Renaissance makes 22 special

• Anniversary party continues until wee hours of the morning

Sadeke Brooks, Staff Reporter

Renaissance 22nd anniversary party did not disappoint, despite a few issues with its 'Futuristic' theme.

Held at the Old Coal Wharf, Port Royal, on Saturday, there were some flashing lights and a unique design for the stage and a few other sections of the venue, but very little depicted the theme.

While some patrons tried to dress according to the theme of the party, many could not be bothered to go outside of the party wear they were used to.

Though the theme was 'futuristic', there were older songs that pleased the audience.

They danced up a storm to Beenie Man's World Dance and Mr Vegas' Heads High, while Vybz Kartel teased with the recent Freaky Gal.

SOCA ENERGY

Soca songs like Rupee's Tempted To touch, Kevin Lyttle's Turn Me On and Alison Hinds' Roll It Gal provided a change of energy.

But this was not for long, as the soca songs were followed by R&B and hip-hop songs like Kelly Rowland's Motivation and Wiz Khalifa's Black And Yellow. Soon after, there was a return to recent dancehall songs like I-Octane's Badmind Fi Di Year and Khago's Blood A Boil.

More than a year after it broke on to the scene, the One Day rhythm was still a favourite among the patrons.

At 3 a.m., with fireworks and a robotic voice promising a transformation, the selector played many alternative and hip-hop songs. There was much fist pumping as they danced to songs like LMFAO's Party Rock, Ne-Yo and Pitbull's Tonight and Chris Brown's Yeah x3.

After much jumping and dancing, the patrons cooled down to Mavado and Laza Morgan's One By One.

With patrons already on a high, DJ Naz took over turntable duties. However, during the start of her set the DJ played slower songs that led to many patrons just standing, talking and taking pictures. Eventually, she raised the tempo with fast-paced dancehall songs like Popcaan's Raving and Vybz Kartel's Summertime.

No time wasted

After Naz finished her set, no time was wasted in trying to whip the patrons into a frenzy.

This was achieved with Nicki Minaj's Wave Ya Hand. Countless popular dancehall songs were also played with even Specialist's Street Hustle earning a big 'forward'.

The 'war' between Vybz Kartel and Mavado was also revisited and led to patrons singing along to the many dis songs the two artistes did for each other. There was quite a bit of gyrating when songs like Tifa's Move Yuh Body, Mavado's Stulla and Vybz Kartel's Benz were played.

It wasn't until 5 a.m. that patrons began to leave Old Coal Wharf, satisfied, I suspect.