Kandre McDonald, Freelance Writer
A crowded Pantry is the scne of the latest Inertia party which was held on Friday night. Tweens took the dance floor to 'Gully Creep' and 'Nuh Linger' during the dancehall set.
The music emanated heavily from the speakers into the gloomily lit hallway leading to the action. The music's pulling force was appealing and one could sense a positive vibe as the patrons' reaction to the music at times seemed to surpass the volume from the speakers.
Excitement filled the air as all this energy was being experienced in the hallway leading to the action.
Then reality struck. A quick look inside and, save for a few major exceptions, one would think that it was a day-care centre. Loud music echoed inside and some youngsters held a Hennessey in hand. Others could easily access alcohol from any of the bars.
Analysing the 'Escape from Reality' theme attached to Inertia, staged last Friday at the Pantry, New Kingston, THE STAR team began to grasp the concept. It was actually the youngsters, who probably averaged 15 years old, who were escaping into a 'new reality'.
There were lots of minors imbibing alcohol at an alarming rate. The five bars were frequently visited. Vendors pressed their way through the now-thick crowd to sell their wares, and many patrons found favour with cigarettes, the stench of which hung lazily in the air.
Drunken sleep
As the night wore on and the alcohol began to take its effect, several patrons were spotted slumbering around the venue, drunk.
It was not only the alcoholic beverages being served to what seemed like underage children that could raise eyebrows, but also the musical selections. The sex-laced songs that ruled the turntables throughout the proceedings seemed 'older' than the audience could have been.
A version of Kartel's Trailer Load a Money that was remixed by an unknown artiste into a sexually laced song, earned Coppershot a mammoth forward and the song an encore. The patrons gyrated seductively to several other selections that kept the focus below the waist.
The dance-oriented music was greeted with frenzied dancing influenced by the raw energy from the music. There was hardly any space to do the 'Gully Creeper', but many of the patrons surprisingly found ways to move harmoniously to the music. They bounced each other as they executed the 'Nuh Linger'.
It was obvious that the patrons loved the hard-core dancehall music as when Chromatic started their set with some old-school hip hop and rap music, the crowd relaxed. However, they soon woke up to a slew of selections from Vybz Kartel's earlier catalogue. Sizzla's No Way paved the path that led to some more hard-core dancehall music and the crowd erupted like a once-dormant volcano.
There was no 'Inertia' here as these young uns gave it all they got on the dance floor. - colin hamilton photos
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