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Is ‘WAP’ a feminist triumph?

Local female artists weigh in on smash hit

By JEFFARAH GIBSON . Tribune Features Writer .

jgibson@tribunemedia.net

WEEKS after its release, Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion’ hit song “WAP” continues to make headlines. The single has once again topped Rolling Stone’s Top 100 charts with 4.63 million streams. The numbers have proven that in spite of the criticism of the collaboration’s over-the-top, explicitly sexual nature, “WAP” is a certified smash hit. For many, the collab reflects an image of hip hop we rarely get a chance to see – two young female rappers in their prime, climbing the ladder of success, both celebrating and using their talents to bolster one another’s careers.

Given that female unity in hip hop culture is not that common, we asked several local entertainers about their views on the Cardi B and Megan team-up and why female artists supporting each other is important.

Veteran entertainer Bodine said while the video was highly sexual, it’s not any different to the dancehall music Bahamians love to consume.

“The funny thing is, we’re not supposed to publicly say that we like the song. Obviously, women that publicly and unapologetically own the way they present their sexuality are seen as ‘less than’. It’s a trope that I’d love to see disappear because it’s antiquated. We really should be able to present ourselves in whichever way we choose without having to prove our value. And for that statement alone, I love ‘WAP’. There’s a freedom in that which I personally envy,” she said.

The lyrics of the explicit track tell the story of a woman who is confident in her sexual prowess and the fact that men find her irresistible.

“As for people being critical, art is subject to criticism and I believe that people should be able to express their thoughts, whether good or bad. Now how people phrase their criticism is another story,” said Bodine.

“I believe we should support one another. I don’t have to participate in your art, what you do may not be what I like, but I also shouldn’t use virtue (signalling) to make myself

MEGAN Thee Stallion and Cardi B

BODINE

WENDI

seem or feel better than you are as an artist. Therefore, I may not publicly or privately endorse you, but I will not actively do anything to hinder you as another woman in music.”

Wendi Lewis Knight, a Bahamian award-winning soca artist, also weighed in on the hot button topic.

“The song has been ruffling a lot of feathers lately... and I’m here for it. I am a fan of both artists. I think their music is super cool, but more importantly, I connect with their CHASE Fernander drive, hard work and consistency in the industry. If anyone is going to “It’s a female anthem promoting talk about female sexuality and the female empowerment, owning your female body, I rather it be a woman. body, owning your energy and boldly Period,” she told Tribune Weekend. displaying that,” she said.

Unity among women, she said, “I may not have a lot of frontline resonates with her, as is evident in features with female artists locally, her latest hit single “Walk Out”. but I am very much behind the scenes of many songs that are on the airwaves and feature your favorite female artists. So, it goes without saying that I am an ‘encourager’ of girl power and female unity.”

Established Bahamian rapper Chase Fernander is herself no stranger to collaborations, as both she and Bodine joined forces on Ton Ash single “I Yi”. However, unlike her fellow artists, “WAP” did not impress her.

“I still hate it,” she said. “I’m a sucker for good fashion and colour, so I think the visuals are cool. But as far as the song goes, personally I just think it’s too raw and over sexualised. So much of the narrative of pop culture, especially in female rap, is focused towards sex and looking a certain way, and I just don’t like the message it sends to women, but especially young women. Messages like to get or keep a man you have to have a ‘WAP’, for example. Or it’s OK to be a hoe. When did it become cool to be a hoe? The song literally starts saying, “There’s some whores in this house.” God forbid I have a daughter and she tells me one day she wants to be a ‘hoe’.”

Chase believes there is a much more tasteful approach that can be adopted when making sexual suggestions in music.

“Beyonce does it! Her song ‘Partition’ is a perfect example. It was a raw song but it wasn’t over sexualised. It was very tastefully done and written,” she said

And when it comes women joining forces in music, Chase said it’s great when it happens, but it her view it also has to be done for positive and empowering reasons.

“It means uniting and supporting things that benefit all females collectively and not personally,” she said.

