September 2, 2024 • 58 mins
Ever wondered how Jamaica's eclectic musical tastes? TV/Film producer Jessica Shaw, explores this in her music documentary in the works, Roots, Rock, Reggae, Souls. A filmmaker with deep Jamaican roots, Jessica shares her fascinating journey growing up in Kingston and how it inspired this latest project. Souls as it is know cultural tapestry of Jamaican music, is an eclectic sub genre of pop ballads, country, r&b, and more, driven by the influential role of Jamaican radio and how it has uniquely embraced and even influenced international artists.
We'll explore how traditional Sunday radio programming in Jamaica, transitioning from gospel to R&B and country, has shaped a diverse musical appreciation among Jamaicans. Hear nostalgic memories of artist like Patsy Cline and Marty Robbins and soulful tracks like Michael Bolton's "Soul Provider" and Celine Dion's "I'm Alive" that have become dancehall favorites. We also celebrate music's global nature, highlighting the interconnectedness of genres and the importance of recognizing the shared history within the Black diaspora.
Get an insider’s look at the crowdfunding journey for Jessica’s "Roots Rock Reggae & Souls " documentary, from setting realistic Kickstarter goals to the creative challenges of editing. With the project's momentum, there's potential for broader festival reach and distribution channels. The documentary's goal is to share the exploration of music's power to connect us all, enriched with insights about the cultural nuance and heritage that shape our favorite tunes.
Support Roots, Rock, Reggae, Souls Crowdfunding
Follow Jessica on Instagram
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Produced by Breadfruit Media
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Hello everyone, welcome to this special joint
episode of Carry On FriendsStyle and Vibes and the Reels to
the Rhythms.
I'm always excited when we dothese crossover episodes because
I feel like, as Mikayla said,beer tings.
So welcome my co-host, mikayla.
My dupes.
What is going on A long timestill in O'Kerry?
Speaker 2 (00:24):
We live on Wichita Beach still, as you say.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Hallelujah, hallelujah.
And we're even more excitedbecause we have Jess with us.
Jess, welcome to this crossoverevent.
How are you?
Speaker 3 (00:38):
I'm great.
Thank you guys for having me.
I'm excited.
I love the name too Realism,rhythm.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
Love it, All right.
So I mean everybody alreadyknow, Michaela and myself, so
we're just going to skip to themknowing who you are.
So tell the people a little bitabout who you are.
Caribbean country you represent, the work you do, and then
we'll get into the project weare here to talk about.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
Sure, yeah, I'm originally from Jamaica.
Actually, I was born in NewYork but I was never raised here
, so I don't rep it the same waybecause I was raised in Jamaica
.
So I was raised in Kingston,went to Hope Field, prep, and
then Campion Shout out to allthe Campion mastermen and I came
back here for college you knowI as about 17.
(01:26):
So I've been here in New Yorkfor a long time I consider both
home at this point and so I'vebeen working in TV now for over
a decade, I would say since 2013.
So I've been 11 years of TVsand I've done a bunch of
different positions across TV.
But this doc I'm coming up iskind of like my first doc by
(01:48):
myself.
I've worked on stuff on Netflixand I do a lot of Food Network
shows as a producer.
I've been working on a lot ofA&E stuff lately and PBS.
I do like a food show for PBSevery year, but I love music, so
that's really why I'm happy tobe doing this.
So I kind of do two things foodshows and music.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
Well, two things dear to her heart we love Rebellion
and we love music.
So you're right in the companyof me and Michaela.
So we reached out to youbecause you have, and I'll throw
it to Michaela to finish therest, you have a documentary
that's coming out that's calledRoots Rock Reggae, and Michaela
(02:34):
cue you.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
Swools, swools, swools.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
So I was so excited when I saw this project because,
as Michaela said, I've been ina chill and be still
semi-sabbatical, but when I sawit I was just like this was
kismet.
It was meant to be, becauseMichaela and I talk about
dancehall and the segments indance.
You have the praise and worship, you have the show back tunes,
(03:02):
you have the souls section, wehave all these things and it's
very hard for people tounderstand, like why we do these
things.
So talk to me about the project, why you started it and all
that good stuff okay.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
So I again grew up in Kingston and every night would
listen to Fame FM.
Every night I didn't have tv inmy room and every night would
listen to fame fm.
Every night I didn't have tv inmy room.
So every night, even though Istill do it with like spotify, I
listen to, you know, souls atnight, which is, you know, it
can range.
That's why it's called soul andI sold on the r?
(03:38):
B because it can range fromcountry to pop to pop, ballads
to soft.
I don't really know what theexact definition is We'll get
into that in the doc but we know, and we hear it, what is souls,
right?
We know certain artists areprobably not souls.
We're not playing them at thedance, right?
And so I've always loved thispart of Jamaican culture in
(03:59):
general.
I just find it so fascinatinghow we love artists like Marty
Robbins and Patsy Cline andthese really old country artists
.
And on a Sunday, up until Ithink, when Zip FM maybe came on
the scene, which was I forgotwhich year Zip debuted in
Jamaica we never playeddancehall and those things on a
(04:19):
Sunday.
On a Sunday, it was always yougo back, right, and it was for
after church and you don't playbujo, even though I love bujo
dearly, you know, but you're notplaying that kind of more.
You know, even though bujo notsuper hardcore, but you know
what I'm saying.
You're not playing an elephantman on a Sunday.
You're not playing certainartists ninja man on a Sunday,
you're playing older artists,you're playing old country.
(04:43):
So I've always thought aboutthis and what really sparked the
doc is two things.
One, I was in paris a coupleyears ago with some friends of
mine.
I was playing water from themoon.
We were like all playing musicand like our friends, paris
laughed and they just didn'tlove water from the moon and I
was like what?
(05:04):
This is our song.
I was so hurt internally.
And then last year my dad gotan award for um his service to
jamaica, you know on the heroesday.
So he got one of the awards forum his service as an air
traffic controller.
So but the night I was onlythere for 36 hours in Jamaica
(05:25):
and I went to this party calledI Love Souls and it's every
Sunday night.
Shout out to them, we're goingto work with them on the dock
and I was like uptown people canbe a little stiff, but
(05:51):
everybody was dancing, everybodywas singing, everybody beat
them juice and sing out toCeline and Michael Bolt and Lady
in Red, and I was, like youknow, I realized that some songs
are songs that just we love inthe Caribbean from the Paris
incident, paris situation.
And then I was like I've nevergone to a place in the world and
I've traveled a lot wherepeople only play this for the
entire night.
And then, like, people loveCeline all over the world and
I've traveled a lot where peopleonly play this for the entire
night, and then, like peoplelove Celine all over the world
we're not unique and lovingCeline but to go to a place and
you only hear soft rock andMichael Bolton and air supply
(06:16):
and you know what I meanmeatloaf maybe, right, that is
unusual for the rest of theworld.
And so I was like somebodyshould do a doc on this and I
was like why don't I just do itlike you make television, you
know?
So that's really where it camefrom.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
I think what I love about what you shared is the
inspiration behind it and thefact that you saw something that
was missing and you said I, I'mcapable of doing this, let me
do it, and I think that to me,that is cultural preservation at
its finest.
And I think souls, as it isknown, that section, that genre,
(06:59):
is very unique to the Caribbean.
And it really goes back to whatwe played on radio.
So, even going further back,reggae wasn't even allowed on
radio.
So we've seen glimpses of thisin other documentaries.
So the one with Biggie talkingabout how he went back to
Jamaica and his mom reallytalking about how her favorite
(07:22):
artist, um, and then even in apast um podcast episode with
miss pat, she talked about umselling r&b records on the road
through her record label uh, arecord store at the time, so
they weren't even the label.
So it it just goes with theculture essentially of how that
(07:46):
really grew.
But I'm curious, even in thatparty, has souls transcended to
this next generation?
I know that they listen to R&Band I know that they listen to
other genres, but souls as weknow it, of this nice look of
presentable box, has thattransitioned to the next
(08:08):
generation?
I don't know.
So that's why I'm asking.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
Yeah, I mean there were some younger people there.
I'm a millennial, for sure.
I'm probably like a geriatricmillennial at this point, but
yeah, there were younger peoplethere.
I would say it tended to leadprobably, you know, younger
millennial but, there were somepeople I know for sure in like
probably their mid-20s, becauseI feel like their parents music
(08:33):
now is probably like are likeUsher and Beyonce and you know
some of those or Keisha Coleright, that's why it's that song
love has been like all over.
I feel like in some ways we'rethe aunties now and so I think
for them maybe some of the older, super old stuff might not,
they might not know that stuff,but they still understand, I
think, the concept of it as aR&B.
(08:55):
But you could also have an EdSheeran, which is in the same
box, even though he's a popartist.
You know what I mean.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
I think that still does translate, but I don't
think they maybe know unlessthey have their grandparents
still around, like Marty Robbins, who we you know lots of
Jamaicans love Marty Robbins um,one of the things you said
before and I don't know if youwill cover this, but you know,
(09:23):
I'm I'm in the gen x generation,so I grew up when there was
just one, it was just jbc, andeverything else was radio and tv
sign off and the radio format.
You talked about it.
On sunday, right sunday morning, before church collectively
starts, so most churches wouldstart at 10.
You play your christian musicafter.
After that they get into thecountry music and by late
(09:46):
afternoon it's some Latin typemusic, whether it's bossa nova
or some salsa, and then as weget into the nighttime it gets
to be the souls or whatever.
Right, and there was aparticular radio format.
My favorite radio disc jockeygrowing up was donovan dacres I
loved donovan dacres right, um.
(10:08):
So how much has radio played arole in our love of souls, given
that for a very long time wewere a one channel country and
multiple radio stations?
And to michaela's point,country and multiple radio
(10:29):
stations.
And to Michaela's point, do youthink now where, even though
Jamaica is still a heavy radiocountry, but not as much with
social media and stuff, how doesthat play a role in the younger
generation experiencing Soulsthe way we experienced it?
Speaker 3 (10:42):
because I don't live there um full time anymore.
I don't know if they listen toit the way we experienced it,
because I don't live there fulltime anymore.
I don't know if they listen toit the way we do, but I think
radio in a lot of ways I thinkradio is super important to
Jamaican life.
Right, I used to live my life byRJR in the mornings, Like
literally, they had like a, youknow they used to have a segment
for everything, like at 10 pastthe hour, 15 past the hour, I
(11:05):
think, at 6.30 in the morning itwas news 6.45.
So I think a lot of peoplelisten to the radio and I think
it really helps shape how wethink about like even the way
things should be played, I thinkwith souls in particular and
older music like country and R&B.
In a lot of ways that is thefoundation, I think, of what you
(11:27):
know in radio and I think thatto that point about the radio
station being the one, I thinkthat is the foundation for all
radio stations did up untilmaybe like 15 years ago, I think
.
Up until, I think, when Zipcame along and they started
playing more secular music.
On a Sunday, most radio stationsstill follow that kind of
(11:48):
tiered thing.
On a Sunday Morning, gospelAfternoon you got your old
country, your Patsy Klein andyour Skeeter Davis.
Afternoon you might get into alittle older, softer disco,
right, you might play some, youknow, ABBA, right, or something
like that.
And then in the evening time,you know you might go a little
bit more R&B, Shy Lights, OJs,things like that.
(12:09):
So I actually think radio isreally, really foundational in
terms of how we listen to musicour palates in a lot of ways.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
I love this idea of what radio has done for us
musically, um, in how we relateto souls and um our love for
souls.
So, all right, we, we knowsouls is a miscellaneous
category for anything that feelsvery r&b, soft rock, um, you
(12:43):
know, soft pop, if you want tosay, um, what else?
It's anything where we feellike it's singing to a
particular, like soulful singing.
Maybe that's why we call itsouls.
It's interesting.
And you now, living in new yorkall three of us, we carried that
to new york because, being inbrooklyn, they used to keep
(13:05):
dance, where it was a completelyswills team dance.
The whole night is souls, right?
So I want to ask a really funquestion.
When we think of dancehall anddancehall parties, jamaica or
the us, what is the number onesoul song you think they're
gonna play in the dance?
In your opinion, michaela andjess?
(13:25):
What's the number one soul songyou think they're going to play
in the dance?
In your opinion, michaela andJess, what's the number one song
you know?
So then I'm going to pull atune here in the soul section of
this dance.
Speaker 3 (13:35):
So my instinct, like once he said it, my instinct was
Michael Bolton's Soul Provider.
That's like the song.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
And then they rinse it with the Remy and Virgo on
cover.
Speaker 3 (13:46):
It just came to my mind instantly.
It's one of my favorite soulsongs.
We know Jamaicans love MichaelBolton.
I guess I was going to go withmy instinct and say Michael
Bolton's Soul Survival.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
I got to go with my instinct too.
