Justin ‘LLCoolBlaze’ Elliot is a first generation Jamaican-American DJ, producer, songwriter, event promoter/host, entrepreneur, father and so much more! He has been on the soca scene for some time but gained popularity last year with ‘Who Pay!?’ featuring Sekon Sta, Skorch Bun It and Salty on the Baby Bells Riddim and “Bumper Murder” with Mical Teja and Kerwin Du Bois. We got the opportunity to have a virtual sit down with LLCoolBlaze to discuss soca, his Carnival 2020 success and why he decided to shift his focus from being a DJ to producing.
CARIB VOXX: How does a first generation Jamaican-American come to fall in love with soca?
CoolBlaze: “I think it started in elementary school. In elementary school, my best friend was from Trinidad. You know what I mean? So we had that similarity, being two of the only Caribbean kids in our class, and he introduced me to a lot of things about his culture.
As I got older, my oldest cousin, she married a guy from Trinidad. The Trinis just kept popping up in my life (haha!). Around 10, he [my cousin’s husband] had the big, tricked out Lexus with the system in it and we’d be driving around Philly and he’s blasting soca music. So, I wanted to be like him. All kids look up to the cool uncle, you know? That got me in love with soca music from back then.”
CARIB VOXX: That’s great, and so organic. When you develop that kind of love for a genre of music, you want to learn more about it; and now you’re at the stage where you’re creating it. I want you to talk about the fact that you are encouraging the artists that you work with to widen to scope of things they talk about in their music.
CoolBlaze: “Yeah, definitely. Like I said, I was introduced to soca; I didn’t grow up on soca. Coming from a background of R&B, Hip Hop and more of the mainstream genres, the horizon of topics is so broad. Sometimes what I find is that making music for carnival, there are specific topics that fall in line with that, but as the genre grows and more people become interested you have to realize that soca is an art form, an expression.
So, these soca artists… and I don’t like to call them ‘soca artists’, but artists that do soca – they go through other emotions that artists who do other genres go through as well. A lot of times they feel like they can’t express those sentiments in their music. I’ve been the person saying, you know, ‘this is our music’, ‘this is an art form, we should be able to express our emotions and our feelings through this art form’.”
CARIB VOXX: Absolutely! We cannot continue limiting ourselves in the art form because it is an art form and it should not be seasonal. We must shine a light on this new generation of artists doing soca who are not allowing a season to hold them hostage. The likes of Erphaan Alves, Nailah Blackman, Sekon Sta, Mical Teja (who we will talk a bit more about in a few) and others.
CoolBlaze: “As you’re talking about the new generation, Nailah, Erphaan and etc. we definitely have to include Preedy because out of those names he’s the one that stands out the most. We have some amazing stuff coming up that… I’m not saying this stuff doesn’t exist in soca music before, but I certainly have never heard talk about it. Working on that project and being able to have him explore different sides of his emotions is amazing.”
CARIB VOXX: Let’s talk Carnival 2020. How did it feel producing some of the more popular songs for Trinidad and Tobago Carnival this year?
CoolBlaze: “It’s crazy because I knew that people liked the songs, especially ‘Who Pay!?’. I know people like the song because I was seeing the tags on social media, but I didn’t realise how big the song was until I actually came down for ‘Sekon Sunday’. As soon as I got into the car at the airport, “Who Pay!?” was on the radio (haha!). That was a surreal feeling, it was the first time I’d experienced that. I’ve been making music for the past three/four years but this was my breakout year.
So, being in Trinidad, hearing the song on the radio and the taxi driver singing it then asking me ‘Yo! You did that?’. It was crazy. Being in the states, you have to go into the pockets [West Indian party circuit] to hear soca, but in Trinidad it is the culture so it’s everywhere. So I’m walking down the avenue [Ariapita Avenue] and hearing the people, no music, singing the songs, cars driving by and even in restaurants – wow, it’s crazy.”
CARIB VOXX: We’re glad you were able to experience that before the world became what it did in 2020. Let’s talk about “Bumper Murder”. Aside from the fact that the team is a modern-day soca dream team, you all were able to land a Zumba Sync Deal. Tell the people about that.
CoolBlaze: “Zumba loves Caribbean culture. They reached out to us. Told us that they love our song, they loved the vibe and they wanted to use it for a new workout rollout that they’re doing. This is their 90th edition. We talk about taking soca global and it’s through these partnerships that this happens. Literally every day for the last month I’ve been tagged in Zumba videos with people doing dances in Chile, Indonesia, Japan, Toronto, Brazil, Equador and I’m like… what?
Just recently “Bumper Murder” hit 1,000 Shazams in Japan. That means that 1,000 people heard the song and wanted to know what it is. Out of all my stats, the Shazams are the most impressive.”
CARIB VOXX: That is definitely amazing and congrats to you, Mical Teja, Kerwin Du Bois and Kevin ‘Vexmony’ Beharry of System32 on this massive feat. You once said on Instagram that you played as a DJ in three countries this year and your music played in over 120 countries. This has to be part of the reason why you decided to shift from being a DJ to being a producer. What else inspired the shift?
CoolBlaze: “As a DJ, I looked around me for the answer to the question, ‘Who’s doing it the best?’ and I got my answer by looking at the top DJs in the world – they produce their music. You go to a Diplo show, you’re not asking Diplo to play Cardi B or Megan Thee Stallion, you’re going to see Diplo play Diplo. Looking at that, when I decided to DJ I decided that that’s what I need to do too.
I used DJing as a way for me to get familiar with the music, the parties and the artists to build a relationship with them. I started out by making remixes and edits before I actually started producing.”
LLCoolBlaze sat down with us for just over ten more minutes and shared some information on some upcoming projects: an album with Preedy set to drop in the second half of 2021, the TikTok Riddim, a song with Voice and a Jamaican artist (hint: ‘nobody haffi know’) and his hope to give Jamaican soca its own distinct sound for their Carnival as it continues to grow as a major contender in the global carnival industry.
