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Meet Birmingham’s sensational R&B-Pop prodigy: Vincent Darby – The voice you can’t ignore!

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Photo Credit: Jemel May

BY SIMONE J. SMITH

“It’s the maddest pride.”

These are the words of the newest R&B/pop sensation who most recently released his new EP “For When It’s Over.” This young man has been keeping busy, gracing stages and creating considerable industry buzz at: SXSW, NYC, and at School Night (LA). The six song EP follows the release of his up-tempo single “Rogue” where this musical genius paints a picture of the irresistible allure of forbidden love. The video for “Rogue” captures the feeling and vibe of blasting music in your car on a late-night drive through the city…. Hmmmm!

On Wednesday April 3rd, 2024, the Toronto Caribbean Newspaper was invited out to the album release event being held to introduce this homegrown star to the world. As this young man stepped into the spotlight, his presence commanded attention. He took a deep breath, and as he began to sing, the room fell silent. The first notes of his voice ring out, pure and resonant. There’s a quality to his voice that’s undeniable; it drew everyone in, making them forget the world outside. His voice carried emotion, weaving through the Drake Hotel Underground like a gentle breeze, touching the hearts of everyone in the room. It was as if he poured his soul into every word, every melody.

With each passing moment, the intensity of his performance grew, building to a crescendo that sent shivers down my spine. There was a raw power in his voice that was impossible to ignore.

His name is Vincent Darby  and he’s a R&B-pop singer from Birmingham (UK). He destroyed SXSW, and New York’s The Rockwood.  He just lit up School Night in LA the night before the release party. Of course, I had to go and see what the buzz was all about.

While “Rogue” embodies Vincent’s commitment to pushing the boundaries of R&B and Pop, it also serves as the lead track off his new EP. “I started the process back in 2016 and I called the EP “For When It’s Over” to document what love/lust feels like within this generation of quick attention spans and dating apps,” shared Vincent. “In a world of instant gratification, genuine fulfillment in love doesn’t really exist.”

The EP encapsulates these sentiments in under 20 minutes, reflecting on intense yet short-lived relationships, now normalized in our society. Vincent is the genesis of musical innovation in the Pop and R&B genres, drawing from his soulful upbringing to craft unforgettable melodies that captivate audiences worldwide.

“For When It’s Over’ is being released by 7 Long Lane Entertainment, an independent label dedicated to nurturing emerging talent in the music industry. From talent development to marketing, the label guides artists on their journey to success. With strong industry connections and a commitment to excellence, the team has contributed to the success of artists including Billie Eilish, Eminem, Mariah Carey, and many more, ensuring long-lasting careers for their roster. It does go to show the importance of having a solid team around you; it allows an artist to focus on what they do best; create.

Inspired by his British upbringing and Jamaican heritage and introduced to music at a young age by his radio DJ grandfather, Vincent’s journey has taken him from karaoke bars showcasing his electrifying voice; to a sold-out headline performance at The Jazz Cafe in London, and a coveted spot at BBC Radio 1’s big weekend festival. With hits like “We Could Be” resonating globally and earning acclaim from MTV and BET, this young star is on a fast track to solidify his position as a trailblazer.

Born and raised in Birmingham England on the edge of the countryside near the city is where Vincent started his musical journey. When I sat down with Vincent, his energy was palpable; he was so willing to share his journey.

“My grandparents moved from Jamaica a few years after the windrush,” he began. “They kept their culture and ensured that generations after them had Caribbean culture embedded in them. My mom was born in England but was raised in Jamaica. Her parents sent her back to Jamaica when she was younger, and you know what that means. Raised in Jamaican culture, navigating as a young woman brings unique experiences, and those strong values are instilled in me.”

“I used to sing all the time when I was a kid. My mom would say that even when I was crying, it would seem like singing. This continued, and when I was five, we were on a family trip. I started singing Karaoke, and my mom was like, okay! This is what he wants to do. She recognized my talent and wholeheartedly embraced, nurtured it, and I blossomed.”