First name came to mind wasCeline Dion, but the song that
came to mind is Like a VirginMadonna.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
Interesting.
The song that comes to my mindis Guilty, with Barbara
Streisand and Barry Ginn.
Then we got nothing to beguilty.
Speaker 3 (14:16):
Oh yes, we love that song we really do love that song
, we really do love that songit's true, we also love.
This is one, celine um, I'malive.
Let's anything, celine, just runthey love ice correndo men
dance to these soul songs well,that's one of the things that
(14:38):
really is a big part of the docfor me that I want to make sure
I touch on is that Jamaicansalso and I can't speak for other
islands, but Jamaicans inparticular pick their own
singles.
So there are songs that arejust popular in Jamaica and I
say this because I've been doinga lot of research right, and
artists would come to Jamaica,like Kenny Rogers the first time
(15:00):
he came.
I don't want to give too muchaway from the doc, but like
Kenny Rogers came to Jamaica andyou know, our favorite song is
Write your Name Across my Heart.
Right, we love that song, it'sone of our favorite songs
outside of the Gambler, probably.
And it's not a single.
It was never released.
So Promoto was like listen, youhave to close with this song.
(15:21):
And so he's been interviewed byWinford Williams and he's like
oh, we're not going to do that.
And I know he did it because Iread the article after.
And so the promoter must havebeen like absolutely not, right,
this is your, this is yourgambler here.
Right, and Jamaicans do that alot.
We'll pick a song I don't knowwhat exactly.
We gravitate in the song andthat's our, that's our favorite
(15:44):
song.
There's like this one randomceline dion song that they play
at the dance all the time thatliterally nobody I've ever
mentioned it in america knows it.
They're like what?
And they know a lot of celinedion song, but they don't know
this song.
I think it's called calledsomething about her mother.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
I forget the name of it.
Speaker 3 (16:02):
It's like mama, you gave me wings to fly.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
I know that song.
Speaker 3 (16:07):
It is not a single right and I think it's Goodbye
is the hardest word.
I think that's the name of thesong and it's really a hit in
Jamaica, particularly likedowntown.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
I don't know why, I don't know where it came from, I
don't know Jamaicans, like thetaste really fascinates me, like
what they gravitate towards andwhat they kind of reject you
know it's so interesting becausewhen I used to go back to
Jamaica for vacation, I wouldhear songs play on the radio
that I didn't hear it, even onthe R&B station here.
(16:40):
Particularly, there was a songwith James Ingram and Anita
Baker from a movie and I wasjust like I've never heard this
song and people were like, whatis this?
Like it wasn't even played onthe black stations here and in
Jamaica.
I mean, almost every night itplay after you're just like I
(17:02):
had no choice but to know it.
So, um, another fun questionfor both of you who is an artist
that um for you, jess, that youknow this artist in Jamaica,
but you in America they're likewho is this um?
And Michaela, maybe for youit's what's a song that you know
that you went to Jamaica forthe summer or for holiday or
(17:24):
whatever, and you heard it andyou came back and everyone's
like what is this sort of likeBiggie's experience?
Speaker 2 (17:30):
yeah, I think I think it was more the group Air
Supply.
I'm like I don't know who AirSupply is, because I and then
they start playing time like ohyeah, I do know air supply and
I'm like but I can't put a faceto to the songs because I didn't
know who they.
You know what I mean, like thename of the band.
It's only like probably maybeeven the last 10 years that I
(17:52):
even really did the research onwho and and it was because of
probably like my mother-in-lawlike talking about air supply
and I'm like who's that?
And they're like you know whatair supply man?
You know what?
Them tune, yeah, and them playthe tune.
Oh yeah, me know that song.
But true, my mother was a rebel,so I be a reggae, she play, I
(18:12):
be a reggae and dance, so sheplay.
So my auntie was the souls andI mean my lady.
She would lock up in her roomand I'd buy every song and at
that time, you know, she camehere so she was listening to R&B
station, so it's mostly andthen she'd make like have to
like put in tapes and all thesekind of.
(18:34):
So that's how I really gotexposed to the, to the souls.
So that's how I really gotexposed to the souls.
And then when I would go toJamaica I'd hear like CDs and
parties that would have thosesegments, and it just kind of
stuck.
I'm like, yes, only in Jamaica.
It's one of those best keptsecrets of Jamaica, to be
completely honest.
And it's one that I think weshould preserve, because it's so
(18:56):
good.
Speaker 3 (18:56):
I agree.
The funny thing is, when Istarted working on this, I'm
going to answer your question.
But when I started working onthis, um, I looked up air supply
because I was like, oh, we loveso many other songs and there's
all these reddit threads andstuff for like, oh, air supply
sucks and like cindy on is theworst, and like michael jackson
is like the worst, like, likenot michael jackson I'm so sorry
, michael, and you know they'veparodied him in movies about how
(19:20):
his music sucks and I'm justlike what?
This is amazing, like how dareyou come for Michael Bolton and
Kenny G and these people To yourpoint about artists, though, I
think unless I met somebody fromthe South, like from the you
know, who grew up in Tennesseeor not, in Florida, like deep,
you know, deep South Tennesseeand South Carolina, people don't
(19:43):
know Marty Robbins.
And Marty Robbins is a reallyold artist.
That makes sense.
But I listened to him a lot inJamaica actually growing up,
like the El Paso song is huge Inthe dark.
I'm gonna draw lot of parallelsand I have a whole graphics
thing in mind.
Um, but between like some of thelyrics and some of the songs
(20:04):
from like, like Marty Robbins,to some of the dancehall lyrics,
which I think there is a, Ithink there's a chain, um, you
know the big iron on his hip toyou know car tell, on him 9 000
guns that he named drops.
And and you know, I thinkjamaicans love an outlaw, right
that you hear it with a rude boy.
They love an outlaw, they loveour rebel, and dancehall is like
(20:26):
rebel culture in a lot of waysand so I actually think a lot of
it is rooted in like countryand western movies and music to
where you get to dancehall andsome of the same themes.
I think even some lyrics insome cases overlap, which I'm
even the names of the artists ohyeah, josie wales.
Josie wales, um, johnny osbornea lot of yeah and so and that's
(20:50):
because we only had one stationright um growing up and he did
play that on a sunday orwhatever, because you have to
fill the airtime when you don'thave news.
I mean, jamaica's a small island.
Like how much content can weproduce for our station?
So I I think that it's a bigfoundational part of like what
we listen to is like really oldcountry west.
They love those themes and youeven hear it in like a wayne
(21:11):
marshall song, marshall in townand it's the whole.
They love it, you know.
So I think for me that's one ofthe things that a lot of people
, even though they grew uparound a lot of Caribbean people
in New York, I think some ofthose really old school country
they didn't know even I wouldsurprise me.
Speaker 1 (21:29):
Um, yeah, I think it's a little bit different if
you grew up in the island it'sso interesting that you talk
about country because I canthink of you know, of course we
know, kenny.
Rogers the gambler.
Oh my God.
Even the other day my husbandwas singing it.
Right, I even, to a certaindegree I've talked to Michaela
(21:50):
like I really think LionelRichie is a country singer but
they just put him in R&B.
But one but one country singerwhose album went really pop,
that when I moved here no onereally knew about her, is
Crystal Gale, and everyone loved, and at first they loved her
because she had hair all the waydown to her ankles.
(22:10):
So that was one thing, but alleveryone would sing was A Long
and Lasting Love and they justkept singing that song over and
over.
So there's something there withthe country music and Jamaica
that is very interesting interms of the correlation.
So I can't wait to see it withyour doc.
So let's go back to the doc.
(22:31):
You are doing a crowdfund rightnow.
What's the goal of thecrowdfunding?
Where are you in the theproduction of this documentary?
And I'm gonna add one morequestion, because we want to
know is this going to go thefilm festival circuit?
(22:52):
Is it going to be a generalrelease?
Speaker 3 (22:54):
let's know what's happening okay, great, this is
two great questions.
So we're still inpre-production.
Actually, it's funny.
I think this video, thekickstarter video, was so strong
that people like it's like,it's like a trailer.
I'm like not quite.
You know, we have a lot to film.
There's a lot of people I'mtrying to get to be in.
The doc saline is obviously mymount everest of of interviews
(23:16):
that I'd like to have.
I have people already on boardand so I've been amassing
content and archival and I'vehad some yeses for when I go to
Jamaica in October.
So I have a couple of shootsalready scheduled there and I've
shot like a couple of smallthings already.
But the crowdfunding is reallyfor production, right.
(23:36):
If you work in TV and film space, you are aware, or if you
follow the industry trends, youknow that it's been on a
significant downturn since lastyear, since the strikes, since
the writer strikes last year,which has happened in last May.
So I think the official numbersI saw the other day were like
it's like down 40% or something,which is a lot right.
It employs a lot of California,a lot of New York.
(23:58):
So we've been in a really slowseason and I decided to launch
the crowdfunding because Ididn't want to wait to get told.
Yes, I find in TV, just likewith other, trends, market
trends in other spaces and I'mnot a business person by any
means, trust me, I've learnedthat from this experience but
(24:18):
there's certain times whenthey're green lighting certain
things right.
Sports is hot right now, youknow.
True crime is hot.
Everybody wants to do a truecrime doc.
So it was kind of hard for amusic space and unless you're
Caribbean, you don't thinkthere's a big audience for this
If I was going to send, like anexecutive somewhere, right.
And.
I just didn't want to be waitingand waiting.
I haven't worked as much as Inormally work in the past year
(24:40):
and a half, so I'm like I couldeither use this time to stress
myself out every day andapplying for new gigs and I'm
work, but just not nearly asmuch as I normally work.
(25:01):
Normally I'm like overlapping.
Sometimes it's so busy or Icould put my energy into
something that I actually wantto make care about my people, my
story.
And then what's stopping meMoney?
Right, that's the thing.
That's the barrier is the money, I think even the access to
people.
I know enough and I think I'sfind money and instead of
waiting for you know, netflix orwhoever to say yes, let's raise
(25:24):
some money on our own Right andhopefully people would either
come or it gets made and like ahundred people see it and it
still got made and a hundredpeople love it.
That was where I landed, and sothe month I was raising is
actually significantly less thanI wanted to raise.
But Kickstarter is all ornothing.
(25:44):
So if you don't get all thefunding, you get no funding, and
it's not about not beingambitious, but you don't want to
overshoot and then miss rightand then get nothing.
I'd rather have $20,000 thanhave miss right and then get
nothing.
I'd rather have $20,000 thanhave you know.
Try to raise 40, but raise 32and didn't get anything.
(26:09):
You know what I'm saying.
So that's where the Kickstartercame in and I can elaborate,
but I won't keep going.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
No, no, no, and I think in terms of just explain a
little bit more.
When you said you're inpre-production, just let the
audience know specifically whatthat means.
It's just like identifying thepotential guests, etc.
And then post-production,because we want the audience to
support it and we want toexplain to them clearly where
(26:32):
you are in the process so theycould support it cool, cool, um.
Speaker 3 (26:36):
So all right, so you have like four stages,
essentially actually five stages, of production really.
You have development, you havepre-production, you have
production, post-production andthen distribution.
Right, we for a long time werein development, where I was
researching and stuff like that,and then I started reaching out
to people like hey, like youknow, there's people who have
reached out to try and be in thedark, like our I love souls.
You know, friends, that partyright, we're gonna shadow them a
(26:59):
bit bit and shoot some of thatparty right.
That's obviously something wewant to showcase.
That's a big part of theinspiration for the doc.
So pre-production is whereyou're kind of you have the
funds, at least partially right,and so you can start setting up
shoots and start shooting andstart setting up logistically
what you're going to do.
(27:20):
Development is where you'rereally just doing research and
kind of like the anthropologicalpart.
Production is where you'reactually shooting.
You're getting the footage,you're doing the shoots, you're
on set and then post-productionis past, that, it's done, now
you're editing it and thendistribution is obviously where
it starts.
You're going to festivals oryou're going to your you know,
(27:41):
your network or your Netflix'sor wherever it's gonna land.
Um, my initial plan was to justget it made right and if I
could get it into festivals,amazing.
But the enthusiasm and themomentum since a week and a half
ago has really stunned me and Idon't say that lightly, right,
(28:03):
stunned.
So I think there is a betterconversation and a bigger
conversation about where it'sgonna land now, possibly.
So maybe it's not just thesesmall festivals anymore, maybe
it's like a bigger conversation.
But I'm in talks with somepeople to see what can happen
and I do have a sponsor thatcame on board who get, who
(28:24):
challenged us to raise moremoney.
Um, then they will kind of likematch it or you know, there's
going to be two ways.
Like they're gonna.
