Making You Look Again!

Another night of Hip Hop music in this city of Kingston is almost upon us! Often, I wish there were more spaces with such an energy, but its absence from the local scene is what makes events like Made You Look truly unique. Two weeks ago, we had to, unfortunately, postpone the first staging of this new series. It was quite disappointing, especially because it was supposed to mark our return to hosting events after two years of no Pay Attention. My father always used to tell me every disappointment is God's appointment. I used to dislike hearing this after losing a football or basketball match, but the saying has a lot of meaning and relevance.

A tiny detail in the history of Pay Attention that has never been documented, and was even forgotten by myself, is that its very first staging was intended to be March 17, 2012. On the day before, we were notified of a health inspection at the venue, which would result in the place being closed. The first Pay Attention was then held on April 21. I remembered this only because I still have one of the very first flyers. It's interesting how none of us remembered this postponement. I believe, moving forward with Made You Look, we will forget about the recent postponement. And I will go as far as saying that it was meant to be. That parallel at the start of both these series shows me we are on the right track and we are about to start something else that will be epic.

Pay Attention got its name because we wanted people to simply pay attention to the local Hip Hop scene. Also, we didn't charge admission at first, so all you had to pay... was attention. After approximately three years, we felt like we got people to do just that. And that's why now we are saying Made You Look! We said Pay Attention and we Made You Look.

I'm sure the Hip Hop heads will notice the title of the event is the same as a popular Nas song. That is, indeed, where we got the name. In fact, it was one of the options for the name of our December 2012 stageshow, The Takeover. We liked the name since then even though we had not used it, and our new partner, Nanook Enterprises, also loved it.

Interestingly, Nas' song samples Apache by Incredible Bongo Band. This is one of the most sampled songs in the history of Hip Hop and was one of the first break beats that DJ Kool Herc looped up at his parties. Given our movement's recognition and embrace of DJ Kool Herc because of his contribution to Hip Hop as a Jamaican, it makes perfect sense that our event is named off a now-classic single that flipped Apache.

I'm anticipating a great night at Made You Look. I hope to see our regular patrons and supporters and I look forward to sharing the highlights after.