Ot­to Car­ring­ton

Se­nior Re­porter

ot­to.car­ring­ton@cnc3.co.tt

Ex­cite­ment buzzed at GML Labs on St Vin­cent Street yes­ter­day, as the fi­nal po­si­tions for the high­ly an­tic­i­pat­ed Ul­ti­mate So­ca Cham­pi­ons show­down were drawn, set­ting the stage for what or­gan­is­ers promised would be an elec­tri­fy­ing event.

They re­mind­ed con­tes­tants of the ho­n­our as­so­ci­at­ed with reach­ing this stage while is­su­ing a firm warn­ing against any last-minute with­drawals.

“This is an in­cred­i­ble op­por­tu­ni­ty to show­case your tal­ent on this plat­form. We will not ac­cept con­tes­tants pulling out mere days be­fore the fi­nal with­out a valid rea­son,” stat­ed com­pe­ti­tion di­rec­tor Jerome “Rome” Pre­cil­la.

Pre­cil­la said any artist who with­drew with­out prop­er jus­ti­fi­ca­tion would be dis­qual­i­fied from par­tic­i­pat­ing in next year’s com­pe­ti­tion.

Con­tes­tants were urged to fi­nalise their com­mit­ment now, and those who were un­cer­tain were en­cour­aged to step aside im­me­di­ate­ly to avoid any penal­ties.

This firm stance fol­lows in­ci­dents dur­ing the semi­fi­nals when sev­er­al artists with­drew at the last minute, leav­ing re­serves un­der­pre­pared.

“We had hun­dreds au­di­tion­ing for this op­por­tu­ni­ty. It’s un­fair to oc­cu­py a spot and then sur­ren­der it on a whim,” Pre­cil­la stressed.

To sup­port their per­for­mances, each fi­nal­ist will re­ceive 20 back­stage pass­es for their team, five park­ing pass­es for es­sen­tial per­son­nel, and 100 com­pli­men­ta­ry tick­ets to help build au­di­ence sup­port.

“This com­pe­ti­tion is root­ed in com­mu­ni­ty spir­it. We aim to re­vive the tra­di­tion of neigh­bour­hoods ral­ly­ing be­hind their favourite artists,” said an event or­gan­is­er.

Fi­nal­ist Heav­en “Snakey” Charles vowed to give his best per­for­mance. “Let the best man win, but I’m bring­ing my A-game,” he de­clared.

The Ul­ti­mate So­ca Cham­pi­ons fi­nale will take place next Thurs­day at the Queen’s Park Sa­van­nah, with re­sults be­ing un­veiled dur­ing a live record­ing on CNC3 on Feb­ru­ary 21.

The win­ner of the Ul­ti­mate Cat­e­go­ry will walk away with a grand prize of $1 mil­lion, while the Youth Cat­e­go­ry cham­pi­on will claim $200,000.

Or­der of per­for­mance for both cat­e­gories:

Youth Cat­e­go­ry:

Paris Coutin

Verse

Su­cre

Kristi­na James

Cristo

Sack­ie

Ul­ti­mate Cat­e­go­ry:

Yung Bred­da

Cas­sel

Snakey

Black Dan

Or­lan­do Oc­tave

Dash

Ding Dong

GI

Ani­ka Berry

Preedy

Nailah Black­man