We already actually met onegoal to get 50 backers, so they
gave us 5 000 and then, um,we'll do another campaign and
then we'll get another $5,000.
So that's Bluma Whole Capital.
They're an investment companybased in Jamaica.
You guys might know about them,yeah, with David Mulling, so
(28:46):
they're great.
So yeah, so that's like youknow.
I put it out there, at leastthe Kickstarter part, and people
have been coming and circlingand asking, which is great, I
can't ask for more.
Micha, great, I can't ask formore.
Speaker 1 (28:58):
Michaela, jump in when you have a question, but in
the meantime, no, yeah, ask thequestion.
Speaker 2 (29:02):
So that's why I'm in that interview.
Speaker 1 (29:15):
So you said that you are overwhelmed and surprised by
the the response, and I want toknow why.
Because we're in media indifferent spaces.
But the reason why I startedCarry On Friends Mikaela is
doing Style and Vibes and I doBreadfruit Media because we
think a fraction of what werepresent on our culture is not
necessarily out there for us toconsume or interact with.
So I'm not surprised by this,like I.
(29:37):
I immediately like Mikaela.
You see this Right, so that washow I felt.
So what was it about theresponse that surprised you?
I just wanted to know.
Speaker 3 (29:48):
Sure, I think, what surprised me.
I thought people would beexcited.
So, the same way, like, oh, wetalk about this all the time, I
talk about it all the time.
Every Caribbean person I know,especially who grew up in
Jamaica or in Haiti I know Haitifeels similar.
I know some of Trinidad is likethat.
I think we all know this aboutit, um, about the Caribbean, and
that we love it.
But I just, I guess I justdidn't expect the such a
(30:11):
explosion of interest, so like,so fast, like I knew people
would be interested and I wassaying to myself, listen, if I
can get to like a thousand viewsin the first day or so, that's
pretty good.
You know, like I knew my medianetwork would care and the
people in New York, but I hit, Ithink, 20,000 views in like 18
(30:32):
hours.
The video is well past almost60K or 60K at this point, just
on Instagram.
That's not even includingfacebook.
I know people feel like thisabout souls and like that part
of our culture.
I guess I just didn't expect itto be so strong where people
were sharing it for me.
You know I have a team, acrowdfunding team, that helps me
(30:52):
try to get the, the word outthere but for the first day and
a half, like people just did thework for us, almost like it was
shared.
So if you look at my like mylittle icon thing, I think it's
like a 980 times on that onevideo, but my film page also has
a bunch more and then you know,each team member there's got
(31:13):
reshared as well.
You know what I mean.
So it's I mean the video islike baby viral whatever, like
it's not viral yet I'm not onShaderoo, right but like it's
like mean the video is like babyviral whatever, like it's not
viral yet I'm not on shade room,right but like it's like baby
viral in like the caribbeancommunities and I was like whoa
I I think there's just a scaleof the of the support surprised
me not so much that people likedit more, it was like whoa and
(31:34):
people were talking as if it waslike already made in one coming
soon yeah, and I said comingsoon, like oh, that's what you
say in the kickstarters, but Idon't know.
I'm just surprised that peoplelatched on to it the way they
did.
I'm a producer, so I see somany like I don't say mistakes,
but things I would change right.
(31:54):
I've watched a video a total ofmaybe four times and that is to
edit right, because I hatewatching myself listening to
myself.
I'm a producer for a reason.
I like being behind the camera,um, but I was told by my
crowdfunding coach that you, Ineed to be in front of it and my
enthusiasm will radiate.
And I think it did.
I think so.
I think that's part of whypeople like it.
(32:15):
I was also like looking forlike comments about, like my
appearance.
I was like, oh god, what arepeople gonna say?
but I actually have seen none,zero you look good girl, I mean
those are people really focusedon the content of the video,
which is what I really wanted.
Um, I just I think it was ascale of it so fast, like david
(32:37):
mullings, the from, you know,from, blue mojo capital.
He reached out to me actuallyand he said that he got it sent
to him four times that day, likeso I was like really, and then
I met this girl last week at um.
A friend of mine had a birthdaydinner.
He's in new york from jamaicaand the girl was like, oh,
(32:57):
you're a girl from the video,the souls video.
I was like what?
Like yeah, she's from, shelives here now.
But like, again, I didn't know,it was reaching people, people
who had also one said no tobeing on the team.
So when I was looking for, likecrowdfunding team members, two
people- ended up dropping out orjust not ghosting me.
(33:17):
And then one of them was like oh, somebody sent it to me on
Twitter and then she sent anapology.
I've had sponsors who I reachedout to try and do a matching
campaign or help us reach backout to me after seeing the video
, even though they ignored me.
So that stuff has been likereally interesting.
I think that that part of ithas surprised me.
Speaker 2 (33:40):
That stuff has been like really interesting.
I think that part of it hassurprised me.
I think what truly happens ispeople like to see the concept
and because it was executed sowell in terms of it was like its
own mini doc, even though itwas an introduction, right, yeah
.
So I think conceptually we allhave a connection to souls and
(34:01):
when you describe it versus whenyou have this tangible asset to
explain it and get excitedaround, it's the first time that
people are seeing this type ofone focus on.
We see cultural content, getyou know, shared and distributed
(34:27):
, but it's one by you to.
You know you're Jamaican, youhave a connection again, your,
your story radiates in the videoand you were able to kind of
tie it into like a few minutes,like people can visualize what
the entire doc would talk aboutand you know all Jamaican people
(34:52):
still would love to get excited.
I would love to make sureseveral cultures devote yes, and
we are very proud to kind ofwhen it's excellent.
Speaker 3 (35:04):
I always tell people like no, you're not wrong, I
always tell people the two mostobnoxious things to be like
Jamaican and New Yorker.
Like a New Yorker, because it'sjust, it's a lot, it's very
true levels yeah and then onlyby Brooklyn, yeah and Brooklyn
specifically, that's that no,it's so true.
(35:26):
And then, if you come fromflatbush, absolutely no, it's so
true I think I guess from.
So my editor said I had a fewthings about the video and I
worked with her before.
So my editor her name is jennyfilipazzo, she's italian, I
think she's italian I workedwith her on a docuseries I
worked on last year for umfinityabout hip house, which is like
(35:49):
hip hop and house music.
You know that little period hehad in like the early nineties
and she was our editor and she'samazing.
And I basically said to Jenny,I told her I was trying to do
that show was very stressfulbecause of the timeline, was
very short, not stressfulbecause of the content, but just
like got a short window to makethree episodes, right, three
weeks essentially.
(36:09):
So I knew she could do it.
I knew she could do it fast andI was like listen, jenny, I
have no money.
So I was like it's a threeminute video, so there's no more
than three minutes, likeanything over three minutes for
our kickstarter is a death knell.
You don't want more than threeminutes.
In fact, if I could get it downto two and a half minutes, that
(36:29):
is the key right.
The shorter the better.
I'm aware of people's shortattention spans.
I'm convinced I have adhd, so Iwant it to be short.
I sent her all the stuff thatyou see in the video, for the
most part, like all the archivalstuff I'd source the interview
with assassin um agent sasko and, you know, the elephant man,
all the stuff in there I hadsourced and like we kind of
(36:49):
talked about how I wanted it tokind of look, and that version
of the video is, I guess, likethe fourth cut it's.
You know, the first one waslike five minutes and we cut it
down to three and you know whatI mean.
And then I had a couple things.
One of the things I noticedthat is, um, I hate to hear it
is that the audio doesn't matchfor the part where I'm like a
kid because, because I had shotthis way back in february when I
(37:15):
first had this idea, my friendshot it for free and it's before
I hired my coach, justin who'sI have a crowdfunding coach, um,
and so he was like you needlike a personal thing and I was
like oh, but I thought Iexplained that he's like no, you
need something where you aretalking about it in like a
different way, and he was likeyou need like a personal thing
and I was like, oh, but Ithought I explained that he's
like, no, you need somethingwhere you are talking about it
in like a different way.
And I was like, all right, Ican't reshoot it, I have no
money for that.
So I didn't pay him the firsttime, so I definitely don't pay
(37:37):
the second time.
So I was like, okay, I'm goingto find childhood pictures and
then we'll just put VO.
So I was on a show working, sowe had like an interview room,
cause that's where I do all myinterviews for the show.
So it was quiet enough, right,it was at the studio in Jersey
and I was like, okay, I'm goingto go in there and record like
10 seconds of VO.
(37:58):
20 seconds was my absolute max,because remember I had like a
two and a half minute like hardthree minute mat.
No, my max was three minutes.
So I went in there and I waslike these pictures, jenny, have
to fit into this like 15seconds.
So for me I hear it every timeIf I listen to it I'm like it
(38:19):
doesn't match.
But you know, people want it inthe hearers and two days seem
to love it anyway.
So it's fine.
Speaker 1 (38:26):
I can relate to, to.
You know, being an editor, youfeel like, yeah, that not quite
right, but I think that segmentof it connected, because we were
all young listening to thesemusic, like I would tell I mean
this is not quite souls, but youknow, I would talk to my
husband, his sister, so mysister-in-law, her husband,
(38:47):
brother-in-law, and we wouldtalk about how Derek Harriot did
sing some songs and I'm like weshouldn't have been singing
these songs, you know, butbecause the parents were singing
it and we remember, because themusic it's, it's a soundtrack
of our lives, right?
So you remember where you areat a particular time.
(39:08):
Like barry g was huge for me.
So I remember what it was likecoming home from school and
listening to barry g.
So while you, from an editingperspective, didn't like that,
the, the image of the kids or asa child, resonates because we
are all connecting michaela, allof us here started connecting
(39:30):
to music when Raleigh copied me.
When we have no reason to sing,I'm your lady.
You know.
None of those things are.
Speaker 3 (39:38):
I'm leaving on the next plane out Celine Dion,
whatever it was, or, if youtaste to leave your level, by
Paul Simon, which my dad is likeone of his favorite songs ever.
Speaker 1 (39:46):
I'm like listen, my mom would um kill songs by
surface and all these people andI was just like when I listened
to them, I was like why themjust love all of these
heartbreak songs?
Speaker 2 (39:59):
they was just it was just like sad, oh my gosh I love
song they do.
Speaker 3 (40:06):
Jamaicans are actually pretty sentimental
people, I find, when it comes tomusic, and I read somewhere and
I think I said it in the docabout there's no guilty pleasure
music and I can't rememberwhere I heard that quote from I
think it was from Diplo,actually in like a Rolling Stone
article.
Because, again, I've beenreading up on a lot of this
stuff for many months now andit's true, jamaicans you know
(40:29):
the way americans are a littlebit sometimes like elitist about
music, like oh, this isterrible or like whatever,
especially like rock fans arelike that.
They're very like you know,this is not good.
Um, jamaicans don't really havethat gauge like.
They love a melody, they lovebig kind of big melodic ballads
and um, so I think that reallyis what it's like their
foundation.
They love country music, Ithink because of the
(40:49):
storytelling and the outlawtheme, and then they, they just
love a classic song, like aclassic song structure.
You know what I mean.
Like it's they're not.
I just say it's simple becauseI think those that out of the
music is actually quite complexand the way they redo it in the
reggae, which is another hugeaspect, is really interesting.
(41:09):
Um, and one of the the things Ireally don't want to get into
in the doc, where people arelike, see, we did this first and
like I don't want any of likewho is appropriate, like it's
not about that.
That's what I said in the end,because that's genuinely why I
want to do this.
I think music in general, right,is so much about just like food
, so much about taking thingsand making something your own
(41:31):
with what you have.
Like a lot of the south theyclaim country music, but some of
that, some of those themes, aremexican.
Actually, the cowboy hat ismexican.
Um, you know some of the band,you know the band just from
africa.
Like I'm just saying, everybodytakes their own thing and it
becomes their own cultural stuff, and so that's what I want to
focus on, not about like you'retaking this from us and like you
know, or if I'm trinidad,because, um, I think dale is
(41:55):
actually like a trinidadian song, the original version before
harry belafonte's version tookoff, right, I have a whole grid
of this stuff, um, and that'swhat I'm saying.
And so it's not about liketrinidad getting upset.
It's just like listen, we'reall connected, all the diaspora,
we all made something different.
Soca, it's its own thing, andcalypso, you know what I mean
(42:16):
like, but it's all originated inlike the same place, at least
the foundation, I think, ofmusic it's, and then you do what
you can I think we, you know,and michela, we talked about
this collectively and we had amusic ethnocologist on the
podcast and we talked aboutgetting away from the origin
(42:37):
story.
Speaker 1 (42:37):
And Michaela and I we've been talking about this a
lot, particularly with Afrobeatsand.
Dancehall, and thoseconversations take away from the
actual music that we're tryingto enjoy.