“I won’t judge Cardi or Meg or anyone that likes ‘WAP’ - to each their own opinion and preference. And I salute Cardi B for living up to her true self and not being fake. However, that doesn’t mean I have to like what she represents, and in this song in particular I strongly do not like the message it’s sending.”

Preparation and timing are key to success

Having seen the results of many people’s summer gardens, I am thoroughly impressed at the determination and persistence. It is not easy to have a successful vegetable garden in June, July, or August, and it takes a little extra attention and effort to grow tender vegetables through the summer. Another observation that has impressed me is the trial by fire that some beginner gardeners have experienced over the last few months; some with success, and some with failures. Do not give up! It gets a little easier now through until May.

This is the typical time of year for garden preparations to get “t’ings” ready for planting. Once September comes around on the calendar, I know that I better get trays seeded, and I had better have sources for herbs and veg that I am not seeding myself to be available. It is impossible to grow everything, and I usually have to outsource some of the growing to others.

It is now that the ground needs to be prepped if that is where you intend on planting. Tomato does not grow particularly well when planted into unamended, sandy soil, for example. They need organic material (compost, peat moss, coconut coir – which is available from Bahamian coconuts, processed in The Bahamas I might add, et cetera) in the soil, to help with water holding capacity, airspace, and nutrient holding capabilities. I have had a few unsuccessful gardens in my time, the one common thread with all of them was that I did not amend the soils enough for most crops to be successful. My failed gardens have usually been too dry, no matter how much water they get, and that is where the compost or other organic materials really benefits the ground. It is when I have an unsuccessful garden that my respect for large scale farmers is increased. I have abandoned a particular area that never seemed to give me results, but I am sure that if I went back to the area to try again, that I would have to mix in a few yards of high quality compost and organic material, and I have not been willing to do that!

I am a fan of container gardening because I find it much easier to control the soil quality, watering, nutrients, and pest control. I start with high quality potting soil, or if in a raised bed then a highquality planting soil labelled for use in raised beds. Both options are lighter than a typical planting

soil or compost designed for use in the ground. Perlite may be an important additive if the soils available are too heavy (manures, some lower quality potting or planting soils). Perlite does not break down and will be present year after year. It is a good time now to amend pots, planters, or traditional in ground gardens with compost and maybe by mixing in additional organic material to freshen up the soil some before planting.

Seedlings will become more available moving through the next few weeks of September, and I have just put down a second round of seeds to grow for sale and for my own use. Growing up around the nursery, things always got a bit hectic in September as it is the traditional start to our winter growing season when most tender vegetables will perform a lot better than in the oppressive summer heat. I have found that over the last decade or so, our planting times have been getting later each year, but this year has been exceptional as there has been such a huge push to get into the garden, that I have started earlier than usual with tomato, herbs, peppers, broccoli, cucumber, squash, et cetera in the hopes that we can have some product ready when people start calling for it during the next couple of weeks. Spinach has been slow to respond for me up until this point and I seeded more this week with hopeful intention! I will not be attempting cilantro/ coriander for another few weeks, when hopefully the evenings will continue to cool slightly to encourage these to sprout and grow with vigor as compared to not germinating due to heat, or bolting (going to seed) too quickly.

Keep gardening! Keep growing! Keep doing! Persistence sometimes wins over unfavorable conditions, and determination can lead to results when least expected. Neither of these traits will overcome the simple facts of nature though; day length or high and low temperatures, that which affect germination, soil temperature, growth, flowering, and pest issues. Preparation is key. Now is the perfect time to get gardens or containers prepared for new plantings as the prime growing season is knocking at the door.

As always, I wish you happy gardening!

• I stand corrected in labelling the Bahama parrot as the Abaco parrot last week, that is apparently breeding in New Providence. It ought to have been labelled Bahama parrot.

Hollywood’s last Golden Age star Part II

Sir Christopher Ondaatje continues his reminiscences of the British-American actress whose cinematic career spanned over five decades from 1935 to 1988, appearing in forty-nine feature films, and was one of the leading actresses of her day.

