Island combination - Gyptian feat. Nicki Minaj on 'Hold Yuh' remix

Seems like islandista Nicki Minaj is all over the place these days (except on tour with fellow islandista Rihanna on the Last Girl tour).

The latest track that she's on is a remix to Gyptian's stripped-down hit Hold Yuh where Nicki spits a little patwa in her verse which opens the track.

People either seem to love or loathe her contribution to the track so take a listen and let us know what you think, islandistas!



... I do wonder though how the more hard-core yardies will take her last line about her having 'nuff gal inna bungle'. Hmmm... alright Nicki!

Kamla Persad-Bissessar takes over as Opposition Leader

[caption id="attachment_2108" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Photo credit: Trinidad Express"][/caption]



She finally did it - Kamla Persad-Bissessar will take her seat today in the Red House in Port-of-Spain as Trinidad & Tobago's first female Oppostion Leader.

On Wednesday, after weeks of public bad john talk from Basdeo Panday and quiet negotiation behind the scenes by Kamla, she finally got enough support from the parliamentary group to become the Opposition Leader. Notable exceptions were Subhas Panday and Mickela Panday, Basdeo's brother and daughter.

Bas in response, picked his battle with the UNC's new chief whip, his frenemy-turned-enemy-again Jack Warner, saying that while he supported Kamla, he would retire to the UNC's back bench as he would not serve under him.

From the Trinidad Guardian:

“Notwithstanding my reservations on the integrity of the recent internal elections of the UNC, I am, in the interest of unity within the party and my desire to see the UNC grow from strength to strength, willing to work with Mrs Kamla Persad-Bissessar, the new Leader of the Opposition. I am, however, not prepared to serve under Jack Warner as chief whip in the Parliament until such time as he renders an account for the millions of dollars received by him on behalf of the party.”

Never a dull moment with Bas, eh?

 

UPDATED:Islandista on the rise: Nicki Minaj

Guess who's an islandista?

That's right, Young Money's sole femcee, the Barbie-fied Nicki Minaj - known in her former life as Onika Maraj, a dougla and the daughter of two Trinis from Queens. Onika Maraj... it sound like a Trini gyul yuh know ent? Something very familiar and Trini-ish about the name.

Check the vid with her repping T&T below. (NSFW)



Following in the footsteps (well, hopefully aside from the beating Korean nail technicians t'ing) of fellow Trini-descended NY femcee Foxy Brown, Nicki is very serious about bringing the glory days of femcees back, telling MTV:

"With the album, I think it's more important that people get accustomed to seeing a female rapper again. Before I drop an album, people need to come out and see. People don't even know what a female rapper does. We're so not used to seeing it. It's nonexistent in categories. We don't get nominated. I need to work [the people] up to accepting a female rapper again and accepting my style and all of that — then the album will come."

While speaking about her song 'Envy' to MTV's Mixtape Daily, Nicki also declared:

10-1 is murder!

Or so Sparrow said.

Yet, despite a 10-1 drubbing by Kamla in the UNC leadership elections, Bas, like Denyse Plummer, 'nah leaving.'

Not yet.

Kamla polled 13, 929 votes to Panday's 1,359 votes - or more than 10 times as many votes as the Silver Fox.

But he made it clear in an interview with the Trinidad Express that he will not be relinquishing the Opposition Leader post gracefully.

The Express article is (perhaps unwittingly) hil-ar-ious.

Every other paragraph starts with "told that" and "asked that" and have Panday stonewalling in the most creative ways possible.

An example:

Yesterday, faced with the enormity of his defeat at the UNC polls and the strength of Persad-Bissessar’s mandate to lead, Panday insisted on playing it by the book-pointing out that he was following the country’s Constitution and the UNC’s constitution. And neither say that the Political Leader has to be Opposition Leader.

Told that there was strong view that it would be difficult for him to continue as Opposition Leader in the face of his comprehensive defeat as Political Leader, Panday said: ’I would have thought that they were two different things. I became Leader of the Opposition because of a national election. Now this is a party election and I think they are two different things. Don’t you?’

Told that there was a view that there was an organic connection between the mandate from the party and the mandate from the general electorate, Panday insisted he was following democratic law.

’I accept the democratic decision of the UNC electorate and I would accept the democratic decisions of the UNC Parliamentarians,’ he said.