Like, for instance, there was awhen, when Beyonce came out with
the whole country music, therewas a documentary that talked
about the first recording of abanjo or a type of banjo is in
(43:01):
is the slaves in Jamaica and Iwas so surprised and but Jamaica
is not going gonna claim sadthem create country music.
It was just, you know, it's thehistory and um, from a creative
perspective, that frees me upto not think of not that I was,
but I think it frees you up tothink of myself only in boxes of
(43:22):
dance or reggae and soca.
I can be more than this becausethere's country and I think
that's why we love the music theway we do and Michaela and I we
are creative in the way we arebecause culturally we were never
boxed in.
So you talk about hip house.
I grew up in that generationwhere we were like dancing hip
hop and yes, yes, like now thatyou're doing you know they had
(43:46):
the dance crews.
Yes, yes, like now that you'redoing you know they had the
dance crews.
So music, because that was alove that I have, because after
(44:06):
TV sign off you only had theradio.
Because I had this variety ofmusic, I was never boxed in to
think of things a particular way.
Um, as again to Michaela'spoint, we could go into a party
and there's a praise and worshipsegment, there's the soca
segment, there's the old like,there's so much because it
represents how we think aboutmusic and how we communicate,
and I think that's where we canfree up ourselves creatively.
I think make Michaela loves totalk about how we like to box
(44:30):
artists in and artists don'talso don't want to.
You know, there's a time andplace to box people in and
there's a time to put your forkdown and claim a genre, just
because that's how the industryworks and I think that trips up
our artists in terms of but Ilike souls and I like gospel and
I, I like don't do that really,you know so no and that's the
(44:52):
thing, the souls, because soulsis not one genre like I would
love to say, it's just r&b,because we love that.
Speaker 3 (44:56):
You know that kelly price, and there's a few songs
that we love, like rock metonight.
You know we love some of thosesongs, but that's freddie
jackson, I think, um, but youalso play like a Mariah Carey
song alongside it.
You'll also play Celine Dionalongside it.
You'll play Ambrosia, who Iposted last night.
We don't even do that.
(45:16):
For us it's all the same kindof ballad structure, so we never
really got into that, and I dofind those conversations a
little bit reductive.
I hear this with Afro beats istaking over dance and all that,
and I'm find those conversationsa little bit reductive.
I hear this with, like you know, like Afrobeats is taking over
dance hall.
It's like or taking, and I'mlike, well, I'm happy for them.
Actually, I think that's great.
I think it's time for Africa,and, you know, nigeria and South
(45:39):
Africa, to have their moments,you know a lot of those
Afrobeats artists.
Lots of their early stuffsounded like dance hall.
They were heavily influenced.
Wizkid, you can hear it in hisearly music.
Burn a boy you hear it in hisearly music.
It sounds very close todancehall and I think they found
their own.
You know the more distinctsound.
You know um, eventually, butlike I love that.
They, you know, tookinspiration and afrobeats is
(46:01):
amazing.
I listen to afrobeats probably,you know, 60 of the week, right,
so it's not, it's not a timeupset.
I don't.
I don't know why we have to dothat.
Like for me, when I heard thechronics and whiz kids sound
like this is my world in oneplace, like I was so happy to
hear that I don't see the needto feel like we need to be upset
(46:22):
about that.
Also, jamaica's like threemillion people on an island and
you're talking, talking about awhole continent.
You know what I'm saying.
Like I was like, like that'scrazy, right, we should all be,
I think.
So Jamaica's like 3 millionpeople on an island and you're
talking about like a wholecontinent.
You know what I'm saying.
Like that's crazy, right, weshould all be.
I think, a little bit more.
This is just my opinion.
I'm not advocating for anybodyelse to feel this way.
I think it's more about usingwhat you have and the influence
(46:43):
and what instruments just likewith food and you know know
turning it into whatever it isthat works for you, and some of
it can be really amazing.
I think some of the best reggaesongs are covers of a soft rock
song or a country song like Ican't even imagine missing you
by sanchez not existing, I can'timagine it.
Speaker 1 (47:02):
I love that song.
Or in the 80s, when they weresinging, you got a fast car.
That was like a whole cover oftrade, like yeah, and I love
both.
Speaker 3 (47:12):
I love tracy chapman and I really love those versions
of some of those songs, likeeven like country road, take me
home, you know like that is agreat song.
Also, bob marley's firstrecords were covers, you know,
before he found his song and hewas doing more reggae.
He was doing like scout musicat first, so that's not what
this doc is about.
So if anybody's looking for likewe did this first and like in
(47:35):
like a more device, that's notgonna happen.
It's just not what I want tofocus on.
It's for me it's like and Ihear haiti listen, I hear, I see
the comments.
I hear you haiti, I hear youtrinidad we know, I know they
feel this way too.
I'm like I just don't have theresources to go all over the
Caribbean to shoot.
But I know a lot of them feelsimilarly to me.
Speaker 2 (47:58):
No, I think Souls is more about the tempo, and so you
know the feeling that you getaround the rock, even yacht,
yacht, rock.
what they call it now pop,ballads, country, r&b, a certain
tempo of disco, you know, likeall of the the 70s souls, um,
(48:22):
movement, like it's really aboutthis tempo and I think the, the
genres themselves aren't unique, but the way that it is
packaged yes, in jamaica and inthe caribbean is unique and
that's a cultural thing, and Ithink that's no, it is kind of
tying, tying it back to to towhat we were talking about.
(48:42):
I think a lot of the, the, themiss conversations and and um,
the opposite ends really comesfrom equity, heritage and
mistreatment of culture, and soneither party is wrong in their
sentiment and perception.
However, the equity has beenlost amongst all of.
(49:04):
I think that we have to do abetter connective job of
recognizing each other and thehistory, cause we've seen how
history gets erased, right, yeah, and so the conversations
really get fired and passionatebehind the potential erasure of
(49:25):
collective history.
We've seen it with countrymusic, and we've seen it with
country music and and we've seenit with hip-hop music.
So those consorted efforts toreally say, hey, it's not just
this, it is this, and thensomeone telling you no, it's
this, and then we're like butthis is all well documented in
history, that it's not just thisthing.
(49:47):
Why are you not including us?
And you can literally hear thetempos, the this and that, and,
to your point, the entireindustry has evolved and the way
that we consume music havecreated you know the evolution
of it.
But again, I think theconversations really are about
(50:08):
us being included in theconversations around equity and
inclusion of the historicalreferences, and I think we don't
need to fight about it, and Ithink people fight more in the
comment section than they do inperson.
So I think like no, noCaribbean person is really
asking about whose rice isbetter than this one.
On a daily basis, I will eatarroz con dules.
(50:33):
I will eat rice and peas.
We'll eat the black rice.
I'm going to want that jalapeñorice too.
I like all of that, but on theinternet it narrows it can be
like that on the internet, it'sjust the internet.
So I think we all in a party wehear Afro beats, we hear souls.
We hear danza, we hear R&B.
(50:54):
We can't even do a little ofthe new hip hop stuff, and that
is what we I think most peoplereally in the entire Black
diaspora really want toexperience.
Speaker 3 (51:05):
By the way, I wish more parties played souls here.
I do.
That's not like in the.
I think it's that bullshithappens, but if I go to like
certain parts that's nothappening and I miss it.
I miss it a lot.
I actually have to say I havetried to create on my phone
every night the same kind ofplaylist or same kind of stuff
(51:27):
like that for Spotify that, likeum, fame FM used to do at night
, I don't know.
Please add tags.
Okay, I will, I will, I willshare.
There's actually a few of them.
If you just type in souls mix,a few people have done them
already and they're actuallyreally really good.
There's like 80 songs andthey're really good, so one of
(51:47):
the tiers of the rewards forKickstarter.
At the $50 tier you get aplaylist curated by me with,
like, I would say, maybe like 40or maybe not as many as that,
but reggae covers of differentgenres.
And then at the $100 mark,there is a Souls mixtape curated
(52:10):
just for the campaign by DJDangles from Federation Song,
and it's all the classics.
He left out a few becausethere's some songs I want to
tackle.
I mean, come on, you can't haveeverything, yeah, in the doc
itself, and like even somethings I try not to talk about
too.
I've talked a little bit aboutsome of those things here, but I
try not to talk about them toomuch because I want to make sure
in the dark it feels fresh andnot like oh, I heard her say all
(52:31):
of this and you know before inher social media.
Speaker 2 (52:34):
There is so much we did not even cover, yeah, but
like, even like the MartyRobbins thing.
I actually don't post that justbecause I it's a lot, it's a
thing, I because I see theconnections being really so
strong, Okay so, what we need todo is make sure that, before
and after your search MartyRobbins before, like the search
(52:55):
relevancy of Marty Robbinsbefore and after the doc get
released, because that is goingto be the indicator.
Speaker 3 (53:03):
Yeah, that's a good idea.
My hope is that in some wayslabels are more friendly to docs
like this.
You don't have to give us thewhole song to use, but just you
know, I think it actually drumsup interest more for those
artists.
I think people nostalgia is areally powerful thing, I think
especially with millennials andGen X, and I have a theory about
(53:25):
this.
I think it's because there'snow the internet, right, but we
grew up in some ways before theinternet became the way of the
world.
So people, these kids won'tforget like what they liked.
It's there's like a recordthere of their Instagram or
whatever.
But like we remember a timewhen we couldn't you know, I
couldn't even Shazam.
Like to your point aboutknowing Air Supply the artist's
(53:46):
name, like I didn't know whothey were.
When I was seven I didn't knowthe name of the band, we didn't
have shazam, right.
I discovered that they were airsupply later, right?
Speaker 2 (53:55):
um, so I think that did nostalgia for gen x and then
, like milan is was reallystrong because we like we, we
are even for jay-z from anexploration perspective, because
if you think about like shows,like stranger things, yeah, tap
into that 80s era of nostalgialike uh, what's her name?
(54:15):
Something bush kate bush yeahlike her inclusion, her music
being included in in strangerthings, yes, really amplified
people discovering her and hermusic and her catalog and.
Speaker 3 (54:27):
Fleetwood Mac.
Yes, yeah, I think theyrediscovered, I think they
discover, but for us it's likepure nostalgia.
Speaker 2 (54:34):
Yes, yes, so for corporations it equals more
money, so that's why they shouldinclude it.
Speaker 1 (54:41):
Completely.
So we can't do this labrishingthing forever, but we just want
to.
Mika is laughing because welove music Like I want to give
you my I call it my genrebending playlist because the mix
up what is in this playlist onthe same playlist, but it worked
for me and Jamaica excitedabout you know what creators
(55:05):
like you are doing to presentstories that mean so much to us
(55:32):
being told in a way that justresonates.
You know, because it's notgonna just resonate with me,
because when dance I keep outthat street I'm not for them
ears alone.
I hear it.
All of us are hearing it andthat's that's what radio did for
us growing up.
We all heard it.
We all interacted with adifferent way.
(55:54):
I remember when I was in gradethree or grade four there was no
reason why I'm singing Karen'sright.
I'm your superwoman.
There's no, there's no, there'sno reason.
But every Jamaican kid knowsthat song right.
Every Jamaican kid knows thatsong right.
Every Jamaican child knows thatsong.
So that's the power of musicand that's the power of telling
(56:16):
or interaction with music, evenif it originates somewhere else.
You know the way that a cultureinteracts with it creates a
whole new story and experience.
So I'm super excited about it,michaela, and I will drop the
links to the crowdfund.
When does it end?
Speaker 3 (56:33):
It ends on September 19th.
We are about 55% funded rightnow.
I'm just looking right now, sothat's great, which is unusual
crowdfunding campaigns for indiefilms.
Our coach I have, like I said,I have a coach, justin, that I'm
working with, who's done this amillion times, so he's been
(56:56):
really helpful.
But I put my own.
You know, I have my own ideasand spins on things.
Like Mondays we do Celine MeMonday right on our social media
, right, so it's all Celine allday.
Right On a Tuesday we're doinglike trivia of like reggae
trivia to see who knows which isa cover, and stuff like that,
um.
And then the rest of the weekis just fun stuff.
(57:17):
Like we do a um, a souls pickevery day.
People are welcome to givesuggestions.
We've taken many september 19th, but feel free to, you know,
share it, like it.
Um.
We have some new rewards comingup this week, I think, yeah
that's exciting.
Speaker 2 (57:34):
Yes, and I'm right, I gotta do my donation today.
Speaker 1 (57:37):
So on that note, um, jess, you know this is not the
last of us, but you know again,congrats on the project and um,
we're super excited for you andof course, of course, and as I
love to say at the end of everyepisode what good.
Well, michaela, what you lovesay it's been so long.
Speaker 2 (58:00):
No, but make sure you guys go out and click the link.
Uh, support roots, rock, reggaeand schools.
Click the link.