“Famous people feel that they must perpetually be on the crest of the wave, not realising that it is against all the rules of life. You can’t be on top all the time; it isn’t natural.”

- Olivia de Havilland

The year 1942 was a memorable one for de Havilland – not just for her performances in The Male Animal with Henry Fonda, and This is Our Life with Bette Davis. John Huston directed the second of these films and began an off-screen romantic relationship with de Havilland that lasted three years. The following year de Havilland fulfilled her seven-year contract with Warner Bros in the film Princess O’Rourke with Robert Cummings – only to be told that six months had been added to her contract for the times she had been suspended.

“Jack Warner saw me as an ingenue. I was really restless to portray more developed human beings ... he would give me roles that really had no character or quality in them ...”

- Olivia de Havilland

On August 23, 1943, on the advice of her lawyer Martin Gang, de Havilland filed a suit against Warner Bros in California Superior Court stating that the California Labour Code forbade an employer from enforcing a contract against an employee for longer than seven years from the date of its first performance. In November 1943, the Superior Court found in de Havilland’s favour and Warner Bros appealed their decision. Twelve months later, the California Court of Appeal ruled again in her favour. It was a momentous decision which reduced the power of the studios and gave much more freedom to performers. It was a bold and expensive action by de Havilland and her legal victory is still known today as the De Havilland Law. She won the greatest respect of her peers and fellow performers, and had to withstand the efforts of Jack Warner to “black ball” her in other studios as well as Warner Bros. De Havilland did not work in any Hollywood studio for two years.

Released from her Warner Bros contract, de Havilland signed a two-picture contract with Paramount Pictures. In June 1945, she began filming Mitchell Leisen’s drama To Each His Own (1946). She played the part of an unwed mother who spends her life trying to reverse the decision she made to give up her child for adoption. She was required to age over 30 years in the role and, under Leisen’s direction, her performance earned her the Academy Award for Best Actress – her first Oscar. She then played twin sisters in Robert Siodmak’s psychological thriller The Dark Mirror (1946), having to portray psychologically opposite characters – a frighteningly convincing piece of acting. That year she met Marcus Goodrich, a US Navy veteran, journalist and author of the novel Delilah (1941). They married on August 26, 1946. realistic portrayal of a woman, Virginia Cunningham, placed in a state mental institution by her husband. Losing weight, her gaunt appearance in the film was frighteningly realistic and electric, and won her another Academy Award nomination for Best Actress, and the New York Film Critics Circle Award.

“I met a young woman who was very much like Virginia ... a schizophrenic with guilt problems ... she was rather likeable and appealing. It hadn’t occurred to me before that a mental patient could be appealing, and it was that that gave me the key to the performance.”

- Olivia de Havilland

De Havilland appeared in William Wyler’s period drama The Heiress (1949), based on the 1880 novel Washington Square by Henry James about a naive young woman who falls in love with a scheming young man (Montgomery Clift) over the objections of her cruel and abusive father. Both Clift and de Havilland put in marvellous performances in the Henry James classic – which was adapted for the screen by Ruth and Augustus Goetz. For her performance de Havilland received the New York Film Critics Award, the Golden Globe Award, and the Academy Award for Best Actress – her second Oscar.

“I had a sense that Monty was thinking almost entirely of himself and leaving me out. It was difficult for me to adapt to playing that way. But my having to adapt to him, and not his adapting to me, was really part of my character, so in the end it worked. But there was something ... well, something in Monty that just stood apart from the proceedings.”

- Olivia de Havilland

After giving birth to her first child, Benjamin, on September 27, 1949, de Havilland stopped making films to be with her son. She turned down the role of Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) saying:

“A lady just doesn’t say or do those things on the screen.”

However, she later explained that she had recently given birth to her son when offered the part and was unable to relate to the material. The part eventually went to Vivien Leigh who gave an Oscar winning performance.

