Photos By Andre C.Y. Choo Quan

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The 'Curse of the Cameraman' continues ...

Last year, hands down, Busspepper's J'Ouvert Business 4.0 (see coverage) was clearly one of the better fetes for the 2007 Notting Hill Carnival season - for me at least, and that was my very 1st Busspepper experience. You see, Busspepper promotes high quality, upscale Caribbean events in London. And what we particularly love about their events, is the international crowd they attract. It's not just your typical West Indian filled party, but also partygoers of all other nationalities that have a love and passion for Caribbean entertainment! And tonight was no different; in fact, the party might have actually been a 50/50 split of West Indians and non West Indians.

Leaving Chocolate Mas, the question on everyone's mind was, "Which fete we going to later?" With an injection of new fetes, like Shipwrecked and UK TRIBE Launch Party to mention a couple, this Notting Hill Carnival schedule was a little tricky. The carnival equation for the average partygoer is simple … More Fetes = More Money to Spend + Less Sleep to Get! So a lot of revelers were falling like flies on Day 4 of TJJ Notting Hill 2008 Fete-lympics® after jumping up all day, talkin' bout how they need to conserve their energy for the parade tomorrow. But no, not Team TJJ … eh eh! We like King Leonidas and a force of 300 Spartan's when it comes to Carnival !!! When some say, "This is madness." We say, "Madness? This is Car-niiiiiiiiii-vallllllll !!!!"

We pulled up to The Loop after 1am (running late), and saw some folks leaving. We already had a good idea as to why … soca artiste Shurwayne Winchester, who was scheduled to perform, was unable to make it due to circumstances beyond the promoter's control. No scene … this fete has always been 100% DJ music, and that's one of the reasons we love it. Let's go inside.

There were 3 levels, but the actual party was on the bottom floor. On the 2nd level, Head Chef Hasan and Defour Caterers (http://www.defourcaterers.synthasite.com/index.php) were serving up their usual Caribbean cuisine. Again, I'm always reading about how good their food taste, so it was about time I find out mehself! 15 minutes later, chicken roti was history and plate clean! My partner ask, "How it taste?" 10 minutes later, the man plate so clean, Hasan don't even need to wash it … another customer's food could serve on that plate one time, fuss he wipe it clean (see photos 14 and 15)!

Belly full, time to party! Surprisingly, the fete was not as crowded as we expected it to be. Lots of familiar faces from last year were either at Babash Events' Abir After Party (again, real fetes this carnival season) or missing in action. We couldn't call it. Nevertheless, it was nice seeing some friends of the jungle present, and some … one year later with lil' bun in de oven and ting, yes! Congrats!

Kern of Hi-Fidelity/Less Than Zero and DJ Markee pumped the sweet sounds of soca all night, dropping a lil' dancehall session here and there. Lyndon of the Gladiators Sound System was also in the building. Back to Basics and Ghetto Flex … we saw allya too!! Large up yuhselves! Even with a small crowd on hand, partygoers were still wining, jumping and waving their flags high (big up d' Jamaican crew) … definitely having a good ole time. And some folks, who didn't have a flag or rag to wave, decided to represent their country by painting flags on their faces (photo). Nice.

But wait, is that a 3-way all girls kiss we seeing (photo)? Yes sir, we love it! And before I could say boo, all ah know is that my camera in some smallie's hand and she's sending all her friends to wine and jam on meh while taking pics too!!! The curse we tell ya, de curse!! *lol* "Jungle Juice … your mission shall you chose to accept it, is to stop dem women with those big bumpers from pooching back!! Yes Yes Yes, YES BOSS! Yes Yes Yes, YES BOSS!! Jungle work … Jungle juk … Jungle stab up de bumpa, wuk!!" We love it!!! Run d' big "Go Stabby" track! This is exactly what I'm telling you about Busspepper's events … non Caribbean people who love the Caribbean scene having ah time! And where they learn to wine? Beats me! But, it's obvious they are getting good training!!

3am … call for last song! And in any West Indian fete this means the DJ going to try and squeeze like 2-3 chunes to the crowd's request before locking off the set. "Look de trucks dem want to roll (roll) …. look de bands dem want to roll (roll) …. say masqueraders want to roll (roll) …" Tomorrow is Notting Hill Mas 2k8 peoples … "Doh hold meh back, ah feeling real slack!!!"

Cabbie, "Finchley Central, please." We got wuk in de morning!

"Rollin"....
Chooks aka Daddy Juice "Not from Concentrate"

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Related Galleries
Carnival Collision ... Jouvert Business 4.0
2008 Notting Hill Carnival Coverage
2007 Notting Hill Carnival Coverage