| |
|
|
| |
Look out! D Vybe is taking Hold!
Written by : Niama Sandy
Location : Trinidad & Tobago
Posted : Nov 12, 2006 : 11:30:01 AM |
|
| |
|
|
| |
Somebody say ting for d road. The words seem to be hanging from the lips of Soca listeners everywhere this Carnival season.
Funnily enough, it�s been hanging around in the mind of the tune�s writer, Patrick �Mista Vybe� Gordon, for over a year.
�A friend of mine in St. Lucia plays with a very popular band there and he sent me a message to check out a video tape of his band backing an artist from St. Lucia called Ninja Kat. In the middle of his performance he did this ad-lib that went �Ting, ting, ta-ting-ting-ting...� the exact beginning of Ting 4 D Road. As soon as I heard that the basic idea for the song came to me and I told my friend from the band in St. Lucia �tell Ninja Kat I said thanks for the tune!� After that I spent a while finding a way to use the word �ting� in a witty manner to keep the song fun. It occurred to me that in addition to the fact that �ting� was what Trinis use as the sound of the iron in a rhythm section and also that we use the phrase �and ting� a lot. So I just combined it all together to make one big carnival song. Then I went to the producer Julian "Julio" Nelson and he saw where I wanted the music to go and took it there for me,� explained the multi-faceted performer.
Mista Vybe has a good outlook for the year.
�This year I want to be the best I can be. I want to put out the best music I can, give the best performances...just max out my abilities. Also my thing is to change the game in my own small way - to do things differently. Finally, we in the Big Artist Crew want to stamp our name this year so that as individual artists and as a group, people finally realize who we are and what we're capable of. I think we're off to a good start so far,� said Mista Vybe.
Another offering for this year�s Carnival season from Mista Vybe is Always On My Mind, a collaboration on the Breeze Riddim with long time friend and 2005 Groovy Soca Monarch champion Michelle Sylvester. Produced by Michelle �Miche" Williams, the song is set to be featured on Catalyst Entertainment�s upcoming Soca Rizin release.
Through work in the late 1980s on Trinidad�s teen talent circuit, the young Mista Vybe met Michelle Sylvester and the two have been friends ever since. Among his other friends in the industry are Terry Seales, Keishea Stewart, Miss Alysha and Nadia Batson. Together they are known as the Big Artist Crew.
�I have been blessed with some of the greatest friends I could ask for in the other members of my crew, the Big Artist Crew. Every member is talented in their own right and in their own way so their talent and their support and push drive me to aspire for bigger things every single day. They inspire and drive me daily and I truly would not be here without them,� said Mista Vybe.
Although many listeners are just becoming familiar with Mista Vybe, he�s been on the scene for quite some time.
�Honestly, I am overwhelmed, and humbled by all the love I have been getting! On one hand, I really didn't expect this much fuss over my stuff. But on the other hand I'm very happy that people are discovering my music and embracing me as an artist. I have worked long and hard for this moment in the spotlight and I intend to enjoy it. Professionally, I have been doing this over 10 years. I think music and writing on the whole is a gift I was given and always worked at perfecting. It's hard to pinpoint exactly what point it �became professional.� Really I always knew I would do what I am doing now it just took me until I was a teenager to realize that it could be a career as well as something I genuinely enjoyed spending my time doing. This has been a long road to get to this point,� explained the crooner.
M-Voice, a cover band in Trinidad in 1989, was his first �professional gig.�
�Before M-Voice I had only done music festivals here in Trinidad. I was also in my high school marching band. After M-Voice I got really serious about it. Also M-Voice was where I met Shel-Shok who is now a well known producer. He and I started writing and producing together and that was how I discovered that other than singing I liked writing and producing as well,� said the young Mr. Gordon.
After M-Voice, came Blak Mayl. After a performance at the 1994 MIDEM conference, Blak Mayl was signed to the French imprint of the EMI label, however the group�s album was not released. Around that time Mista Vybe met Terry Seales who at the time was in another group called New Creations.
In 1997 Gordon paired up with Sharlene Boodram on Joe le Taxi, a re-make of a 1980s hit by French Pop star Vanessa Paradis; according to Gordon, �the song was number one in all the French speaking [Caribbean] islands and an underground hit in Paris.�
After this, Mista Vybe joined Atlantik.
�I was in Atlantik with Tony Prescott and Nicole Greaves and Terry Seales back in 1999. I left for a few months and was asked to come back for Carnival 2000, along with Keishea Stewart and Billy D Kid,� explained Gordon.
After a stint in Horyzon with Anslem Douglas in 2002, Gordon had a turn in Triple X in 2003, where he ran into Michelle Sylvester again.
�By then Michelle and I knew what we were doing, Triple X was the door to our solo careers, so we're thankful for how it all turned out. The year after we left Triple X, Michelle had her first big hit Go Ahead. Nadia wrote it, and she and I did background vocals on it. The year after that, I had Up and Michelle had Sleepin� in Your Bed, Gordon asserted.
While a substantial part of Mista Vybe�s experience has been in Soca, he does not see limiting the use of his talents to the genre.
�Respect to anyone that wants to focus on solely Soca, but when I make music it just music to me. I don't segregate. I put out whatever vibe the Almighty sends to me.�
Clearly, this �versatile young Black entertainer� is ready and rearing to go the distance on the road to success. |
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
![]() |
|
|
|