De Havilland moved with her family to New York in 1950 where, despite being 35 years old, she played the part of Juliet in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, achieving a lifetime ambition. She went on to play the lead in George Bernard Shaw’s Candida (1951) on Broadway, and went on

OLIVIA de Havilland receives the National Medal of Arts from US President George W Bush in 2008

tour with the company delivering 323 additional performances to sold-out audiences. Sadly, her marriage to Marcus Goodrich, who was 18 years her senior, grew strained due to his unstable temperament. She filed for divorce in August 1952, which became final the following year.

In 1953, the French government invited Olivia de Havilland to the Cannes Film Festival, where she met Pierre Galante, the editor of the journal Paris Match. After a two-year long-distance romance, de Havilland and Galante married on April 12, 1955 in the village of Yvoy-le-Marron and moved into a three-storey house near the Bois de Boulogne in Paris. She continued to work and appeared in Terence Young’s drama That Lady (1955), about a Spanish princess who falls in love with King Phillip II of Spain. Her next two pictures, Not as a Stranger (1955) and The Ambassador’s Daughter (1956), were not financial successes. Nineteen fifty-six was also the year that de Havilland gave birth to her second child Gisèle Galante on July 18, 1956. Her best years in film seemed to be over. However, she returned to appear in Michael Curtiz’s Western drama The Proud Rebel (1958) filmed in Utah; and then gave one of her best performances in the romantic drama Light in the Piazza (1962) with Rossano Brazzi about a middle-class American tourist in Florence and Rome with her beautiful mentally disabled daughter. It is a love story with rare delicacy and force.

In 1962, de Havilland went to New York to play in Garson Kanin’s stage play A Gift of Time with Henry Fonda. She stayed with the production for ninety performances and found time to work on her first autobiographical book Every Frenchman Has One (1962), which went on to be a bestseller. She appeared in her final two film performances in 1964: Lady in a Cage about a wealthy poet trapped in her mansion’s elevator; and finally with her friend Bette Davis in Robert Aldrich’s Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte where she played the role of a cruel, conniving woman hiding behind the OLIVIA de Havilland wins her first of two Oscars for ‘To Each His Own’

facade of a polite and cultured lady. This final film received seven Academy Award nominations.

In the mid 1960s de Havilland found it difficult to find good film roles and reluctantly she began working in television dramas. She was now middle-aged and most available roles were typecast. The first teleplay offered to her was the Sam Peckinpal Noon Wine (1966) – a dark tragedy about a farmer’s act of murder that leads to his suicide. This was followed by The Screaming Woman (1972) about a wealthy woman recovering from a nervous breakdown. She next appeared in the ABC miniseries Roots: The Next Generation (1979) as the wife of a Confederate officer played by Henry Fonda. It is estimated that the miniseries was seen by over a hundred million viewers – or one-third of all American homes with television sets. She was still in demand, but during the 1970s her television work was limited to small supporting roles and cameo appearances. Her last television feature film was The Fifth Musketeer (1979).

In the 1980s – de Havilland’s last working decade – she appeared in Agatha Christie’s Murder is Easy (1982); The Royal Romance of Charles and Diana (1982) in which she played the Queen Mother; Anastasia: The Mystery of Anna (1986); and The Woman He Loved (1988). It was her final screen performance.

“The TV business is soul-crushing, talentdestroying and human-being destroying. These men in their black towers don’t know what they are doing. It’s slave labour. There is no elegance left in anybody. They have no taste. Movies are being financed by conglomerates, which take a write-off if they don’t work. The only people who fight for what the public deserves are artists.” - Olivia de Havilland

De Havilland separated from her husband Pierre Galante in the 1960s but lived together in the same house for another six years. Then Galante moved into a house across the street but they stayed friends. She looked after him when he had lung cancer before his death in 1998. She remained in her same house near the Bois de Boulogne in Paris.

