When his sister Lavern Goddard died from Aids after contracting HIV from a brutal rape, budding soca artiste Vaden Thompson, also known as Blessed V, decided it was time to put stronger lyrical content in soca music.
“I decided that music is my life. My sister Lavern was really close to me and after she was raped and she got HIV, she died and I was devastated. I decided back then that I want issues to be raised so we can all be socially conscious of what was happening in the world,” Thompson said.
He said his two sons, Isaiah, six, and Azana, eight, and his wife Ayanna Thompson (who is his marketing manager) have been the source of his inspiration.
A self-proclaimed “people’s person,” besides writing music, Thompson said he operates a small clothes shop and does some voice work for commercial ads. He is also involved in community activities for Emancipation and Indian Arrival, and is an MC for community events and family gatherings.
For almost 15 years, Thompson said he tried to make his music reflect social issues. But—except for his debut soca hit Milk and Honey, sung on the Heart Attack Rhythm in 2004—most of his songs, he said, have been sidelined. Thompson claimed many radio stations have been side-lining his music because the soca industry is controlled by what he calls “the soca mafia.”
“The social ills of crime, vagrancy, poverty and inequality tore at my heart, but although I wrote song after song, it got me nowhere because certain people who control the soca industry were more interested in pushing ‘rags’ and ‘wine’ songs,” Thompson said.
“I give song after song and paid my dues, and yet I am still not recSILVAognised, because radio stations fail to play good music,” Thompson complained.
He added, “People are jumping up to ‘rags’ and ‘wine’, while every day people are being kidnapped or going missing. We are not singing about the issues.”
Saying there was a need to go back to using music as a creative art form which documented history, Thompson asked, “Where is the spirituality in the music like what we got from Ras Shorty? Where is the essence of the music? It hurts my heart to know that I have conscious music and it is reaching nowhere.”
He commented that ordinary people have been the victims of politicians, and that unity was needed among all.
Despite his setbacks, Thompson said he is eager to try for the Soca Monarch crown with his 2017 Power Soca Hit titled Fire.
“Fire responds to so many things that are happening in the country—crime, violence...I am highlighting the poor and defending the needy,” Thompson said.
To please the crowds, Thompson said he has also produced a song called Wining Yuh Waist.
He has tried his luck at the Soca Monarch competition three times before, but he never made it to the semifinals; this year, though, he thinks he has a good chance.
Thompson said he used up all of his savings to open his own recording studio at his home in South Trinidad so that he could produce and market his songs on social media.
He added, “I am marketing my songs via Facebook, Instagram and Soundcloud, which is an online audio distribution platform based in Berlin, Germany, that enables its users to upload, record, promote, and share their originally created sounds.”
So how does he see his songs?
“I sing reality music. My songs have sense and focus. I don’t bring seasonal music. ... I sing songs that will uplift T&T.”
MORE INFO: To contact Thompson, email him at blessedvee31@gmail.com or blessed_v@hotmail.com or call 286-6607 or 318-3718