Naturally, other people saw Vincent’s talent, and wanted to capitalize on it. For some reason, even at a young age, Vincent followed his instincts. “I realized early that I didn’t want to do it yet. I wanted to be a kid, and my mom was like, ‘I am glad you feel like that, because you are not doing anything until you finish school.’ I really took it there at 16 years old and did my first recording in Jamaica. What an experience that was.”

“I have a special love for the city of Toronto; it was the first place that I travelled by myself. I was about 17 years old at the time, and you can imagine the excitement. I was travelling, doing what I loved, and my family supported me. Incredible feeling.”

I asked Vincent to share how it felt in front of a crowd that absolutely loved him. “It went so well for me on Wednesday, that I was sad that it was over. I looked out into the audience; I saw my family. I am so focused usually, but then this feeling came over me when I saw them. It was such a different feeling. So glad to have them.”

As the final notes faded away, the room erupted into thunderous applause, and demanded an encore. The young man stood on stage, a smile on his face, knowing that he had just witnessed the birth of his career.

We, as humans are guaranteed certain things in life: stressors, taxes, bills and death are the first thoughts that pop to mind. It is not uncommon that many people find a hard time dealing with these daily life stressors, and at times will find themselves losing control over their lives. Simone Jennifer Smith’s great passion is using the gifts that have been given to her, to help educate her clients on how to live meaningful lives. The Hear to Help Team consists of powerfully motivated individuals, who like Simone, see that there is a need in this world; a need for real connection. As the founder and Director of Hear 2 Help, Simone leads a team that goes out into the community day to day, servicing families with their educational, legal and mental health needs.Her dedication shows in her Toronto Caribbean newspaper articles, and in her role as a host on the TCN TV Network.

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Is Canada’s Wonderland participating in the racial profiling of young black men too?

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BY MICHAEL THOMAS

Is Canada’s Wonderland participating in the racial profiling of young black men too? Try asking this question to Keishia Facey and the answer would be a no-holds-barred YES, and I shall explain why as we progress in this article.

Imagine you are the mother of a sixteen-year-old son who happens to be Black. Imagine sending your son off by Uber to enjoy himself at Canada’s Wonderland, but when he gets there, he is refused entry.

N (as I would call him) was told that he fits the profile of someone who was not welcomed at the amusement park and that was it, case closed and if he persisted, he was told they would call the police on him. As we shall find out later, N and his mother decided to show his ID as evidence that he was not there before, but that was ignored, and he was left outside the amusement park. Imagine that!

Readers, your next question would be why, or what happened? Let us keep imagining things for now. Remember this young man was put in a cab by his mother, so naturally when he was refused entry at the Vaughan amusement park on September 28th, 2024 he called his mother to see if she could help clarify things.

Let’s imagine that you are the mother of this 16-year-old, you show up at this amusement park thinking this should be easy, he is going to be admitted now that you are here, what is the misunderstanding?

Picture yourselves readers as the boy’s mother trying to find out why your son was refused entry, only to be dismissed and to find out there is another group of black boys that are not wanted at the entrance either. This article will test your imagination, but you will be unpleasantly surprised.

Now picture yourself standing at the entrance of this amusement park with your son and seven, or eight other Black boys between the ages of 14-16, being refused entry into Canada’s Wonderland. Shall we imagine that all nine, or so of these little Black boys looked like someone who was denied entry previously? Shall we?

Now readers, this gets worse, try, and imagine you as N’s mother having the police called on you by Canada’s Wonderland just because you are inquiring why your son cannot enjoy an amusement park in the country where he was born.

I think this imaginary horror story has run its course, and regrettably, I must inform you that all that you have read so far is not a fairy tale, but a real-life ordeal. Now let me introduce you to this real-life cast.

I had the privilege of speaking with N’s mother Mrs. Keishia Facey, Co-founder of the REST (OR) REFORM Equity Conference which advocates for racial justice in our community.

According to Facey, Canada’s Wonderland security called the police on her and her son to inquire why he was refused entry.