Support Roots, rock, reggae andSchools documentary.
I've emphasized the schools youknow, and share with all your
friends, please and thanks,because we need support.
Thank you so much, jess.
We appreciate you being on theshow.
Speaker 3 (58:24):
Anytime.
Speaker 2 (58:25):
This was fun.
Speaker 1 (58:27):
It was we got to do it again yeah, I mean listen.
Speaker 3 (58:32):
Let me know, I'm always around all right, all
right.
Speaker 4 (58:38):
Thanks for listening to the latest episode of the
style and vibes podcast.
If you like what you hear and Iknow, you do share it with your
friends and family.
If you want more, make sure youvisit stylingvibescom and
follow us on our social channels, twitter and instagram.
At styling vibes.
Until next time, leah tummypeeps.
Hello everyone, welcome to this special joint
episode of Carry On FriendsStyle and Vibes and the Reels to
the Rhythms.
I'm always excited when we dothese crossover episodes because
I feel like, as Mikayla said,beer tings.
So welcome my co-host, mikayla.
My dupes.
What is going on A long timestill in O'Kerry?
Speaker 2 (00:24):
We live on Wichita Beach still, as you say.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Hallelujah, hallelujah.
And we're even more excitedbecause we have Jess with us.
Jess, welcome to this crossoverevent.
How are you?
Speaker 3 (00:38):
I'm great.
Thank you guys for having me.
I'm excited.
I love the name too Realism,rhythm.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
Love it, All right.
So I mean everybody alreadyknow, Michaela and myself, so
we're just going to skip to themknowing who you are.
So tell the people a little bitabout who you are.
Caribbean country you represent, the work you do, and then
we'll get into the project weare here to talk about.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
Sure, yeah, I'm originally from Jamaica.
Actually, I was born in NewYork but I was never raised here
, so I don't rep it the same waybecause I was raised in Jamaica
.
So I was raised in Kingston,went to Hope Field, prep, and
then Campion Shout out to allthe Campion mastermen and I came
back here for college you knowI as about 17.
(01:26):
So I've been here in New Yorkfor a long time I consider both
home at this point and so I'vebeen working in TV now for over
a decade, I would say since 2013.
So I've been 11 years of TVsand I've done a bunch of
different positions across TV.
But this doc I'm coming up iskind of like my first doc by
(01:48):
myself.
I've worked on stuff on Netflixand I do a lot of Food Network
shows as a producer.
I've been working on a lot ofA&E stuff lately and PBS.
I do like a food show for PBSevery year, but I love music, so
that's really why I'm happy tobe doing this.
So I kind of do two things foodshows and music.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
Well, two things dear to her heart we love Rebellion
and we love music.
So you're right in the companyof me and Michaela.
So we reached out to youbecause you have, and I'll throw
it to Michaela to finish therest, you have a documentary
that's coming out that's calledRoots Rock Reggae, and Michaela
(02:34):
cue you.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
Swools, swools, swools.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
So I was so excited when I saw this project because,
as Michaela said, I've been ina chill and be still
semi-sabbatical, but when I sawit I was just like this was
kismet.
It was meant to be, becauseMichaela and I talk about
dancehall and the segments indance.
You have the praise and worship, you have the show back tunes,
(03:02):
you have the souls section, wehave all these things and it's
very hard for people tounderstand, like why we do these
things.
So talk to me about the project, why you started it and all
that good stuff okay.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
So I again grew up in Kingston and every night would
listen to Fame FM.
Every night I didn't have tv inmy room and every night would
listen to fame fm.
Every night I didn't have tv inmy room.
So every night, even though Istill do it with like spotify, I
listen to, you know, souls atnight, which is, you know, it
can range.
That's why it's called soul andI sold on the r?
(03:38):
B because it can range fromcountry to pop to pop, ballads
to soft.
I don't really know what theexact definition is We'll get
into that in the doc but we know, and we hear it, what is souls,
right?
We know certain artists areprobably not souls.
We're not playing them at thedance, right?
And so I've always loved thispart of Jamaican culture in
(03:59):
general.
I just find it so fascinatinghow we love artists like Marty
Robbins and Patsy Cline andthese really old country artists
.
And on a Sunday, up until Ithink, when Zip FM maybe came on
the scene, which was I forgotwhich year Zip debuted in
Jamaica we never playeddancehall and those things on a
(04:19):
Sunday.
On a Sunday, it was always yougo back, right, and it was for
after church and you don't playbujo, even though I love bujo
dearly, you know, but you're notplaying that kind of more.
You know, even though bujo notsuper hardcore, but you know
what I'm saying.
You're not playing an elephantman on a Sunday.
You're not playing certainartists ninja man on a Sunday,
you're playing older artists,you're playing old country.
(04:43):
So I've always thought aboutthis and what really sparked the
doc is two things.
One, I was in paris a coupleyears ago with some friends of
mine.
I was playing water from themoon.
We were like all playing musicand like our friends, paris
laughed and they just didn'tlove water from the moon and I
was like what?
(05:04):
This is our song.
I was so hurt internally.
And then last year my dad gotan award for um his service to
jamaica, you know on the heroesday.
So he got one of the awards forum his service as an air
traffic controller.
So but the night I was onlythere for 36 hours in Jamaica
(05:25):
and I went to this party calledI Love Souls and it's every
Sunday night.
Shout out to them, we're goingto work with them on the dock
and I was like uptown people canbe a little stiff, but
(05:51):
everybody was dancing, everybodywas singing, everybody beat
them juice and sing out toCeline and Michael Bolt and Lady
in Red, and I was, like youknow, I realized that some songs
are songs that just we love inthe Caribbean from the Paris
incident, paris situation.
And then I was like I've nevergone to a place in the world and
I've traveled a lot wherepeople only play this for the
entire night.
And then, like, people loveCeline all over the world and
I've traveled a lot where peopleonly play this for the entire
night, and then, like peoplelove Celine all over the world
we're not unique and lovingCeline but to go to a place and
you only hear soft rock andMichael Bolton and air supply
(06:16):
and you know what I meanmeatloaf maybe, right, that is
unusual for the rest of theworld.
And so I was like somebodyshould do a doc on this and I
was like why don't I just do itlike you make television, you
know?
So that's really where it camefrom.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
I think what I love about what you shared is the
inspiration behind it and thefact that you saw something that
was missing and you said I, I'mcapable of doing this, let me
do it, and I think that to me,that is cultural preservation at
its finest.
And I think souls, as it isknown, that section, that genre,
(06:59):
is very unique to the Caribbean.
And it really goes back to whatwe played on radio.
So, even going further back,reggae wasn't even allowed on
radio.
So we've seen glimpses of thisin other documentaries.
So the one with Biggie talkingabout how he went back to
Jamaica and his mom reallytalking about how her favorite
(07:22):
artist, um, and then even in apast um podcast episode with
miss pat, she talked about umselling r&b records on the road
through her record label uh, arecord store at the time, so
they weren't even the label.
So it it just goes with theculture essentially of how that
(07:46):
really grew.
But I'm curious, even in thatparty, has souls transcended to
this next generation?
I know that they listen to R&Band I know that they listen to
other genres, but souls as weknow it, of this nice look of
presentable box, has thattransitioned to the next
(08:08):
generation?
I don't know.
So that's why I'm asking.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
Yeah, I mean there were some younger people there.
I'm a millennial, for sure.
I'm probably like a geriatricmillennial at this point, but
yeah, there were younger peoplethere.
I would say it tended to leadprobably, you know, younger
millennial but, there were somepeople I know for sure in like
probably their mid-20s, becauseI feel like their parents music
(08:33):
now is probably like are likeUsher and Beyonce and you know
some of those or Keisha Coleright, that's why it's that song
love has been like all over.
I feel like in some ways we'rethe aunties now and so I think
for them maybe some of the older, super old stuff might not,
they might not know that stuff,but they still understand, I
think, the concept of it as aR&B.
(08:55):
But you could also have an EdSheeran, which is in the same
box, even though he's a popartist.
You know what I mean.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
I think that still does translate, but I don't
think they maybe know unlessthey have their grandparents
still around, like Marty Robbins, who we you know lots of
Jamaicans love Marty Robbins um,one of the things you said
before and I don't know if youwill cover this, but you know,
(09:23):
I'm I'm in the gen x generation,so I grew up when there was
just one, it was just jbc, andeverything else was radio and tv
sign off and the radio format.
You talked about it.
On sunday, right sunday morning, before church collectively
starts, so most churches wouldstart at 10.
You play your christian musicafter.
After that they get into thecountry music and by late
(09:46):
afternoon it's some Latin typemusic, whether it's bossa nova
or some salsa, and then as weget into the nighttime it gets
to be the souls or whatever.
Right, and there was aparticular radio format.
My favorite radio disc jockeygrowing up was donovan dacres I
loved donovan dacres right, um.
(10:08):
So how much has radio played arole in our love of souls, given
that for a very long time wewere a one channel country and
multiple radio stations?
And to michaela's point,country and multiple radio
(10:29):
stations.
And to Michaela's point, do youthink now where, even though
Jamaica is still a heavy radiocountry, but not as much with
social media and stuff, how doesthat play a role in the younger
generation experiencing Soulsthe way we experienced it?
Speaker 3 (10:42):
because I don't live there um full time anymore.
I don't know if they listen toit the way we experienced it,
because I don't live there fulltime anymore.
I don't know if they listen toit the way we do, but I think
radio in a lot of ways I thinkradio is super important to
Jamaican life.
Right, I used to live my life byRJR in the mornings, Like
literally, they had like a, youknow they used to have a segment
for everything, like at 10 pastthe hour, 15 past the hour, I
(11:05):
think, at 6.30 in the morning itwas news 6.45.
So I think a lot of peoplelisten to the radio and I think
it really helps shape how wethink about like even the way
things should be played, I thinkwith souls in particular and
older music like country and R&B.
In a lot of ways that is thefoundation, I think, of what you
(11:27):
know in radio and I think thatto that point about the radio
station being the one, I thinkthat is the foundation for all
radio stations did up untilmaybe like 15 years ago, I think
.
Up until, I think, when Zipcame along and they started
playing more secular music.
On a Sunday, most radio stationsstill follow that kind of
(11:48):
tiered thing.
On a Sunday Morning, gospelAfternoon you got your old
country, your Patsy Klein andyour Skeeter Davis.
Afternoon you might get into alittle older, softer disco,
right, you might play some, youknow, ABBA, right, or something
like that.
And then in the evening time,you know you might go a little
bit more R&B, Shy Lights, OJs,things like that.
(12:09):
So I actually think radio isreally, really foundational in
terms of how we listen to musicour palates in a lot of ways.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
I love this idea of what radio has done for us
musically, um, in how we relateto souls and um our love for
souls.
So, all right, we, we knowsouls is a miscellaneous
category for anything that feelsvery r&b, soft rock, um, you
(12:43):
know, soft pop, if you want tosay, um, what else?
It's anything where we feellike it's singing to a
particular, like soulful singing.
Maybe that's why we call itsouls.
It's interesting.
And you now, living in new yorkall three of us, we carried that
to new york because, being inbrooklyn, they used to keep
(13:05):
dance, where it was a completelyswills team dance.
The whole night is souls, right?
So I want to ask a really funquestion.
When we think of dancehall anddancehall parties, jamaica or
the us, what is the number onesoul song you think they're
gonna play in the dance?
In your opinion, michaela andjess?
(13:25):
What's the number one soul songyou think they're going to play
in the dance?
In your opinion, michaela andJess, what's the number one song
you know?
So then I'm going to pull atune here in the soul section of
this dance.
Speaker 3 (13:35):
So my instinct, like once he said it, my instinct was
Michael Bolton's Soul Provider.
That's like the song.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
And then they rinse it with the Remy and Virgo on
cover.
Speaker 3 (13:46):
It just came to my mind instantly.
It's one of my favorite soulsongs.
We know Jamaicans love MichaelBolton.
I guess I was going to go withmy instinct and say Michael
Bolton's Soul Survival.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
I got to go with my instinct too.
First name came to mind wasCeline Dion, but the song that
came to mind is Like a VirginMadonna.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
Interesting.
The song that comes to my mindis Guilty, with Barbara
Streisand and Barry Ginn.
Then we got nothing to beguilty.
Speaker 3 (14:16):
Oh yes, we love that song we really do love that song
, we really do love that songit's true, we also love.
This is one, celine um, I'malive.
Let's anything, celine, just runthey love ice correndo men
dance to these soul songs well,that's one of the things that
(14:38):
really is a big part of the docfor me that I want to make sure
I touch on is that Jamaicansalso and I can't speak for other
islands, but Jamaicans inparticular pick their own
singles.
