@summer - and why are you not here?
@smallislandgirl - it not too late to hop on beewee
@Dorna - mos definetly
@camp - i already have one story from king and queen last night, will tell that monday
@dr D - i hope so too cause i aint as flexible as neo in the matrix

summer of sam said...

b/c i'm broke, nigga, i'm broke!

Marc M said...

Dat look like the sweetness. Wish I was there.

Urban Sista said...

Bwoy, I gotta be on Yonge St. tonight to watch the madness.

Last year, some of the outfits nearly blinded me -- if the fashion police had been out, they would have made plenty money 'cause I saw some serious infractions.

It's plenty fun -- I'll see you on the road.

Anonymous said...

Sounds like you had a blast! My husband's from St, Vincent and we're trying to make it to NYC for the carnival in September.

Scratchie said...

Enjoy it JDid

Don Tate II said...

Fun, fun, fun. Is that you in the big feather hat?

Anonymous said...

so how was it? i didn't go (haven't been in years). haven't heard any 'new's flashes' yet, so still crossing my fingers. i remember back in the day, when the parade was held on University Ave, boy - it was great then!

Mad Bull said...

Aw man, I do wish I was there. Big up on the post, by the way, that bit about losing your place in line was pretty funny! You made me bust loose with a guffaw or two!

Jdid said...

@summer - damn girl cal oprah tell her to hook you up
@shotta - come up next time
@urban sista - so how was yonge street, i ended up being downtown but not at yonge till around 1 anyways
@quel - come to toront if you like the nyc one
@scratchie - i did
@don - lol, you figured it out ha ha
@n.y.a.g.b - all in all it was really nice
@mad bull thanks

nahmix said...

too funny @ the pic situation. i was supposed to come this year and the year before, but maybe 2006 i'll make it happen!