Staff writer - Kerran Monroe
Originally in Jamaica we know that the best parties are held in the ghetto, or downtown or the inner cities or whatever one wishes to call it. Traditionally, if one wanted to experience how true Jamaicans party, the best parties or dance as it is commonly referred to downtown, to attend were Dutty Fridaze, held in Fletcher’s Land, Passa Passa held in the middle of Spanish Town Road on Wednesdays or Ray Town and so on.
Action at Dutty Fridaze
These dances were the epitome of the Dancehall culture and how Jamaicans party. Also, surprisingly, even people who are ‘uptown’ would venture out to these parties to get the original Jamaican party culture. However it is steadily becoming a thing of the past as, Ray Town has become obsolete, Passa Passa, had to be discontinued for reasons, which I will not discuss in this blog, as this is not the blog for that. Also Dutty Fridaze has been a victim of ‘police a tek set’ and has also been discontinued due to the police.
However, besides the discontinuation of the popular street dances there seems to be some other factors at work that are moving the party crowd uptown.
Even the downtown people who would swear that their parties are better are now venturing uptown for parties where they have to pay to enter the venue, whereas the admission for down town parties is usually ‘buy out di bar’ if you can afford to. This is something that did not normally happen on such a wide scale. So Jam-tertainment started to observe the patterns and what the people in the streets are saying and this is what I came up with:
- These parties uptown attract corporate sponsors. These sponsorships are usually from liquor companies, beverage companies or distributors, and even the media. Therefore this leads to these parties being marketed more, whereas these down town parties are usually promoted by word of mouth. Another benefit of these sponsorships is sometimes liquor inclusive parties (and who wouldn’t want to pay one cover charge and drink all night) or liquor specials. So instead of going to a street dance and paying like $350 for a Magnum, if you are at a Magnum sponsored event, you can probably get a Magnum for like $100 or $150. Sponsorship can also mean freebies, and everybody loves freebies.
A rave at the Igloo
- Separate from media sponsorship, uptown parties attract media attention, so you may be at Marco Polo and the next weekend you see your image on Intense, or Entertainment Report. And a lot of people love the camera and the idea of being on national television.
- Finally, as previously mentioned, the migration of the partiers from down town to uptown could also be due to the fact that the parties down town have been facing a hard time, with the authorities constantly on the cases of these promoters to get permits which only last until 2am, (and we know that in Jamaica, parties go until daylight) or them being granted the permit and their dances are still turned off before midnight. While the parties uptown generally go until 4 or 5am.
Whatever the case may be, this is a growing trend on the Jamaican entertainment scene. So if you are not going to Chug It, Marco Polo, French Connection, Igloo or a party of the same nature, then my dear, you are not partying at all. Yo no see seh a baay uptown all di World Boss a represent inna him song dem from di oda day (Millsborough, Jackshill, Norbrook). A uptown di ting deh so if u naa party uptown yo naa du road.
