"For people like me, Ash Wednesday come like New Year's so prepare your ears, here's Mr Doh Care. First I went Ladies First, special section upstairs-Laundry watch me like 'this my dance, who let he in here?" Have you heard those lyrics somewhere before? In the past week, there's no doubt that you may have stumbled upon a track either on You Tube or on one of the urban frequencies here in T&T, where this refrain is belted out by none other than Richard "Chromatics" Raj Kumar. It's a lethal dose of post-Carnival reality, wrapped up, or as he put it, "rapped" up and distributed to undoubtedly invoke some level of discussion and thought on a number of things that took place within C2K12. The Trini born rapper, who has been at the fore of the local rap fraternity for many years, said the song which was released around 7 am on February 25 has been making the rounds and is generating quite a bit of interest within both the radio and DJ circles and in the public domain as well.
"I got the idea during the Carnival season. I was kind of lacking a lot of inspiration because you know Carnival season isn't really our time. When I say our time, I mean hip hop artistes, reggae artistes and dancehall artistes from Trinidad. "During the Carnival lines started to pop in my head and around Carnival weekend I wrote the first verse and on the Thursday after Ash Wednesday, I finished it off and recorded it," said Chromatics. He noted that after hearing the finished product he told himself that he needed to put the track out into the public domain quickly. He proceeded to upload the raw version of the song, with a video onto YouTube and within ten minutes of posting, the video had received 300 views. "A radio announcer was one of the first persons to comment on the track. He said, 'yo, I want a clean version,'" explained the rapper. He said he had never intended to release the track on radio so distributing an edited version meant that he would have to head back to the studio. "I went to sleep and woke up two hours later to see the video had been viewed 5,000 times," said 'Matics, revealing that he subsequently went to the studio at Highway Records and the team was able to deliver an edited version of Carnival Rap Up to the radio stations.
When asked whether he was concerned of a possible backlash from the strong lyrics and messages the song projects, Chromatics said, "I'm not afraid because I think people understand what the song is about. "I think people understand that it's more comedic that serious. It's more picong than a diss to any one artiste and I also think that right now the buzz that it's creating is actually good for the local industry because it's keeping our local artistes current in a time when all the foreign artistes are being re-introduced on radio." Explaining that the dynamic of the track was based on things he'd been seeing on social networking sites that had been taking place with the artistes and other people in the industry, Chromatics said he had even gotten a bit of the lyrics from the Blackberry Messenger status of one of his friends. He said he hoped artistes would have a sense of humor about it all.
"I represent for all artistes outside of the Carnival season and nobody should take it as an intentional diss. If Jamie Fox were to talk about Michael Jackson or Whitney Houston in a comedy show-those are great artistes and nobody can deny that and everybody loves them and respects them, but when you hear Jamie Foxx or Eddie Griffin talking smack about them, you can't help but laugh," he highlighted. Chromatics is never one to shy away from any situation. In the weeks and months ahead, he said the public could expect a number of new tracks from the members of Highway Records. He also took the opportunity to invite music lovers to check out his team's online page at http://www.facebook.com/maticstt, follow him on Twitter @chromatics1 and check out his YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/matics868
lyrics
Verse 1
For people like me Ash Wednesday come like new years,
so prepare your ears here's Mr. Doh Care/
First I went ladies first, special section upstairs/
Laundry watch me like "this my dance who let he in here?"/
And Garlin fly he dread, Fay-ann shave off half she head/
They say we ain't taking advantage so we dropping out instead/
Kimba did an interview, I feel sorry for yuh breads/
Cause when Iwer pass Sophie start to talk to he instead/
Kerwin say yeah I could write, but I wan't d spotlight/
Yuh dun know COTT ain't paying royalties so I going and grab a mic/
Terry Seals had a big tune but I ain't see him no fete/
Carnival done and Linx kyah give him back he gyal yet/
Prophet say forget that, no support out d season/
He start to throw wine and give we all kinda reason/
Iz wine all in she face, wine all in she eye/
And right before he leave d stage is JAH!.......Rastafari/
No disrespect intended, you are my artist still/
But the pressure to eat a food a break down the strong willed/
While Trevor Sayers fooling poor people to buy out all his pills/
Then he in his video sh---ing on 100 dollar bills/
Chill..............
Verse 2
I see Swappi do a show getting head in Sealots/
Then I see a picture he wearing a upside down cross/
It's 3 to the Z, triple 6, can't you see/
That rum is not to drink it, only good to sap yuh knee/
Nadia bring out she band and say that she ain't want no man/
So I see man winin on man, down in d pan/
Stripping naked in the Army, I like what going on?
Then a woman pull down she panty cause a Devon Matthews song/
Digicel put up the loot, Kes do a song with snoop/
Cassi like he disappear and Erphraan wear a body suite/
And how Destra come third? I just talking the truth/
She need to pack up and regroup or go have another youth/
And Sherwin did well but most people weren't impressed/
But, that's alright yuh back up dancers real bess/
And Iwer ain't learn he lesson, when yuh see him ask the question/
Yuh sing d same song twice and don't expect to come second?
It's all kinda bacchanal running through my cranium/
Like how come the results weren't announced in the stadium/
Everybody talking robbery, but they begging for a bligh/
They lie...........the man they really rob is Benjai/
Verse 3
These are just my thoughts in exchange for yuh pennies/
But most people ain't listening like is Pan in the Semis/
K.I. took the Chutney Monarch well deserved might I say/
Cause I never really liked Ravi B anyway/
So who's the king of soca? Or need I assume/
The man who took the titles and put the flag on the moon/
See it's a heights, so look for his next move soon/
Cause his b-mobile contract expiring in June/