Photo from YouTube post, we don't own the rights to this photo © intercrackamal.
“I knew I had a shit song but I knew my shit song had the resources to make it. It had real shit out there but my shit was better than all the rest. Plus I had the best jockey on the planet in Machel”. All this talk about 'shit' just stinks up the place. Sometimes using the word 'shit' could mean something good (street talk) but in this case, it is just a hot mess!
Reading this just gets me upset... Why couldn't he enjoy the success they achieved and keep his mouth shut! It says a lot about how gullible these artists and producers think the audience they push this 'shit' on are and that which they believe a naive audience will accept! Write and produce quality lyrics and don't depend on the resources to make it happen. No one should aspire to be mediocre and if he knew he had a 'shit' song he should have worked his tail off to ensure he produced something that in years to come would be talked about as a classic... not a trashy song!
“In the last seven years, I won five road marches. My father had 10. We going to match that and beat that. I am not bowing out. I really want someone to beat me cause that will mean the standard has improved. We are not bowing out on excellence,” he said, critical of those who believe Montano should not compete in Soca Monarch. On that topic, Roberts had a tongue lashing for all the artists who, he said, ganged up against Montano this year. “The whole industry united we stand against Machel. Allyuh wasting time teaming up to destroy Boy. He will always succeed and he is constantly and consistently cutting all-yuh ass. Trinis not stupid and God don’t like ugly and that is how Machel does win back the public by not taking them on and working the hell out of his songs.” His friendship with the 2012 triple crown winner is, he said, based on their many similarities. They both play hard and work hard, often going days without sleep in the studio.
If Kernel and the HD team adopt the attitude that any 'shit' song can and will be accepted then I don't see him (Kernel) achieving those lofty goals (achieved by his father Lord Kitchener) after revealing his feelings about 'Pump Yuh Flag', and moving forward by pushing a 'shit song' for the public simply because of this invincible attitude. It does not matter how many road marches Kernal wins with Machel as his singer... he is not the singer! Lord Kitchener wrote, sang, and mesmerized his generation with his talent. Kernel can't drop crap and then beat his chest and brag that "we are going to match and beat that". He should be in awe of his father's achievements and state that it would be difficult to emulate the accomplishments of the great Lord Kitchener!
If Kernel and the HD team adopt the attitude that any 'shit' song can and will be accepted then I don't see him (Kernel) achieving those lofty goals (achieved by his father Lord Kitchener) after revealing his feelings about 'Pump Yuh Flag', and moving forward by pushing a 'shit song' for the public simply because of this invincible attitude. It does not matter how many road marches Kernal wins with Machel as his singer... he is not the singer! Lord Kitchener wrote, sang, and mesmerized his generation with his talent. Kernel can't drop crap and then beat his chest and brag that "we are going to match and beat that". He should be in awe of his father's achievements and state that it would be difficult to emulate the accomplishments of the great Lord Kitchener!
“We share the same passion for music and the industry and we real intelligent alike.” Wonderful... I am pleased to hear that they share a passion for music and especially the Soca music industry. However, I am appalled that they can get away with such brazen and distasteful statements and the public has no reaction. On islandmix.com Trinidadian music is constantly attacked as being sub-standard... Kernel's remarks will only give these detractors ammunition to say... "see I told you so!"
This year the standard of music was excellent and the Groovy Soca tracks excelled. It is true that the Power Soca category (Pump Yuh Flag category) was not close to the quality of the Groovy Soca releases, however, it is counterproductive to shoot oneself in the foot. One has to wonder if Kernel Roberts contemplated whether or not a 'shit song' (his words) could win it all? Maybe he wanted to see if the public was naive enough to accept a sub-standard song. One can speculate that he wanted to know how well marketing could work to accomplish their lofty goals. But alas, in the end, Machel's ability as a singer and performer as well as the genius of the marketing team achieved the goal of promoting 'Pump Yuh Flag' as the song to beat!
In the end, they convinced the band leaders that "Pump Yuh Flag" is the song for the road, and they all followed like sheep led to the slaughterhouse. Fayann's song (Miss Behave) was, and still is, better than "Pump Yuh Flag". Reflecting on this it is important to note that Kernel Roberts said that Pump Yuh Flag is shit so who am I to disagree. I am just upset that his words came out like and smelled like vomit! The ugly part was said out loud and that is not cool! Sheesh...