Asked whether he did not think he should relieve the MPs from the burden of making a decision about his future as Opposition Leader (by resigning), Panday said: ’No.’

Told that new Chairman Jack Warner said he should do the honourable thing, Panday started saying: ’Jack Warner and honourable should not be used ... Anyway the issue is one (post), is (based on) a party election and the other is the result of a national election.’

Told that while that was the legal position, the issue was whether it would be immoral for him to hold on as Opposition Leader in the face of the strong endorsement for Persad-Bissessar from the party electorate, Panday asked: ’Whose morals are you referring to? Yours or mine?’

And so it goes, on and on. Not that I think we expected any different. Kamla have to hold strong now.

To Bey or not to Bey?

Ok, ok, that isn't really the question because there is no way in hell that TSTT, Brian Lara and Dwight Yorke are going to give up the big money bound to come in from the Beyonce concert scheduled for two days after Trini Carnival.

Especially not with the US$200 VVIP tickets sold out on the first day.

But with all the bacchanal swirling around the concert in Trinidad, what with concert promoters bawling out that it is going to hurt their business and people querying how the state-owned TSTT could be funding the concert over Carnival, we want to know what islandistas think.

On the one hand, we can definitely see the perspective of the promoters, because the Beyonce concert is going to suck out money that would have been going their way. Lawd knows Carnival is expensive as it is so people are going to have to pick between a fete (or two) and the Beyonce show.

On the other hand, we can also see this being a plus for Trinidad Carnival on the whole by bumping up the number of islandistas (and islandistos) that may decide to fly in for the festivities, since they can take in the concert same time.

And with Machel and Destra being out of Carnival this year and Alternative Concept squashed, this might be the crowd-puller that Carnival needs in these recessionary times...

What says you, islandistas?

Picture of the day - Jamaica's golden girls

[caption id="attachment_1348" align="aligncenter" width="450" caption="The Golden Girls (from l-r) Simone Facey, Kerron Stewart, Shelly-Ann Fraser and Aleen Bailey"][/caption]

 

We will keep it short and simple tonight. The above pic really says it all.

As we begun at these World Championships, so did we end - with victory. Jamaica's islandistas - Simone, Kerron, Shelly-Ann and Aleen, went some way towards making up for their disqualification disappointment in the 4 x100 at last year's Olympics by winning the the title today at the World Championships in Berlin.

The team so bad that they did not even need Veronica Campbell-Brown to take the gold.

The Bahamian women also represented for the Caribbean, placing second in the 4 x 100.

And in the men's 4 x 100, it was another Caribbean 1-2 - Jamaica first (of course) and Trinidad second.

This little region has sent an emphatic message to the world at this World Championships.

World, unnu hear we?

ISLANDISTA EXCLUSIVE: Vashtie Kola speaks for herself

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="450" caption="photo credit: myspace.com/violettenewyork"][/caption]

  

Islandistas, I know it is from 19-how long that we promised you our exclusive interview with multi-talented islandista it girl and 'Downtown's Sweetheart', Vashtie Kola.

But you know how it is... good things come to those who wait... and keep reading Islandista in the meantime!

So without further adieu, here are some unfiltered insights into the life and work of Vashtie Kola.

Islandista It Girl: Vashtie Kola

Who is this Vashtie Kola? That is the question gossip folks and entertainment people have been asking for a while.

 



[caption id="attachment_1056" align="aligncenter" width="320" caption="Photo credit: Amy Rollo/ Honey Magazine"][/caption]

 



Vashtie, like other islandista 'it girls' is one of those chicks that always seems to be on the scene - at all the hottest, edgiest parties, friendsing with the most popular musicians, actors and designers and of course, wearing the cutest outfits.

It would not be quite right  though to say she has that certain je-ne-sais-quoi - after all, it is easy to pinpoint when and how she came to semi-public attention, as she dated rapper/producer Pharrell from 2003 to 2007.

However, even after that relationship faded, she has still managed to stay in the spotlight. Both Honey magazine and Giant magazine are profiling her this month so she must be doing something right.

So... who is Vashtie Kola?

Well to start with, she is an islandista by descent. Of course! Or else, why would we care? lol...

Carnival Costume Review I - Island People

Ok, ok you might say the point is moot since all but one section (Sonia Mack's Paradisius) is sold out but I beg to differ. If you know the right strings to pull or the right sites to check, you can still get your costumes this close to Carnival.

