November 14 2009
Island Traffic’s putting The Jab in JAB JAB!
By Kendell “Scady” Eugene

Can you remember when this young Grenadian act, exploded on the scene with riddims that weren’t heard of, but were as infectious as the common cold. What’s his name? Talpree, of course. The Jab Jab king himself. Well via a meeting with our very own Louis Dan, I happened to stumble across a new riddim which featured Talpree and a few other Grenadian artistes called the Gutter Riddim. There were the Jab Jab beats again and this time I wanted to know who was behind it and what was their story. Folks this is one for all true Soca fans and look out for that riddim in our 2010 carnival season. I have a feeling we too will be playing “A Wicked Jab.”

YO!: Thanks for granting us this interview. Firstly who is Island Traffic Ent. and what have they been up to recently?
ITE: Island traffic entertainment is made up of two producers Marcus Fredrick, Peter Charles and Linwall Patterson, Executive Producer, who is trying to create opportunities for Grenadian artistes to be heard globally. We started producing Techno first – but quickly realized this was foreign to Grenada somewhat – so we decided to focus on our music – Soca. The first riddim we produced was “Road Storm” in 2007 which was a success in the local market, Louie Dan from St. Lucia, Skinny Fabulous from St. Vincent, Sheldon Douglas and Inspector were on the riddim that year. We recently finished 2009 carnival season which was a tremendous success, and are now working on producing riddims and recording for 2010 carnival season…

YO!: How did you come up with the name Island Traffic?
ITE: I had a video store named Traffic Video and was also dong music distribution for producers from other islands… and while checking my email one day the name “Island Traffic” came to me and now here we are… Island Traffic Entertainment. This is so fitting because we do lots of networking with other producers and artistes outside of Grenada – so hind sight; I think we made the right decision to go with the name.

YO!: How long have you guys been producing?
ITE: Professionally, 2 years. However, we have been testing the waters, making beats – etc collectively over 4-5 years.

YO!: Why choose to become a producer?
ITE: We wanted to make a difference in Caribbean Soca music – especially Grenadian Soca. Soca music is very unique to our culture – and we felt the need to revisit the influences of traditional beats and riddims , so we chose to focus on the Jab Jab beats. Jab Jab beat is so infectious, and we enjoy finding new ways to reinvent it.

Yo!: Tell us about some of the artistes you have produced for and what the experience was like.
ITE: Over the years, we have worked with several popular Grenadian artistes such as Talpree , Sheldon Douglas, Lava Man, Inspector and several new artistes such as Area Code, Sharrie Jones , Monique and Kage. Regionally we worked with Patch and Mr. Slaughter from Trinidad, Skinny Fabulous from St. Vincent and Louie Dan from St. Lucia.
What the experience was like? Dreamlike,- I mean when you are in a position to work with such talented individuals to make the concept you have in mind come alive- I certainly think dreamlike is suitable to describe this experience.

Yo!: Who would you like to work with in the future?
ITE: There are several establish Soca artist both locally and regionally that if, no strike that-when we get the chance to work with them- we will feel honored. (laughing – too much to mention) But holistically we enjoy working with new artistes and would like to continue seeking out new talents and working with them, re-inventing Soca music.

YO!: What makes your sound different from other producers?
ITE: I would not say we are different, so to speak, but we just focus on doing music that is unique to our island and culture.

YO!: Where do you generate the inspiration to put music together and how difficult is it?
ITE: We generate inspiration from everywhere, believe it or not from the animal in the field to the pen tapping on the desk at work. It is not that difficult, because like I just mentioned all of the elements we need are around us- we just identify which ones we want to use and when.

YO!: Timbaland samples Arabic and Indian melodies in his production do you guys use any samples that are not distinctly Caribbean
ITE: This is a difficult question, because the Caribbean is also a melting pot that includes diverse cultures and inspirations. [laughter] Name some melodies that are not distinct to the Caribbean and we will tell you if we will or not.

YO!: Do you think Soca music is respected and enjoyed around the world as opposed to about five years ago?
ITE: Yes to a certain extent, but we have a long way to go. Regional artistes such as Mighty Sparow, Marshal Mantano, Destra , and our own Grenadian artistes Tallpree, Lava Man, Brother B, Berbice, just to name a few, are doing a great job paving the way internationally and exposing how infectious Soca music is to the world. Can you believe it, we have R&B artiste like ‘ Lil’ John’ from Atlanta crossing over and singing Soca – go figure.

YO!: What would you change in the Soca industry?
ITE: The misconception is that Soca music is only “jump and wave” and is to be enjoyed only once a year- carnival season. Soca music like all other music has different sounds and feels toward it. We would like to make it easier for persons globally to recognize that. For instance, in Grenada we have the groovy Soca which equates to reggae and R&B, we have fast Soca which equates to Dancehall and Hip-Hop and we have, calypso, and JAB, JAB melodies which are unique to Grenada and want to continue to brand it as our thing- our sound and style.

YO!: Where do you want to take soca music?
ITE: Globally!!

YO!: Do you feel pressured to live up to the high expectations of Soca fans?
ITE: Not really! We think that as long as you stay true to the elements/inspirations and listen to the Soca fans and continue to be creative- we will be alright.

YO!: Is there any stopping you guys?
ITE: [pause and a smile] , As long as we continue to have good health , our creative juices are flowing and we remain passionate about what we do – NO!

YO!: This ends our interview, anything else you want to add that we didn’t cover?

ITE:2009 has been a really good year for Island Traffic. We had 2 big riddims “rum & gal” and “the gutter” riddim. We must say thanks to Tallpree - “ah wicked jab” and Lava man “Gutter” for making our riddims happen. We must also thank Adrian “Simply Smooth” for mixing and mastering our riddims, Flying Turkey for distributing the music, everyone under the Island Traffic camp, all of the radio disc jockey and DJ’s for playing our music and all True Soca Fans- Globally. Thank you this interview.