On November 17, 2008 Olivia de Havilland received the National Medal of Arts from President George W Bush – the highest honour conferred to an individual artist in the United States. On September 9, 2010 she was appointed a Chevalier of the Légion d’honneur, the highest decoration in France, by President Nicolas Sarkozy. She celebrated her 100th birthday on July 1, 2016.

In June 2017, two weeks before her 101st birthday, de Havilland was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire for services to drama by Queen Elizabeth II. She is the oldest woman ever to receive the honour.

Olivia de Havilland died of natural causes in her sleep at her home in Paris, France on July 26, 2020. She was 104 years old.

NEXT WEEK: A French fashion designer who became one of the foremost fashion designers of the 20thcentury.

• Sir Christopher Ondaatje is the author of The Last Colonial. He acknowledges that he has quoted liberally from Wikipedia; My Wicked, Wicked Ways (1961) by Errol Flynn; Every Frenchman Has One (1962) by Olivia de Havilland; and Olivia de Havilland and the Golden

Age of Hollywood (2018) by Ellis Amburn.

Columbus discovered the new world

By Paul C Aranha .

Forgotten Facts

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word “discover” has 11 definitions, at least three of which apply to Christopher Columbus’ very short visit to the Bahamas:

1. To remove the covering from anything; 2. To remove, withdraw anything serving as a cover; 3. To disclose or expose to view anything covered up, hidden or previously unseen; 4. To divulge, reveal, disclose to knowledge; 5. To reconnoitre; 6. To reveal the identity of; 7. To manifest, exhibit or display; 8. To obtain sight, or knowledge, of; 9. To bring into fuller knowledge; 10. To make discoveries, to explore; 11. To distinguish, discern;

We, who live in the Bahamas, are citizens of the New World, a period that began on October 12, 1492 and pre-dates North, South and Central America. We should not try to blame Columbus for all the mistakes of the past 500 plus years. If we are looking for people to blame we should start at 2020 and work backwards in time. Some should still be alive.

Slavery, as Bahamians knew it, was an evil, but the descendants of the slaves (including myself) have had almost 300 years to recover from that tragedy, and the Bahamas government (not any one party or any one prime minister) has failed to educate the grassroots Bahamians. Despite this, there are many success stories to prove that the minds of my fellow Bahamians are very capable of anything. Instead of campaigning to remove the statue of Christopher Columbus, we should campaign for proper education of the masses. It is not good enough that Bahamian children should attend our under-achieving schools and emerge with a ‘certificate of attendance’, victims of a society that is content to accept ‘D’ as a ‘passing’ grade.

I grew up knowing people like Alfred F Adderley and his family, and Thaddeus A Toote, and thought of them as ‘normal’. It was only later that I understood how far these Black Bahamians had come. Not each and every grassroots child is capable to rise as high, but most of them are just as capable, if given the chance they deserve. I believe that if one demands 100 percent performance, one can expect 90 plus percent; if one demands 90 percent performance, one should not be surprised to achieve only 70 plus percent. If one demands nothing, that is exactly what one will get. This seems to apply to our so-called ‘education’. Yes, we have schools and we have teaching, but there is a real shortage of education, which must include how to use one’s brain. Almost every Bahamian child is a smartphone wiz, while I still feel uncomfortable with mine. I envy their ability to use smartphones and computers with a surprising understanding of what makes these instruments function. I was in a store, waiting my turn to pay the cashier. In front of me was a young lady who I knew and who worked for a neighbouring business. She was buying $14.70 worth of merchandise and her employer always got a 10 percent discount. I don’t know whether the cashier knew how much 10 percent was, but she called the store manager over, who confirmed the discount, but had to go back to her office, fetch her calculator and calculate 10 percent of $14.70 = $1.47.

Whenever I think of this incident I wonder how the manager would have coped with pounds, shillings and pence, yet I never saw any of old-time street vendors have problems, knowing exactly how much any quantity of fish/fruit/vegetables, et cetera would cost and how much change, if any, the customer should receive. We now have a straightforward decimal currency and a store manager needs a calculator to work out 10 percent. Education is so badly needed.