So there are songs that arejust popular in Jamaica and I
say this because I've been doinga lot of research right, and
artists would come to Jamaica,like Kenny Rogers the first time
(15:00):
he came.
I don't want to give too muchaway from the doc, but like
Kenny Rogers came to Jamaica andyou know, our favorite song is
Write your Name Across my Heart.
Right, we love that song, it'sone of our favorite songs
outside of the Gambler, probably.
And it's not a single.
It was never released.
So Promoto was like listen, youhave to close with this song.
(15:21):
And so he's been interviewed byWinford Williams and he's like
oh, we're not going to do that.
And I know he did it because Iread the article after.
And so the promoter must havebeen like absolutely not, right,
this is your, this is yourgambler here.
Right, and Jamaicans do that alot.
We'll pick a song I don't knowwhat exactly.
We gravitate in the song andthat's our, that's our favorite
(15:44):
song.
There's like this one randomceline dion song that they play
at the dance all the time thatliterally nobody I've ever
mentioned it in america knows it.
They're like what?
And they know a lot of celinedion song, but they don't know
this song.
I think it's called calledsomething about her mother.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
I forget the name of it.
Speaker 3 (16:02):
It's like mama, you gave me wings to fly.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
I know that song.
Speaker 3 (16:07):
It is not a single right and I think it's Goodbye
is the hardest word.
I think that's the name of thesong and it's really a hit in
Jamaica, particularly likedowntown.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
I don't know why, I don't know where it came from, I
don't know Jamaicans, like thetaste really fascinates me, like
what they gravitate towards andwhat they kind of reject you
know it's so interesting becausewhen I used to go back to
Jamaica for vacation, I wouldhear songs play on the radio
that I didn't hear it, even onthe R&B station here.
(16:40):
Particularly, there was a songwith James Ingram and Anita
Baker from a movie and I wasjust like I've never heard this
song and people were like, whatis this?
Like it wasn't even played onthe black stations here and in
Jamaica.
I mean, almost every night itplay after you're just like I
(17:02):
had no choice but to know it.
So, um, another fun questionfor both of you who is an artist
that um for you, jess, that youknow this artist in Jamaica,
but you in America they're likewho is this um?
And Michaela, maybe for youit's what's a song that you know
that you went to Jamaica forthe summer or for holiday or
(17:24):
whatever, and you heard it andyou came back and everyone's
like what is this sort of likeBiggie's experience?
Speaker 2 (17:30):
yeah, I think I think it was more the group Air
Supply.
I'm like I don't know who AirSupply is, because I and then
they start playing time like ohyeah, I do know air supply and
I'm like but I can't put a faceto to the songs because I didn't
know who they.
You know what I mean, like thename of the band.
It's only like probably maybeeven the last 10 years that I
(17:52):
even really did the research onwho and and it was because of
probably like my mother-in-lawlike talking about air supply
and I'm like who's that?
And they're like you know whatair supply man?
You know what?
Them tune, yeah, and them playthe tune.
Oh yeah, me know that song.
But true, my mother was a rebel,so I be a reggae, she play, I
(18:12):
be a reggae and dance, so sheplay.
So my auntie was the souls andI mean my lady.
She would lock up in her roomand I'd buy every song and at
that time, you know, she camehere so she was listening to R&B
station, so it's mostly andthen she'd make like have to
like put in tapes and all thesekind of.
(18:34):
So that's how I really gotexposed to the, to the souls.
So that's how I really gotexposed to the souls.
And then when I would go toJamaica I'd hear like CDs and
parties that would have thosesegments, and it just kind of
stuck.
I'm like, yes, only in Jamaica.
It's one of those best keptsecrets of Jamaica, to be
completely honest.
And it's one that I think weshould preserve, because it's so
(18:56):
good.
Speaker 3 (18:56):
I agree.
The funny thing is, when Istarted working on this, I'm
going to answer your question.
But when I started working onthis, um, I looked up air supply
because I was like, oh, we loveso many other songs and there's
all these reddit threads andstuff for like, oh, air supply
sucks and like cindy on is theworst, and like michael jackson
is like the worst, like, likenot michael jackson I'm so sorry
, michael, and you know they'veparodied him in movies about how
(19:20):
his music sucks and I'm justlike what?
This is amazing, like how dareyou come for Michael Bolton and
Kenny G and these people To yourpoint about artists, though, I
think unless I met somebody fromthe South, like from the you
know, who grew up in Tennesseeor not, in Florida, like deep,
you know, deep South Tennesseeand South Carolina, people don't
(19:43):
know Marty Robbins.
And Marty Robbins is a reallyold artist.
That makes sense.
But I listened to him a lot inJamaica actually growing up,
like the El Paso song is huge Inthe dark.
I'm gonna draw lot of parallelsand I have a whole graphics
thing in mind.
Um, but between like some of thelyrics and some of the songs
(20:04):
from like, like Marty Robbins,to some of the dancehall lyrics,
which I think there is a, Ithink there's a chain, um, you
know the big iron on his hip toyou know car tell, on him 9 000
guns that he named drops.
And and you know, I thinkjamaicans love an outlaw, right
that you hear it with a rude boy.
They love an outlaw, they loveour rebel, and dancehall is like
(20:26):
rebel culture in a lot of waysand so I actually think a lot of
it is rooted in like countryand western movies and music to
where you get to dancehall andsome of the same themes.
I think even some lyrics insome cases overlap, which I'm
even the names of the artists ohyeah, josie wales.
Josie wales, um, johnny osbornea lot of yeah and so and that's
(20:50):
because we only had one stationright um growing up and he did
play that on a sunday orwhatever, because you have to
fill the airtime when you don'thave news.
I mean, jamaica's a small island.
Like how much content can weproduce for our station?
So I I think that it's a bigfoundational part of like what
we listen to is like really oldcountry west.
They love those themes and youeven hear it in like a wayne
(21:11):
marshall song, marshall in townand it's the whole.
They love it, you know.
So I think for me that's one ofthe things that a lot of people
, even though they grew uparound a lot of Caribbean people
in New York, I think some ofthose really old school country
they didn't know even I wouldsurprise me.
Speaker 1 (21:29):
Um, yeah, I think it's a little bit different if
you grew up in the island it'sso interesting that you talk
about country because I canthink of you know, of course we
know, kenny.
Rogers the gambler.
Oh my God.
Even the other day my husbandwas singing it.
Right, I even, to a certaindegree I've talked to Michaela
(21:50):
like I really think LionelRichie is a country singer but
they just put him in R&B.
But one but one country singerwhose album went really pop,
that when I moved here no onereally knew about her, is
Crystal Gale, and everyone loved, and at first they loved her
because she had hair all the waydown to her ankles.
(22:10):
So that was one thing, but alleveryone would sing was A Long
and Lasting Love and they justkept singing that song over and
over.
So there's something there withthe country music and Jamaica
that is very interesting interms of the correlation.
So I can't wait to see it withyour doc.
So let's go back to the doc.
(22:31):
You are doing a crowdfund rightnow.
What's the goal of thecrowdfunding?
Where are you in the theproduction of this documentary?
And I'm gonna add one morequestion, because we want to
know is this going to go thefilm festival circuit?
(22:52):
Is it going to be a generalrelease?
Speaker 3 (22:54):
let's know what's happening okay, great, this is
two great questions.
So we're still inpre-production.
Actually, it's funny.
I think this video, thekickstarter video, was so strong
that people like it's like,it's like a trailer.
I'm like not quite.
You know, we have a lot to film.
There's a lot of people I'mtrying to get to be in.
The doc saline is obviously mymount everest of of interviews
(23:16):
that I'd like to have.
I have people already on boardand so I've been amassing
content and archival and I'vehad some yeses for when I go to
Jamaica in October.
So I have a couple of shootsalready scheduled there and I've
shot like a couple of smallthings already.
But the crowdfunding is reallyfor production, right.
(23:36):
If you work in TV and film space, you are aware, or if you
follow the industry trends, youknow that it's been on a
significant downturn since lastyear, since the strikes, since
the writer strikes last year,which has happened in last May.
So I think the official numbersI saw the other day were like
it's like down 40% or something,which is a lot right.
It employs a lot of California,a lot of New York.
(23:58):
So we've been in a really slowseason and I decided to launch
the crowdfunding because Ididn't want to wait to get told.
Yes, I find in TV, just likewith other, trends, market
trends in other spaces and I'mnot a business person by any
means, trust me, I've learnedthat from this experience but
(24:18):
there's certain times whenthey're green lighting certain
things right.
Sports is hot right now, youknow.
True crime is hot.
Everybody wants to do a truecrime doc.
So it was kind of hard for amusic space and unless you're
Caribbean, you don't thinkthere's a big audience for this
If I was going to send, like anexecutive somewhere, right.
And.
I just didn't want to be waitingand waiting.
I haven't worked as much as Inormally work in the past year
(24:40):
and a half, so I'm like I couldeither use this time to stress
myself out every day andapplying for new gigs and I'm
work, but just not nearly asmuch as I normally work.
(25:01):
Normally I'm like overlapping.
Sometimes it's so busy or Icould put my energy into
something that I actually wantto make care about my people, my
story.
And then what's stopping meMoney?
Right, that's the thing.
That's the barrier is the money, I think even the access to
people.
I know enough and I think I'sfind money and instead of
waiting for you know, netflix orwhoever to say yes, let's raise
(25:24):
some money on our own Right andhopefully people would either
come or it gets made and like ahundred people see it and it
still got made and a hundredpeople love it.
That was where I landed, and sothe month I was raising is
actually significantly less thanI wanted to raise.
But Kickstarter is all ornothing.
(25:44):
So if you don't get all thefunding, you get no funding, and
it's not about not beingambitious, but you don't want to
overshoot and then miss rightand then get nothing.
I'd rather have $20,000 thanhave miss right and then get
nothing.
I'd rather have $20,000 thanhave you know.
Try to raise 40, but raise 32and didn't get anything.
(26:09):
You know what I'm saying.
So that's where the Kickstartercame in and I can elaborate,
but I won't keep going.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
No, no, no, and I think in terms of just explain a
little bit more.
When you said you're inpre-production, just let the
audience know specifically whatthat means.
It's just like identifying thepotential guests, etc.
And then post-production,because we want the audience to
support it and we want toexplain to them clearly where
(26:32):
you are in the process so theycould support it cool, cool, um.
Speaker 3 (26:36):
So all right, so you have like four stages,
essentially actually five stages, of production really.
You have development, you havepre-production, you have
production, post-production andthen distribution.
Right, we for a long time werein development, where I was
researching and stuff like that,and then I started reaching out
to people like hey, like youknow, there's people who have
reached out to try and be in thedark, like our I love souls.
You know, friends, that partyright, we're gonna shadow them a
(26:59):
bit bit and shoot some of thatparty right.
That's obviously something wewant to showcase.
That's a big part of theinspiration for the doc.
So pre-production is whereyou're kind of you have the
funds, at least partially right,and so you can start setting up
shoots and start shooting andstart setting up logistically
what you're going to do.
(27:20):
Development is where you'rereally just doing research and
kind of like the anthropologicalpart.
Production is where you'reactually shooting.
You're getting the footage,you're doing the shoots, you're
on set and then post-productionis past, that, it's done, now
you're editing it and thendistribution is obviously where
it starts.
You're going to festivals oryou're going to your you know,
(27:41):
your network or your Netflix'sor wherever it's gonna land.
Um, my initial plan was to justget it made right and if I
could get it into festivals,amazing.
But the enthusiasm and themomentum since a week and a half
ago has really stunned me and Idon't say that lightly, right,
(28:03):
stunned.
So I think there is a betterconversation and a bigger
conversation about where it'sgonna land now, possibly.
So maybe it's not just thesesmall festivals anymore, maybe
it's like a bigger conversation.
But I'm in talks with somepeople to see what can happen
and I do have a sponsor thatcame on board who get, who
(28:24):
challenged us to raise moremoney.
Um, then they will kind of likematch it or you know, there's
going to be two ways.
Like they're gonna.
We already actually met onegoal to get 50 backers, so they
gave us 5 000 and then, um,we'll do another campaign and
then we'll get another $5,000.
So that's Bluma Whole Capital.
They're an investment companybased in Jamaica.
You guys might know about them,yeah, with David Mulling, so
(28:46):
they're great.
So yeah, so that's like youknow.
I put it out there, at leastthe Kickstarter part, and people
have been coming and circlingand asking, which is great, I
can't ask for more.
Micha, great, I can't ask formore.
Speaker 1 (28:58):
Michaela, jump in when you have a question, but in
the meantime, no, yeah, ask thequestion.
Speaker 2 (29:02):
So that's why I'm in that interview.
Speaker 1 (29:15):
So you said that you are overwhelmed and surprised by
the the response, and I want toknow why.
Because we're in media indifferent spaces.
