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A lovely crowd of soca lovers took to the 69 Sports Bar & Grill, St Ann’s from 6-9 pm on January 3 and witnessed the official launch of the soca music video, My Head Is Bad, hosted by Trini Fmili Matterrz. Guest artistes were Umi Marcano and Terry Seales, and deejay Skyline hammered in some other sweet music. My Head Is Bad was written and produced by multi-talented singer, actor and entertainer, S.O. King, and mixed and mastered by GQ MAXziMUM.
Hot on the scene, King’s laced with a diverse spate of cultural creativity given his Jamaican mother, Vincentian father and he, Trinidadian, born in Trinidad while his parents were visiting for a carnival, thus, the “Trin-Jam-Vince”’s 150-plus songs written, produced and sung by him, he said, reflect genres of reggae, dancehall, pop, alternative and soca.
With an advantage being in the acting world, he’s also produced music videos for most of his releases and starred in one of the best Caribbean films titled The Wetman Movie. Apart from other icons, he’s performed in concerts alongside Jah Cure and Vybz Kartel.
King is eternally grateful to his primary school teacher who heard him singing and knocking a melody on a desk during a free period while in a classroom, and was told he had a nice voice. His maiden performance was for the school’s graduation as prompted by the said teacher, and setting a stage, calypso competitions, Kiskidee Caravan from age 16, and a chain of other opportunities flowed. In his late teen years, he was motivated by Boyz 2 Men, M&M, Bob Marley, Buju Banton, to name a few, and mixing countries with genres created his uniqueness.
His popularity soared with the release of his hit song, Bap Bap Bap with one of Jamaica’s finest artistes, Pampotay, and from his participation in the Soca Monarch semifinals in 2016 and 2018. The certified member of the National Registry of Artists and Cultural Workers is the TTCME’s 2018 Best Crossover Artist of the Caribbean, and received a nomination for the Best Soca Artist in T&T by the National HYPE Programme as a member of COTT.
He said My Head Is Bad was inspired by Trinidad’s Carnival especially during his experience at the 2016 and ’18 Soca Monarch competition, in addition to the impact current and vintage soca artistes SuperBlue, Machel, Patrice Roberts, Saucy Wow and Bunji made on him and continue to make, and he wanted to do same—leave an impact on T&T.
He explained that the video is to jog memory, taking you back to how carnival used to be before COVID-19 hit town—its full taste. “Even from the journey to Trinidad, you’re getting the fete/party and revelry vibes; you’re in the mood as though you are in a fete/party. You are on the road in your costume, or if no costume; just in the carnival spirit with your head really bad when you touch down in Trinidad, and you are ready to go.”
He said he caters to the youth market while stirring up even the oldest person.
The video opens with a warning of “infectious music” with S.O. King on a yacht coming to Trinidad for carnival, even risking his life on the bow with drink in hand expressing sheer exhilaration. On the millionaire yacht is also his posse of friends in gay abandonment where he loses himself, smothered by them with drink in hand. At the two-day revelry, S.O. King is then in ecstasy as he finds himself in a band wined on by a bevy of feathered female masqueraders who lap-up the moment with the bad-head King. During the frolicking, King’s had enough and he ends up on a pavement until another Carnival lover comes to his assistance, but all King could say is “meh head real bad, boy!”
Some shots of the video were done on a friend’s yacht and at certain points in Chaguaramas. King wishes to thank Zyro’s Bar, Ground Level, Entertainment, Millionaire Yacht, L’Homme Parfait, Next Fx, KoKo Krave, Thurion, Trendsetter Transportation, N. Rochard, James Johnathan and Israel, and Kay Kay & Friends/Millionaire Yacht Girls.
King is in train to release his other Power Soca tune High Beam and Groovy Soca: Don’t Vex With Me. My Head Is Bad is streaming on all media platforms, and to reach S. O. King: 499-4407 or 486-6582.