By: Ricza Lopez (Buffalo State College)
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On Saturday April 24th, the Caribbean Students Organization at Buffalo State College celebrated their annual Caribash. For those of you who do not know what Caribash is, it an annual event in which an artist from the Caribbean comes to perform. The event this year Caribash was held in the sports arena on campus. The early warms were brought on by Brooklyn’s own Farenheight Crew consisting of the Soca Warrior DJ A-Hop, Dancehall/Reggae DJ’s Richie Rich, Geniuz and Goose. After they got the students pumped up, In4ahred Sounds hopped on the one’s and two’s to play conscious reggae and jump into R&B and Hip-Hop. As soon as the Hip-Hop came on, the crowd definitely started making moves to start dancing to the latest moves in the genre. There was an instance in which the party goers were taken back into the old school reggae and doing dancehall moves such as the pepperseed and bogle dance. Though there wasn’t a whole leap of people to fill up the Sports Arena, the vibes and energy was felt with loads of excitement and people enjoying themselves everywhere.
The moment came when Baby Cham got on stage. One cannot lie when they say that Cham gave the crowd an unexpected higher than high performance that included hits besides Vitamin S and Ghetto Story (which everyone obviously knows).He entered with the song “Forever Young” He started with the old school reggae with hits such as “Many, Many” on the Haunted Riddim and his duet with Wayne Wonder “Joyride”/”Funny Man” on the Joyride Riddim. He then went on to sing “Boom Boom” , “Tables Will Turn”, His rendition of “Lean on Me” and his popular “This is why I’m hot (Remix). Surprisingly enough, Cham did something a lot of artists do not do and that is to interact with is audience by telling jokes and stories ( in patois of course). He kept the crowd intrigued and entrained with his dancing antics and moves. After performing for about an hour or so, Cham left his audience with positive input and wisdom ensuring his audience to remain positive, to stay in school and to keep away from negativity and trouble, most of all he ended with a poem that many know but yet a lot have yet to encounter and that is the words to “The Road to Success”. He then exited to the music he entered to “The Road to Success”.
After a stellar and energetic performance, the crowd was ready to keep vibing and partying. Farenheight Crew stepped on right back to the DJ booth to play dancer’s tunes such as “No Linga”, “Tall Up” and “Willie Bounce” but ensured to take the time out to recognize the Executive Board for making this event possible. Though University Police pulled the plug exactly at 1:3Am and shut everything down, everything was still strong that made the people want to party even harder than before. It was just a shame that the University Police had to be inconsiderate and just completely shut the party down. Even though Caribash was in competition with two other events going on that same night, with the amount of people that came out, it was a very good event. In this day in age, while it is good to show quantity, this event exemplified how crucial quality comes into play because while a lot of people can come out to an event, if the music and environment is not right, the event isn’t worth it.
With all the speculation that took place and the stipulation with artists having their visas revoked, the Caribbean Students Organization managed to pull a successful event together featuring a well known artists to not only connect with the Caribbean crown but to expose the new time comers to something different as well that isn’t your typical everyday thing. Big shout out to Cham for a great stage presence performance.