But the reason why I startedCarry On Friends Mikaela is
doing Style and Vibes and I doBreadfruit Media because we
think a fraction of what werepresent on our culture is not
necessarily out there for us toconsume or interact with.
So I'm not surprised by this,like I.
(29:37):
I immediately like Mikaela.
You see this Right, so that washow I felt.
So what was it about theresponse that surprised you?
I just wanted to know.
Speaker 3 (29:48):
Sure, I think, what surprised me.
I thought people would beexcited.
So, the same way, like, oh, wetalk about this all the time, I
talk about it all the time.
Every Caribbean person I know,especially who grew up in
Jamaica or in Haiti I know Haitifeels similar.
I know some of Trinidad is likethat.
I think we all know this aboutit, um, about the Caribbean, and
that we love it.
But I just, I guess I justdidn't expect the such a
(30:11):
explosion of interest, so like,so fast, like I knew people
would be interested and I wassaying to myself, listen, if I
can get to like a thousand viewsin the first day or so, that's
pretty good.
You know, like I knew my medianetwork would care and the
people in New York, but I hit, Ithink, 20,000 views in like 18
(30:32):
hours.
The video is well past almost60K or 60K at this point, just
on Instagram.
That's not even includingfacebook.
I know people feel like thisabout souls and like that part
of our culture.
I guess I just didn't expect itto be so strong where people
were sharing it for me.
You know I have a team, acrowdfunding team, that helps me
(30:52):
try to get the, the word outthere but for the first day and
a half, like people just did thework for us, almost like it was
shared.
So if you look at my like mylittle icon thing, I think it's
like a 980 times on that onevideo, but my film page also has
a bunch more and then you know,each team member there's got
(31:13):
reshared as well.
You know what I mean.
So it's I mean the video islike baby viral whatever, like
it's not viral yet I'm not onShaderoo, right but like it's
like mean the video is like babyviral whatever, like it's not
viral yet I'm not on shade room,right but like it's like baby
viral in like the caribbeancommunities and I was like whoa
I I think there's just a scaleof the of the support surprised
me not so much that people likedit more, it was like whoa and
(31:34):
people were talking as if it waslike already made in one coming
soon yeah, and I said comingsoon, like oh, that's what you
say in the kickstarters, but Idon't know.
I'm just surprised that peoplelatched on to it the way they
did.
I'm a producer, so I see somany like I don't say mistakes,
but things I would change right.
(31:54):
I've watched a video a total ofmaybe four times and that is to
edit right, because I hatewatching myself listening to
myself.
I'm a producer for a reason.
I like being behind the camera,um, but I was told by my
crowdfunding coach that you, Ineed to be in front of it and my
enthusiasm will radiate.
And I think it did.
I think so.
I think that's part of whypeople like it.
(32:15):
I was also like looking forlike comments about, like my
appearance.
I was like, oh god, what arepeople gonna say?
but I actually have seen none,zero you look good girl, I mean
those are people really focusedon the content of the video,
which is what I really wanted.
Um, I just I think it was ascale of it so fast, like david
(32:37):
mullings, the from, you know,from, blue mojo capital.
He reached out to me actuallyand he said that he got it sent
to him four times that day, likeso I was like really, and then
I met this girl last week at um.
A friend of mine had a birthdaydinner.
He's in new york from jamaicaand the girl was like, oh,
(32:57):
you're a girl from the video,the souls video.
I was like what?
Like yeah, she's from, shelives here now.
But like, again, I didn't know,it was reaching people, people
who had also one said no tobeing on the team.
So when I was looking for, likecrowdfunding team members, two
people- ended up dropping out orjust not ghosting me.
(33:17):
And then one of them was like oh, somebody sent it to me on
Twitter and then she sent anapology.
I've had sponsors who I reachedout to try and do a matching
campaign or help us reach backout to me after seeing the video
, even though they ignored me.
So that stuff has been likereally interesting.
I think that that part of ithas surprised me.
Speaker 2 (33:40):
That stuff has been like really interesting.
I think that part of it hassurprised me.
I think what truly happens ispeople like to see the concept
and because it was executed sowell in terms of it was like its
own mini doc, even though itwas an introduction, right, yeah
.
So I think conceptually we allhave a connection to souls and
(34:01):
when you describe it versus whenyou have this tangible asset to
explain it and get excitedaround, it's the first time that
people are seeing this type ofone focus on.
We see cultural content, getyou know, shared and distributed
(34:27):
, but it's one by you to.
You know you're Jamaican, youhave a connection again, your,
your story radiates in the videoand you were able to kind of
tie it into like a few minutes,like people can visualize what
the entire doc would talk aboutand you know all Jamaican people
(34:52):
still would love to get excited.
I would love to make sureseveral cultures devote yes, and
we are very proud to kind ofwhen it's excellent.
Speaker 3 (35:04):
I always tell people like no, you're not wrong, I
always tell people the two mostobnoxious things to be like
Jamaican and New Yorker.
Like a New Yorker, because it'sjust, it's a lot, it's very
true levels yeah and then onlyby Brooklyn, yeah and Brooklyn
specifically, that's that no,it's so true.
(35:26):
And then, if you come fromflatbush, absolutely no, it's so
true I think I guess from.
So my editor said I had a fewthings about the video and I
worked with her before.
So my editor her name is jennyfilipazzo, she's italian, I
think she's italian I workedwith her on a docuseries I
worked on last year for umfinityabout hip house, which is like
(35:49):
hip hop and house music.
You know that little period hehad in like the early nineties
and she was our editor and she'samazing.
And I basically said to Jenny,I told her I was trying to do
that show was very stressfulbecause of the timeline, was
very short, not stressfulbecause of the content, but just
like got a short window to makethree episodes, right, three
weeks essentially.
(36:09):
So I knew she could do it.
I knew she could do it fast andI was like listen, jenny, I
have no money.
So I was like it's a threeminute video, so there's no more
than three minutes, likeanything over three minutes for
our kickstarter is a death knell.
You don't want more than threeminutes.
In fact, if I could get it downto two and a half minutes, that
(36:29):
is the key right.
The shorter the better.
I'm aware of people's shortattention spans.
I'm convinced I have adhd, so Iwant it to be short.
I sent her all the stuff thatyou see in the video, for the
most part, like all the archivalstuff I'd source the interview
with assassin um agent sasko and, you know, the elephant man,
all the stuff in there I hadsourced and like we kind of
(36:49):
talked about how I wanted it tokind of look, and that version
of the video is, I guess, likethe fourth cut it's.
You know, the first one waslike five minutes and we cut it
down to three and you know whatI mean.
And then I had a couple things.
One of the things I noticedthat is, um, I hate to hear it
is that the audio doesn't matchfor the part where I'm like a
kid because, because I had shotthis way back in february when I
(37:15):
first had this idea, my friendshot it for free and it's before
I hired my coach, justin who'sI have a crowdfunding coach, um,
and so he was like you needlike a personal thing and I was
like oh, but I thought Iexplained that he's like no, you
need something where you aretalking about it in like a
different way, and he was likeyou need like a personal thing
and I was like, oh, but Ithought I explained that he's
like, no, you need somethingwhere you are talking about it
in like a different way.
And I was like, all right, Ican't reshoot it, I have no
money for that.
So I didn't pay him the firsttime, so I definitely don't pay
(37:37):
the second time.
So I was like, okay, I'm goingto find childhood pictures and
then we'll just put VO.
So I was on a show working, sowe had like an interview room,
cause that's where I do all myinterviews for the show.
So it was quiet enough, right,it was at the studio in Jersey
and I was like, okay, I'm goingto go in there and record like
10 seconds of VO.
(37:58):
20 seconds was my absolute max,because remember I had like a
two and a half minute like hardthree minute mat.
No, my max was three minutes.
So I went in there and I waslike these pictures, jenny, have
to fit into this like 15seconds.
So for me I hear it every timeIf I listen to it I'm like it
(38:19):
doesn't match.
But you know, people want it inthe hearers and two days seem
to love it anyway.
So it's fine.
Speaker 1 (38:26):
I can relate to, to.
You know, being an editor, youfeel like, yeah, that not quite
right, but I think that segmentof it connected, because we were
all young listening to thesemusic, like I would tell I mean
this is not quite souls, but youknow, I would talk to my
husband, his sister, so mysister-in-law, her husband,
(38:47):
brother-in-law, and we wouldtalk about how Derek Harriot did
sing some songs and I'm like weshouldn't have been singing
these songs, you know, butbecause the parents were singing
it and we remember, because themusic it's, it's a soundtrack
of our lives, right?
So you remember where you areat a particular time.
(39:08):
Like barry g was huge for me.
So I remember what it was likecoming home from school and
listening to barry g.
So while you, from an editingperspective, didn't like that,
the, the image of the kids or asa child, resonates because we
are all connecting michaela, allof us here started connecting
(39:30):
to music when Raleigh copied me.
When we have no reason to sing,I'm your lady.
You know.
None of those things are.
Speaker 3 (39:38):
I'm leaving on the next plane out Celine Dion,
whatever it was, or, if youtaste to leave your level, by
Paul Simon, which my dad is likeone of his favorite songs ever.
Speaker 1 (39:46):
I'm like listen, my mom would um kill songs by
surface and all these people andI was just like when I listened
to them, I was like why themjust love all of these
heartbreak songs?
Speaker 2 (39:59):
they was just it was just like sad, oh my gosh I love
song they do.
Speaker 3 (40:06):
Jamaicans are actually pretty sentimental
people, I find, when it comes tomusic, and I read somewhere and
I think I said it in the docabout there's no guilty pleasure
music and I can't rememberwhere I heard that quote from I
think it was from Diplo,actually in like a Rolling Stone
article.
Because, again, I've beenreading up on a lot of this
stuff for many months now andit's true, jamaicans you know
(40:29):
the way americans are a littlebit sometimes like elitist about
music, like oh, this isterrible or like whatever,
especially like rock fans arelike that.
They're very like you know,this is not good.
Um, jamaicans don't really havethat gauge like.
They love a melody, they lovebig kind of big melodic ballads
and um, so I think that reallyis what it's like their
foundation.
They love country music, Ithink because of the
(40:49):
storytelling and the outlawtheme, and then they, they just
love a classic song, like aclassic song structure.
You know what I mean.
Like it's they're not.
I just say it's simple becauseI think those that out of the
music is actually quite complexand the way they redo it in the
reggae, which is another hugeaspect, is really interesting.
(41:09):
Um, and one of the the things Ireally don't want to get into
in the doc, where people arelike, see, we did this first and
like I don't want any of likewho is appropriate, like it's
not about that.
That's what I said in the end,because that's genuinely why I
want to do this.
I think music in general, right,is so much about just like food
, so much about taking thingsand making something your own
(41:31):
with what you have.
Like a lot of the south theyclaim country music, but some of
that, some of those themes, aremexican.
Actually, the cowboy hat ismexican.
Um, you know some of the band,you know the band just from
africa.
Like I'm just saying, everybodytakes their own thing and it
becomes their own cultural stuff, and so that's what I want to
focus on, not about like you'retaking this from us and like you
know, or if I'm trinidad,because, um, I think dale is
(41:55):
actually like a trinidadian song, the original version before
harry belafonte's version tookoff, right, I have a whole grid
of this stuff, um, and that'swhat I'm saying.
And so it's not about liketrinidad getting upset.
It's just like listen, we'reall connected, all the diaspora,
we all made something different.
Soca, it's its own thing, andcalypso, you know what I mean
(42:16):
like, but it's all originated inlike the same place, at least
the foundation, I think, ofmusic it's, and then you do what
you can I think we, you know,and michela, we talked about
this collectively and we had amusic ethnocologist on the
podcast and we talked aboutgetting away from the origin
(42:37):
story.
Speaker 1 (42:37):
And Michaela and I we've been talking about this a
lot, particularly with Afrobeatsand.
Dancehall, and thoseconversations take away from the
actual music that we're tryingto enjoy.
Like, for instance, there was awhen, when Beyonce came out with
the whole country music, therewas a documentary that talked
about the first recording of abanjo or a type of banjo is in
(43:01):
is the slaves in Jamaica and Iwas so surprised and but Jamaica
is not going gonna claim sadthem create country music.
It was just, you know, it's thehistory and um, from a creative
perspective, that frees me upto not think of not that I was,
but I think it frees you up tothink of myself only in boxes of
(43:22):
dance or reggae and soca.
I can be more than this becausethere's country and I think
that's why we love the music theway we do and Michaela and I we
are creative in the way we arebecause culturally we were never
boxed in.
So you talk about hip house.
I grew up in that generationwhere we were like dancing hip
hop and yes, yes, like now thatyou're doing you know they had
(43:46):
the dance crews.
