Island Hoppin'

My February Vibe magazine came in the mail yesterday, with one of my favorite rappers, Kanye West gracing the cover. Vibe is one of the many entertainment magazines I enjoy reading because it features urban artists who are on the come up, in addition to highlighting fashion and pop culture trends. This month's cover stories include a report on the making of the Notorious movie (which I have yet to see) and Kanye's proclamation that he is rap! LOL..That one made me smile.

But another reason I read Vibe is for their occasional Caribbean mentions. And what do you know, in this month's issue they mention Trinidad & Tobago! Yup..T&T was selected as one of Vibe's February hotspots which won't empty your pockets. Of course, the mini-blurb is about Carnival, our biggest annual event which takes place this year on February 23-24. They shout out Cascade restaurant Battimamzelle (www.coblentzinn.com), infamous (think Akon) nightclub Zen (www.zen.tt) and Cara Suites (www.carahotels.com) in Claxton Bay as 'essentials' of a trip. Hmmmm.
While I am familiar with Zen and Battimamzelle, I hadn't heard of Cara Suites before and I wouldn't necessarily call it an 'essential' for T&T Carnival, as it's pretty far from the Port-of-Spain Carnival action that a tourist may want to experience. But that's a very good look for all three businesses. I wonder how Vibe chose those places.


In other Caribbean news, I know I'm kind of late on this...(blame it on the New Year and my boyf. B coming back after his vacay and the start of school) the 25th Annual Jamaican Sting was held on December 26th of 2008. Well, with a Jamaican boyfriend I can't escape the analysis of who really won the Mavado/Kartel clash, but from a publicity standpoint it's interesting to see how the two artistes are navigating the harsh public opinion. Kartel almost immediately released a diss response to Mavado's abandoning the stage at Sting following an interview the two did (separately) following their performances. While I'll reserve my judgement on an event that promotes violence and in which you can barely hear what the artistes are even saying :-) it is interesting to watch how the two artistes manage their image.