Alot of time has passed since then, many changes, and ultimately, Sunsplash no longer exists. Sumfest managed (indirectly) to take it's place and audience, soon becoming, true to it's word, "the greatest reggae show on earth." Fast forward to Summer 2002 the now world famous concert downsized once again, from four concert nights to three, merging Singers and Conscious night into one. Sources report this a result of dwindling ticket sales experienced by the Sumfest promoters over the years.

Whaddat?com was brought on board as a media sponsor, making us proud to be a part of this highly anticipated concert. Our role was, as Sumfest put it, "to make the link between Sumfest and the young Hip Hop Generation X'ers". You see, in their efforts to raise ticket sales they booked the hottest Rapper around, Ja Rule, and the beautiful R&B singer Ashanti. I wondered how a Rapper could receive top billing on a show that boasted being the Greatest REGGAE show on earth. In the past Sumfest has had International acts from all parts of the world who have achieved great success world wide however I cannot remember them ever receiving as much publicity, so much so, that they actually managed to over shadow the local artists billed to perform. Those local artist for whom Sumfest was actually created for in any case, it being a Reggae Show after all! In any case we were hired to do a job, we were present from the launch, to the promotional functions, to the Pre-Sumfest parties etc... Attending such events as the sound clash on the Tuesday night featuring Mighty Crown, Black Chiney, Jah Creation and Pisces, as the winning sounds. The turnout was good, I honestly was not expecting as many people as I saw, mostly locals from Montego bay and alot of tourists.

One question I was forced to ask myself over and over in my head was what exactly is profanity? You see, Sumfest banned several acts last year as a result of using curse words during performances. But they invited these go go dancers from Guns & Roses, to show us every possible dancehall move imaginable, upside down, head top, legs spread wide in their puni printers and batty riders cut so high they allowed us FULL view of what was going on inside them. I thought it was the most hypocritical act by the Sumfest promoters,and I was not alone as you heard funny but true remarks from the DJ's such as..."dem ban mi from saying the P word, so all ah di man dem dat love vagina put unnu hand inna di air!!!!!" To the crowd's delite who all thought it was funny and quite ridiculous actually, since at the same time they continued playing tunes full of 'ban-worthy' lyrics, not to mention that you had the visuals provided by these hardcore 'dancers' upstairs leaving nothing to the imagination, but I guess that's not profanity. I would really like to know HOW they came up with their definition of the term.

Further more many were confused with the profanity rules, as sumfest banned several acts last year, many of whom were served with summons to appear in court to answer to charges of using indecent language on stage. Ja Rule was one such artist, but managed to escape the summons by leaving Jamaica in time before any authorites could get to him.

I think the whole thing is a waste of precious time that could be spent fighting the REAL crimes in Jamaica, but anyhow, I am just trying to make a point. That is that, though Ja Rule had been accused of using profanity onstage during his perfoemance, he was invited by the very same promoters who upheld the law in the first place. Yet some of our own local artists were not given the same opportunity.

Another question sumfest left me with was, why hasn't Sumfest put as much energy and focus into Dancehall Night as they do for International Night? Is it because Dancehall night is CLEARLY they most popular of all the nights, so they don't have to promote it as much? I think anyone would have thought that International Night would be the biggest night, but in fact, it was Dancehall night that had the greatest turnout. This could have been a result of it's tickets being cheaper than International Night, but I think it went beyond that, as I walked out into the crowd on Dancehall night I could not believe the amount of Tourists I saw and talked to. They were from all over, Japan, America, Europe and as far as South Africa and Australia. I think it's a clear indication that people still come here to hear authentic Jamaican music, not International Acts they can hear on the radio, or see on the TV. Alot of our local artists have never been heard of outside of Jamaica, this is a night to show the world what we have to offer.