Yes, yes, like now that you'redoing you know they had the
dance crews.
So music, because that was alove that I have, because after
(44:06):
TV sign off you only had theradio.
Because I had this variety ofmusic, I was never boxed in to
think of things a particular way.
Um, as again to Michaela'spoint, we could go into a party
and there's a praise and worshipsegment, there's the soca
segment, there's the old like,there's so much because it
represents how we think aboutmusic and how we communicate,
and I think that's where we canfree up ourselves creatively.
I think make Michaela loves totalk about how we like to box
(44:30):
artists in and artists don'talso don't want to.
You know, there's a time andplace to box people in and
there's a time to put your forkdown and claim a genre, just
because that's how the industryworks and I think that trips up
our artists in terms of but Ilike souls and I like gospel and
I, I like don't do that really,you know so no and that's the
(44:52):
thing, the souls, because soulsis not one genre like I would
love to say, it's just r&b,because we love that.
Speaker 3 (44:56):
You know that kelly price, and there's a few songs
that we love, like rock metonight.
You know we love some of thosesongs, but that's freddie
jackson, I think, um, but youalso play like a Mariah Carey
song alongside it.
You'll also play Celine Dionalongside it.
You'll play Ambrosia, who Iposted last night.
We don't even do that.
(45:16):
For us it's all the same kindof ballad structure, so we never
really got into that, and I dofind those conversations a
little bit reductive.
I hear this with Afro beats istaking over dance and all that,
and I'm find those conversationsa little bit reductive.
I hear this with, like you know, like Afrobeats is taking over
dance hall.
It's like or taking, and I'mlike, well, I'm happy for them.
Actually, I think that's great.
I think it's time for Africa,and, you know, nigeria and South
(45:39):
Africa, to have their moments,you know a lot of those
Afrobeats artists.
Lots of their early stuffsounded like dance hall.
They were heavily influenced.
Wizkid, you can hear it in hisearly music.
Burn a boy you hear it in hisearly music.
It sounds very close todancehall and I think they found
their own.
You know the more distinctsound.
You know um, eventually, butlike I love that.
They, you know, tookinspiration and afrobeats is
(46:01):
amazing.
I listen to afrobeats probably,you know, 60 of the week, right,
so it's not, it's not a timeupset.
I don't.
I don't know why we have to dothat.
Like for me, when I heard thechronics and whiz kids sound
like this is my world in oneplace, like I was so happy to
hear that I don't see the needto feel like we need to be upset
(46:22):
about that.
Also, jamaica's like threemillion people on an island and
you're talking, talking about awhole continent.
You know what I'm saying.
Like I was like, like that'scrazy, right, we should all be,
I think.
So Jamaica's like 3 millionpeople on an island and you're
talking about like a wholecontinent.
You know what I'm saying.
Like that's crazy, right, weshould all be.
I think, a little bit more.
This is just my opinion.
I'm not advocating for anybodyelse to feel this way.
I think it's more about usingwhat you have and the influence
(46:43):
and what instruments just likewith food and you know know
turning it into whatever it isthat works for you, and some of
it can be really amazing.
I think some of the best reggaesongs are covers of a soft rock
song or a country song like Ican't even imagine missing you
by sanchez not existing, I can'timagine it.
Speaker 1 (47:02):
I love that song.
Or in the 80s, when they weresinging, you got a fast car.
That was like a whole cover oftrade, like yeah, and I love
both.
Speaker 3 (47:12):
I love tracy chapman and I really love those versions
of some of those songs, likeeven like country road, take me
home, you know like that is agreat song.
Also, bob marley's firstrecords were covers, you know,
before he found his song and hewas doing more reggae.
He was doing like scout musicat first, so that's not what
this doc is about.
So if anybody's looking for likewe did this first and like in
(47:35):
like a more device, that's notgonna happen.
It's just not what I want tofocus on.
It's for me it's like and Ihear haiti listen, I hear, I see
the comments.
I hear you haiti, I hear youtrinidad we know, I know they
feel this way too.
I'm like I just don't have theresources to go all over the
Caribbean to shoot.
But I know a lot of them feelsimilarly to me.
Speaker 2 (47:58):
No, I think Souls is more about the tempo, and so you
know the feeling that you getaround the rock, even yacht,
yacht, rock.
what they call it now pop,ballads, country, r&b, a certain
tempo of disco, you know, likeall of the the 70s souls, um,
(48:22):
movement, like it's really aboutthis tempo and I think the, the
genres themselves aren't unique, but the way that it is
packaged yes, in jamaica and inthe caribbean is unique and
that's a cultural thing, and Ithink that's no, it is kind of
tying, tying it back to to towhat we were talking about.
(48:42):
I think a lot of the, the, themiss conversations and and um,
the opposite ends really comesfrom equity, heritage and
mistreatment of culture, and soneither party is wrong in their
sentiment and perception.
However, the equity has beenlost amongst all of.
(49:04):
I think that we have to do abetter connective job of
recognizing each other and thehistory, cause we've seen how
history gets erased, right, yeah, and so the conversations
really get fired and passionatebehind the potential erasure of
(49:25):
collective history.
We've seen it with countrymusic, and we've seen it with
country music and and we've seenit with hip-hop music.
So those consorted efforts toreally say, hey, it's not just
this, it is this, and thensomeone telling you no, it's
this, and then we're like butthis is all well documented in
history, that it's not just thisthing.
(49:47):
Why are you not including us?
And you can literally hear thetempos, the this and that, and,
to your point, the entireindustry has evolved and the way
that we consume music havecreated you know the evolution
of it.
But again, I think theconversations really are about
(50:08):
us being included in theconversations around equity and
inclusion of the historicalreferences, and I think we don't
need to fight about it, and Ithink people fight more in the
comment section than they do inperson.
So I think like no, noCaribbean person is really
asking about whose rice isbetter than this one.
On a daily basis, I will eatarroz con dules.
(50:33):
I will eat rice and peas.
We'll eat the black rice.
I'm going to want that jalapeñorice too.
I like all of that, but on theinternet it narrows it can be
like that on the internet, it'sjust the internet.
So I think we all in a party wehear Afro beats, we hear souls.
We hear danza, we hear R&B.
(50:54):
We can't even do a little ofthe new hip hop stuff, and that
is what we I think most peoplereally in the entire Black
diaspora really want toexperience.
Speaker 3 (51:05):
By the way, I wish more parties played souls here.
I do.
That's not like in the.
I think it's that bullshithappens, but if I go to like
certain parts that's nothappening and I miss it.
I miss it a lot.
I actually have to say I havetried to create on my phone
every night the same kind ofplaylist or same kind of stuff
(51:27):
like that for Spotify that, likeum, fame FM used to do at night
, I don't know.
Please add tags.
Okay, I will, I will, I willshare.
There's actually a few of them.
If you just type in souls mix,a few people have done them
already and they're actuallyreally really good.
There's like 80 songs andthey're really good, so one of
(51:47):
the tiers of the rewards forKickstarter.
At the $50 tier you get aplaylist curated by me with,
like, I would say, maybe like 40or maybe not as many as that,
but reggae covers of differentgenres.
And then at the $100 mark,there is a Souls mixtape curated
(52:10):
just for the campaign by DJDangles from Federation Song,
and it's all the classics.
He left out a few becausethere's some songs I want to
tackle.
I mean, come on, you can't haveeverything, yeah, in the doc
itself, and like even somethings I try not to talk about
too.
I've talked a little bit aboutsome of those things here, but I
try not to talk about them toomuch because I want to make sure
in the dark it feels fresh andnot like oh, I heard her say all
(52:31):
of this and you know before inher social media.
Speaker 2 (52:34):
There is so much we did not even cover, yeah, but
like, even like the MartyRobbins thing.
I actually don't post that justbecause I it's a lot, it's a
thing, I because I see theconnections being really so
strong, Okay so, what we need todo is make sure that, before
and after your search MartyRobbins before, like the search
(52:55):
relevancy of Marty Robbinsbefore and after the doc get
released, because that is goingto be the indicator.
Speaker 3 (53:03):
Yeah, that's a good idea.
My hope is that in some wayslabels are more friendly to docs
like this.
You don't have to give us thewhole song to use, but just you
know, I think it actually drumsup interest more for those
artists.
I think people nostalgia is areally powerful thing, I think
especially with millennials andGen X, and I have a theory about
(53:25):
this.
I think it's because there'snow the internet, right, but we
grew up in some ways before theinternet became the way of the
world.
So people, these kids won'tforget like what they liked.
It's there's like a recordthere of their Instagram or
whatever.
But like we remember a timewhen we couldn't you know, I
couldn't even Shazam.
Like to your point aboutknowing Air Supply the artist's
(53:46):
name, like I didn't know whothey were.
When I was seven I didn't knowthe name of the band, we didn't
have shazam, right.
I discovered that they were airsupply later, right?
Speaker 2 (53:55):
um, so I think that did nostalgia for gen x and then
, like milan is was reallystrong because we like we, we
are even for jay-z from anexploration perspective, because
if you think about like shows,like stranger things, yeah, tap
into that 80s era of nostalgialike uh, what's her name?
(54:15):
Something bush kate bush yeahlike her inclusion, her music
being included in in strangerthings, yes, really amplified
people discovering her and hermusic and her catalog and.
Speaker 3 (54:27):
Fleetwood Mac.
Yes, yeah, I think theyrediscovered, I think they
discover, but for us it's likepure nostalgia.
Speaker 2 (54:34):
Yes, yes, so for corporations it equals more
money, so that's why they shouldinclude it.
Speaker 1 (54:41):
Completely.
So we can't do this labrishingthing forever, but we just want
to.
Mika is laughing because welove music Like I want to give
you my I call it my genrebending playlist because the mix
up what is in this playlist onthe same playlist, but it worked
for me and Jamaica excitedabout you know what creators
(55:05):
like you are doing to presentstories that mean so much to us
(55:32):
being told in a way that justresonates.
You know, because it's notgonna just resonate with me,
because when dance I keep outthat street I'm not for them
ears alone.
I hear it.
All of us are hearing it andthat's that's what radio did for
us growing up.
We all heard it.
We all interacted with adifferent way.
(55:54):
I remember when I was in gradethree or grade four there was no
reason why I'm singing Karen'sright.
I'm your superwoman.
There's no, there's no, there'sno reason.
But every Jamaican kid knowsthat song right.
Every Jamaican kid knows thatsong right.
Every Jamaican child knows thatsong.
So that's the power of musicand that's the power of telling
(56:16):
or interaction with music, evenif it originates somewhere else.
You know the way that a cultureinteracts with it creates a
whole new story and experience.
So I'm super excited about it,michaela, and I will drop the
links to the crowdfund.
When does it end?
Speaker 3 (56:33):
It ends on September 19th.
We are about 55% funded rightnow.
I'm just looking right now, sothat's great, which is unusual
crowdfunding campaigns for indiefilms.
Our coach I have, like I said,I have a coach, justin, that I'm
working with, who's done this amillion times, so he's been
(56:56):
really helpful.
But I put my own.
You know, I have my own ideasand spins on things.
Like Mondays we do Celine MeMonday right on our social media
, right, so it's all Celine allday.
Right On a Tuesday we're doinglike trivia of like reggae
trivia to see who knows which isa cover, and stuff like that,
um.
And then the rest of the weekis just fun stuff.
(57:17):
Like we do a um, a souls pickevery day.
People are welcome to givesuggestions.
We've taken many september 19th, but feel free to, you know,
share it, like it.
Um.
We have some new rewards comingup this week, I think, yeah
that's exciting.
Speaker 2 (57:34):
Yes, and I'm right, I gotta do my donation today.
Speaker 1 (57:37):
So on that note, um, jess, you know this is not the
last of us, but you know again,congrats on the project and um,
we're super excited for you andof course, of course, and as I
love to say at the end of everyepisode what good.
Well, michaela, what you lovesay it's been so long.
Speaker 2 (58:00):
No, but make sure you guys go out and click the link.
Uh, support roots, rock, reggaeand schools.
Click the link.
Support Roots, rock, reggae andSchools documentary.
I've emphasized the schools youknow, and share with all your
friends, please and thanks,because we need support.
Thank you so much, jess.
We appreciate you being on theshow.
Speaker 3 (58:24):
Anytime.
Speaker 2 (58:25):
This was fun.
Speaker 1 (58:27):
It was we got to do it again yeah, I mean listen.
Speaker 3 (58:32):
Let me know, I'm always around all right, all
right.
Speaker 4 (58:38):
Thanks for listening to the latest episode of the
style and vibes podcast.
If you like what you hear and Iknow, you do share it with your
friends and family.
If you want more, make sure youvisit stylingvibescom and
follow us on our social channels, twitter and instagram.
At styling vibes.
Until next time, leah tummypeeps.
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