“I have my first question…When is Barbados bringing me back down there?” Kardinal Offishall asks as he turns the table on CiRCUIT by posing the first question of the interview.  Kardinal performed on the island back in 2K2 and is anxious to get back to these shores for a second performance. “I’m tired of everybody comin’ from Barbados over here saying Kardi, you need to come back. I know I need to come back!”   

Barbadians were first introduced to her when she was featured on J-Co’s hip-hop track Pon Fire.  Her track Sweet Satisfaction was nominated for two 2006 International Soca Music Awards.  Now, she is forging a musical style of her own.  Influenced by artists such as Etta James, Nelly Furtado, The Cranberries, Alanis Morrisette and UB40, and merging R&B, soca, pop and even a hint of country, this talented artist is poised to take the world by storm.

Barbadian representative at Miss World 2006, Latoya McDowald, created history for Barbados when she impressively captured the number 6 position in the swimsuit category of the competition.  Interestingly, Latoya claims that prior to entering the Miss Barbados World competition, she had never worn a swimsuit.  She makes this claim with a straight face as our designated CiRCUIT writer raises an eyebrow in disbelief.

Even though alternative and other rock-derived genres have been a staple of Barbados’ music industry for years, they’ve been overshadowed by the likes of soca, reggae, dancehall and dub.  Soca has been championed by Crop-Over and other Caribbean festivals, while reggae, dancehall and other Jamaican offshoots are powered by the strong legacies of Bob Marley and the many other internationally recognised superstars which have emerged from Jamaica.