Facey told me that when the officer arrived and she tried explaining what happened, Officer K. Ramos told her that, as a minority himself, he found nothing racial about this incident. “After taking what the security guards told him, he said he deemed it not racist,” Facey told me.

It is important to note here that the amusement park security called the police not to clarify things regarding her son’s refusal of entry, but to arrest her because they deemed her manner aggressive. After all, she questioned their decision.

“It just goes to show how a lot of the racist troupes against my son and myself were at play. I am a Black woman so therefore I am angry, and I am aggressive, when all I am trying to ask is what is the reason why my son is not allowed to come in,” Facey told me.

“The problem is that this is not just an individual case of my son and his friend. I am standing here with a group of Black boys who are not allowed to come in, while all these other kids are dressed the same and are allowed to go in, while there is a wall of security screening people out. That is racial profiling,” she said.

Facey told me, “Whoever they were saying my son was, they had no ID for such a person.”

Facey believes that these security guards are not properly trained, and so, one dangerous Black boy to them means one size fits all. “That is racial profiling,” she told me.

Canada’s Wonderland Marketing Director told another news source the reason for turning back N from the amusement park was for wearing an item that concealed his identity, an act that is a violation of the park’s Code of Conduct, yet as stated earlier in this article Canada’s Wonderland downplayed the idea of an ID check from N and his mother. For the record, N’s mother called that statement by Canada’s Wonderland a lie.

In all fairness, I reached out to Canada’s Wonderland by contacting Dwayne McMulkin, the Corporate Director of Marketing and Brand Management at Six Flags Entertainment Corporation, which owns the theme park, to obtain their version of this tragic incident, but no one replied to me.

I asked Facey what she would like to see happen at the end of all this, she replied, “I think the security guards need to be trained, they need to know what anti-Black racism is, they need to know that no matter if  they are: Brown, Indian, White, or Chinese that anti-Black racism in Canada needs to be fought against, and so they can respond differently.”

Facey said she is in conversation with York Regional Police on the matter as well.

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The Caribbean diasporic dynamic: Untapped potential power

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Credits: Piki Superstar

BY STEVEN KASZAB

“The truth is everyone is going to hurt you. You just got to find those worth suffering for.” Bob Marley spoke of both a personal and national quest. Find unity, and you’ve found those worth suffering for.

The Caribbean diaspora is one of the untapped powerhouses of North America. Imagine how many fellow citizens of Caribbean descent: live, work and prosper in America and Canada. Together we are looking at 18 million legal and illegal migrants giving to their preferred neighborhoods throughout the continent. A million in Canada and many more in the USA inject into our societies their: passion, emotions, social activism, professionalism and their: blood, sweat and tears to build a home and community for themselves and their future comers. A population centered in the urban spheres, in Florida and New York City. Toronto is home to over a hundred thousand of this incredible diaspora of: artists, workers, professionals, and educators.

There are many forms of misinformation regarding the migrants trying to achieve citizenship in America and Canada. “They are a drag upon the established financial and social order, criminals and social dependents.” Thank you, Donald Trump, and most Republicans, for showing what type of people you really are. In fact, the Caribbean diaspora make up a majority of small businesses in their new homelands, creating employment and financial investment in places once not there.

Those that flee: Haiti, Dominican, Trinidad & Tobago, Jamaica, Cuba, Puerto Rico and other places are often ambitious: professionals, teachers, skilled workers and potential citizens for a marketplace that can and does welcome them. Financial, or security are the primary reasons these people leave their homelands to brave travel to our neighborhood.

Imagine if a group with such vitality and connection could unite in the face of America’s chaotic financial and political onslaught. Being a minority in America has always been a challenge particularly if you’re still considered an “outsider” like most visually, socially different people are. How could this small group reflect its desires, demands and expectations? Perhaps alliances between Canadian-American and Caribbean based groups are essential. Acquiring, managing, and programming media outlets not only friendly to the Caribbean, but centered upon the Caribbean community’s needs, wants and future expectations.