A young jobseeker handed me his completed job application form on which he had written that he lived in NASSA and was born in NASA. Education is essential, but in very short supply. Don’t blame this and everything else on Columbus. Blame it on the system, or lack thereof.

If the Bahama Islands were a part of the United States of America (where Columbus never went) every true-blooded American would have to go to see the spot where it all started (like Americans in Ireland must kiss the Blarney Stone), but even without COVID-19, San Salvador has always been something of a forgotten child. We could capitalise on Columbus, to provide additional funding for education, even though some of us are offended by the word ‘discover’. Inadequate education is keeping us back.

A good place to start would be eliminating the concept of ‘Bahamian time’.

The wonderful, mystical manatee

By Kim Aranha . Animal matters

Ihave always been riveted by the manatee ever since I can remember seeing one at the old Seaquarium on the Rickenbacker Causeway in Miami. Does anybody else remember the mesmerising shark going around and around at the corner of the causeway? I used to love it when there was a traffic jam and I could watch it turning for longer than a fleeting few seconds.

Of course that was in an era where we really were not aware of the suffering some animals experience in tanks of water, held prisoner and made to perform inane tricks to amuse even more inane humans who watch. I knew none of that. I guess my parents simply didn’t think about it, or if they did, they didn’t think hard enough, because I learned the ills of these places as an adult all on my own.

I wish I could remember the size of the tank the manatees were kept in. I am sure it wasn’t big enough. I remember them rolling their big bodies around and watching them munch contentedly on lettuce that they held between their flippers in an amazingly human manner. They appeared to be totally disinterested in the humans gazing at them, or that silly little girl excitedly waving at them; they never waved back at me…. little wonder.

Fast forward to today and the amazing gift of manatees in the Bahamas, particularly in Spanish Wells, Harbour Island and the Eleuthera area. They appear to be several who “wander” around and have babies quite regularly. Are they a solid family unit? I am not sure; mothers and babies stick together until the calf is old enough to go off on it’s own.

The manatee is a mammal, therefore the mothers give live birth to their babies and nurse them for about two years. The babies learn to eat marine plants at a few weeks old, but are still depend on mom for essential nourishment. Pregnancy for a manatee is a time-consuming job, lasting even longer than ours - a whole 12 months and the “babe” is about four feet long at birth.

It has always intrigued me that there is even the most remote possibility that the sailors of old could have mistaken these amazing, but bulky, and not terrible beautiful creatures, for captivating, flaxen-haired topless mermaids. Old literature tells us of how these sailors would be so bemused with their beauty they would jump into the sea (frequently to their deaths) simply to try and get close to their mermaid. You have to ask yourself what they must have been drinking.

However, the magnificent manatee is such a docile and placid creature that he really is the teddy bear of the sea, and I know when I have been fortunate enough to see them in person, swimming freely in the Bahamas. The sight has always filled me with excitement.

I had always been told that the manatee was an exclusively fresh water mammal and could not Photo/Candice Pinder

survive in salt water, but over the years I have grown to realise that they are perfectly happy in both fresh and salt water.

Florida is home to quite large colonies of manatees and they appear to stay in the fresh water more than the salty, but here in the Bahamas they are thriving in the sea.

I have read that the manatee can go without fresh water for up to two weeks, and invariably goes back to their original source of fresh water frequently. I am told that our manatees find their water in veins of fresh water that escape out of cracks in the seabed underwater.

It is written that manatees rarely get attacked by sharks because they do not frequent the same places as sharks, probably true in Florida but most definitely not true in the Bahamas. The manatee appears to swim around docks when fish cleaning is taking place and does not seem to be fearful if a shark swims by… though tiger sharks have been known to attack and kill a manatee under certain circumstances, it doesn’t seen to happen in the Bahamas. They seem to cohabitate peacefully and the manatee likes to hang out near docks to catch drops of fresh water from boats being cleaned off.