To be honest, I am not overwhelmed by IP's presentation this year. The costumes are beautiful yes, but there is no real wow factor. For example, Carnival Tribe's 2007 presentation 'Old Time Someting' had that wow factor as I have discussed previously. Their 2009 presentation, Birds of a Feather is fantastic too - beautiful but actually depicting something. Full disclosure - Ihave a weakness/bias for costumes with lots of feathers  and big wing-like arm-pieces, which is probably why I love Tribe's presentation this year.

So now that you know that, it should come as no surprise that my favourite costume from IP's presentation is the hot-pink Touch costume.

[caption id="attachment_509" align="aligncenter" width="150" caption="Photo credit: islandpeoplemas.com"][/caption]

 

Featherrrrrrrrrrs! Purrrrty! I LAV it! I'm also pretty partial to their Midnight Bloom section.

[caption id="attachment_510" align="aligncenter" width="150" caption="Photo credit: islandpeoplemas.com"][/caption]

One costume that I am NOT impressed by is Afrodisiac. US$550 for this?! There is not enough all-inclusive food and drink to make me pay that much for such an ordinary-looking costume. There was so much more that could have been done with this theme.

The thing at the top leads to a teeny little burst of feathers. Mehhh. Dey even skimping on de beads. Booo!

On the other hand, we love the costume Dream. Yes, they have a big, feathered head-piece but the feathers are done in a way that is so ethereal and wispy that it really does seem dream-like.

That is it for now - obviously that is just a sample of IP's costumes and you can check out the rest at their site www.islandpeoplemas.com. Look out for more Carnival costume reviews in the coming weeks.

Carnival coming!

Islandistas, it is that time of year again - as I logged on to the Trinidad Express site this morning I was feeling it! Their front page pic let you know that Carnival is definitely in the air. Of course, our fellow islandistas over at Trinidad Carnival Diary been feeling de Carnival feeling from when and they have lots of useful tips and advice over there where they breathe Carnival.

[caption id="attachment_497" align="aligncenter" width="321" caption="Photo credit: Curtis Chase for the Trinidad Express"][/caption]

Here at Islandista, we LOVE, love, LOVE Trinidad Carnival. Love it!

Unfortunately, we're in the middle of a recession so the likelihood of us making it down to TnT is slim to none - especially with the rampant eye-jooking going on by regional airlines these days. A few years back when we went to play mas, a ticket to TnT, even at Carnival time, was around US$150. When we went last summer, that same ticket was US$300-plus. In other words, more than TWICE as much!

These airline prices really crimping the islandista lifestyle - how can you island-hop, play mas from island to island, attend music festivals and holiday weekend events and watch cricket like a true islandista when LIAT and Bwee (ye ye Caribbean Airlines whatever) charging no less than US$250 for a plane ride that lasts as long as a maxi-taxi ride to town? Stupssseee...

Meanwhile, de eye-jookers are gloating that bookings are strong for them for Carnival. In an interview with the Express, CA CEO Phillip Saunders said:

"We have very strong bookings for Carnival, some flights are even fully booked. It shows whatever the economic situation is, people remain committed to traveling in the Carnival period."

Damn them. Still, do what you got to do islandistas. If I could squeeze out the vacation, I would squeeze out the money for Carnival too. Even in the midst of these hard times, yuh got to play mas - in fact, especially now.

Anyhow, we digress. CARNIVAL IS COMING! And we here at Islandista are determined to get into the vibe of it so any of you who are going to Carnival or living in Trinidad already have to make sure and help us.

The official launch of Carnival was Friday night and there were four big fetes  over the weekend to start the Carnival festivities -  the  St Francois All-Inclusive Fete,  the Soca in Moka All-Inclusive at Trinity College, the Blazing Soca Fire Fete put on by the Fire Services Association and the Amnesia New Inclusive.

In the coming weeks, we will be reviewing some of the Carnival band costumes, the music coming out of Carnival (which we found disappointing last year - hoping for better this year) and of course, reporting any suss and drama coming out Carnival!

Speaking of suss, we forgot to mention this one when we heard it. Apparently a big soca diva got a huge pay cheque for her New Year's Eve performance - the equivalent of ten grand per song! Unfortunately she only got to sing three songs at the swank NYE event at Barbados'  poshest 'platinum coast' resort before the dissatisfaction of the stoosh crowd forced management to ask her to roll out. tsk...