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Aye YiiiYiii! It was finally Caribana Friday and the TJJ crew was out in full effect, up on the agenda tonight would be J'ouvert by the KOS (Kingdom of Soca) family held at the popular downtown nightclub, Afterlife.

With foot to gas pedal TJJ arrived downtown around midnight and after finding a relatively close $15 parking spot, we were good to go. Now the expression – "Whoaaaa... look at people" was raised to another level cause if you see the line up! It was down the street – around the corner and at least 3-5 people thick – madness!! Only until we stood outside the door we realized what was happening. Apart from the strong police presence on every corner (we talking at least 4 cops on each corner), there seem to be a little money making scheme by the security/bouncers. Would you believe they were charging an extra $10 plus your ticket if you didn't want to wait in line! Hence the reason for the small mob of people waiting to get in the club. Now we knew this was no fault of the promoters, so with a little boff up and a flash of the media pass TJJ was on the inside. And with lots of room still within the club on all levels we were quite surprised when the rest of the TJJ crew advised that the doors were closed off and no one was being let in. Pressure!

Nevertheless, all that drama had NO effect on the crowd already jumpin' up ah storm on the inside, and we mean jumpin!!! The place was hot, real hot, hot and drippin' sweat hot, so hot the fire alarm was going off, so hot every time we took a picture the lens would fog up! The party was on fyah and this was the place to be, it didn't matter how vex you were 10 mins ago – with a vibe like that – you couldn't help but go with the flow and that was simply enjoying your love for Soca! Now incase you didn't know, Afterlife has 4 levels - so that was four levels of people in a frenzy... well mostly 3 as the rooftop was used as an escape to cool down, catch your breath and go back for more. It was that good!

Let's talk about the DJ line up. Apart from the all star line up within the KOs family, fetegoers were given the pleasure of sampling the styles of talented international DJ’s. You had Jugglers and Umba of Matsimela from TnT, Young Chow & DJ Spice from NYC and TnT Styles from Montreal all throwing back tunes that would send the crowd in a frenzy whether it be Reggae or Soca. Of course much props to Huey Flex of Gemstone, Bassline from D'Enforcas, Blackberry Soundcrew and Renegade Squad for also holding down the tracks on the one's and two's.

Although TJJ left around 2:45am, the party continued till at least 5am with unscheduled performances by major soca artists stopping by to lime an ting. Much thanks to the KOs family for allowing TJJ to take in a lil J'Ouvert Morning action... minus all the mud!

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Related Galleries
Toronto Caribbean Carnival (Caribana) 2006 Coverage
Caribana 2005 Coverage