Little children and visitors alike are delighted to see this gentle giant lolling around the beach in Spanish Wells. People post photos and videos on Facebook and I can never see too many of them.

As they are wild animals, the general public is requested not interfere with their feeding habits and to leave the manatee alone to find its own food off the seabed. It can be dangerous to introduce food they are not accustomed to.

But oh, what an amazing gift and treat to watch these mermaids drift around contentedly.

Pet of the Week

Photo/Steph Hickman

Foster parents needed

By The Bahamas Humane Society

Boxes of puppies without mothers are a common sight at the Bahamas Humane Society. This crew of six was found in the bush after their mother was hit by a car. Thanks to some awesome people who stepped up to foster them, they have a fighting chance to become amazing adult potcakes. While usually the BHS calls for adopters, foster parents are also needed, and you don’t have to just foster wee ones (who are a lot of work, but very rewarding). Adult dogs and cats in need of extra socialisation and people time can also be fostered for set periods of time. It’s a great way to test the waters if you’re thinking of adopting, and an excellent way to help if you only have a short period of time available. Thinking of fostering? Give the BHS a call at 323-5138 and speak with Novie or Fiona. Your new temporary best friend is waiting to meet you!

music Get ‘em, Jonny!

By ALESHA CADET Tribune Features Writer acadet@tribunemedia.net

From working on new music to keeping his small business afloat, Rio “Jonny Cake” Johnson has been keeping busy during the pandemic.

He recently released a new song called “Get ‘Em Ricky”, which he describes as an anthem for all rake n’ scrape lovers who have been missing their favourite genre of music during lockdown.

But while he waits for things to go back to normal - being able to perform at live events – he has bills to pay. So he has come up with an idea for a new small business: the “Flavaz” jelly juice brand.

As a new entrepreneur, he is very hands-on. He creates every vat of juice himself. He said it gives him a sense of joy to know he is providing so much happiness to people’s taste buds.

“The inspiration to create ‘Flavaz’ came from my pockets being empty. My back was against the wall and I was searching for a get-rich-quick scheme,” he candidly admitted.

“I always had my own way to create sky juice; it’s all technique. However, I never thought to sell it until I made some at a friend’s party and it was a hit. Everyone kept asking, ‘Where can I get more of this and how much does it cost?’, and that’s when it hit me. The very next day I thought of the business name ‘Flavaz’. I put a price on the drink and then called it jelly juice instead of sky juice to set my business apart from others,” said Rio.

He provides strawberry, chocolate and original flavoured jelly juices. Rio said he and his partner, Dachea Dean, have actually experienced customers place orders two and three times a day.

Rio is enjoying his time as a seller of jelly juices, but his true passion has always been music.

“I have been writing and singing music all my life and have been on the airwaves now since 2012. I have performed for political elections, on news stations and TV shows, locally and internationally,” he said.

“The inspiration to create ‘Flavaz’ came from my pockets being empty. My back was against the wall and I was searching for a get-rich-quick scheme.”

His first hit was called “These Cuttaz Want Bamboo Shack”, a song inspired by Bamboo Shack’s thigh snack and Blue Mystic special - known as the “Cutta Snack” in Bahamian vernacular.

Since then, he has released several singles, including his most recent hit, the “Oonka Woonka Song.”

Rio, like so many, was thrown off course by the COVID-19 pandemic, but he found that - like the saying goes - every cloud has a silver lining. His silver lining came in the form of music producer Chad Young who discovered Rio during lockdown and asked him to provide the vocals for one of his beats.

“The very second I heard it, the lyrics just spewed out. I have a lot more time to think now and develop my craft. I realised that I was doing a lot of unnecessary hanging out and activities that wasted a lot of my time that would have been better put into my career,” said Rio.

While concerts are still prohibited, the digital age we currently live in, he said, has its advantages for musicians, who can continue to release music online even in times of social distancing.

“It may be a while before I get back to large crowds and performances, but digital streams and downloads are now up to an all-time high which, is a great thing,” he said.