Reimagining the old notion of traveling to the Caribbean for a week, or two and bye bye until next year. Developing notions that the Caribbean is not over there, but right here in Canada, and the USA, in your community and neighborhood. Being a distant place to vacation makes it easier to forget that place and its people. Bringing that place and its people’s traditions, culture and lived reality to Canadian and Americans attention is another story. Establishing a connection with their host nations is essential.

The Caribbean diaspora has a massive financial sway upon the Canadian and American economy as too their political sector. The Caribbean diaspora interjects 145 billion dollars into their host nations’ economies annually. Those who came from the Caribbean invest their professionalism and money into their host nations’ businesses, corporations, and governmental agencies. The Caribbean diaspora is a huge asset to their hosts. Make the host nations realize this in real time. The Caribbean diaspora must leverage their importance to their host nations: culturally, socially, financially, and politically.

In unity will any cultural, or ethnic group achieve attention and consideration from the majority. Look at how and what the: LGBQT community, the Jewish community, and the Black Lives Matter achieved. The Caribbean diaspora with the greater Caribbean community can achieve much if they can unite their commonality and purpose here in Canada/America as to their homelands.

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American individualism and Canadian cooperative thought; Alternatives offered to free people

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BY STEVEN KASZAB

Many of my American customers have made commentary upon the relationship between Canada and the USA, and upon what makes up a Canadian. Are these two people the same or somehow different? Canadians and Americans share a great deal, watch the same television, have similar love for democracy and work together in business and play. Millions of us travel back and forth with seemingly only our national labels separating us from the other.

Our histories are intertwined, families spread across each border, with Canadians expressing their trust and love for the cousins down south. We have historically fought one another, distrusted one another, yet become the greatest of allies as well. A huge border separates each nation from the other, yet millions cross this border freely each day. Our economies are interwoven, and we walk in space together as a unit of explorers with lapel flags identifying us from the other.

What makes Canadians and Americans different? Two words and their meaning makes the case clearly. Family and Cooperation: A group of related things living together – descendants of a common ancestor working together.

“Family” holds a special place of reverence and historical significance socio-politically to both Canadians and Americans. That similarity is clear. I believe the difference in how we view family, and what family means to us. American individualism holds a pivotal historic place within the American social fabric. This flows into how they view and live their family experience. Family is a part of the greater national experience, but individualism maintains a separation from the greater public’s expectations. Individuals and their families are separate from the greater whole. Importance to the needs, expectations, myths of the individual run supreme and above the national needs and expectations. Nationalism in America is characteristically centered on independence and self-reliance.

Canadian expressions of “family” are similar, but the lived concept of family is far more holistic in its approach. Not only are family members part of the family unit, but Canadians view others in Canada as family as well. Our acceptance of the social compact unites Canadians and presses our expression to help the other. Canadian social thought evolved to accept and place social policy decisions such as our universal health care and the protection of the citizen from undue: financial, mental, and physical challenges.

America’s acceptance of the supremacy of capital and individualism places its citizens in harm’s way should that citizen face such challenges as illness (no insurance), or loss of job (loss of home). Canadian social attitudes place cooperation among our citizens as the primary method of achievement as a society and family.

Americans’ reverence of competition places citizens and American institutions against one another. Darwinian attitudes place capital and individualism into every aspect of American life from the moment an American is born in a hospital to the day they pass away. Capital, wealth, personal achievement reaches into every American’s lived experience as though it were a religion. Not so in Canada. Perhaps it is Canadians feeling of inferiority living beside the greatest democratic nation on earth, or because we understand America’s importance to Canada’s welfare and well-being be it: financial, economic, or our national defense. The proverbial little cousin.

That feeling unites Canadians, making us far more empathetic to our neighbors and the world. This empathy enters our political and social realities, as to how we see ourselves. Our inferiority makes us more cooperative, and socially responsible.

American individualism and Canadian cooperative thought. Alternatives offered to free people. Choose and choose well.

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