Elevation: The Ultimate Day Party – Washington, DC & DMV | 2014–2015
During 2014 and 2015, Elevation “The Ultimate Day Party” became part of the Julianspromos event archive through two editions presented by Full Stop Entertainment in the Washington, DC metropolitan area.
Across the two years, Elevation featured major Soca artists including Kes The Band, Destra Garcia, Shal Marshall, Skinny Fabulous and Yankey Boy, alongside DJs from across the Caribbean and North American Soca scene.
Julianspromos documented both editions, preserving footage from a period when Caribbean event culture was continuing to expand throughout Washington, DC, Maryland and the wider DMV.
Elevation 2014 – Kes The Band & Yankey Boy
On Saturday, November 22, 2014, Elevation was held at Look Lounge in Washington, DC, presented by Full Stop Entertainment.
The daytime event featured live appearances from Kes The Band and Yankey Boy, with music from DJ Majestic, DJ Bimshire and Sounds4Life.
Julian Hackett and Intrigue Lane represented Julianspromos at the event, capturing highlights from another stop in the platform’s growing Caribbean entertainment coverage.
Kes The Band Live in Washington, DC
Kes The Band was one of the major attractions of the 2014 edition.
By this period, Kes had become one of the leading acts carrying Trinidad and Tobago Soca to international audiences, with a growing catalogue and an expanding touring presence outside of Carnival.
Their Elevation appearance brought a live-performance component to an event centered around the Caribbean day-party experience.
Yankey Boy was also featured, adding another live performance to the event’s lineup.
The surviving Julianspromos footage preserves another piece of Kes The Band’s performance history in the United States during this era.
The Sound of Elevation 2014
Music throughout the event was handled by DJ Majestic, DJ Bimshire and Sounds4Life.
The DJs helped carry the atmosphere between live performances, providing the Soca and Caribbean soundtrack that shaped the event at Look Lounge.
For Julianspromos, documenting DJs alongside artists and promoters was part of capturing the full Caribbean entertainment experience rather than focusing only on the performers appearing on stage.
Elevation 2015 – Destra Garcia & Friends
Elevation returned the following year on Saturday, November 21, 2015, this time at Cococabana in Hyattsville, Maryland.
The 2015 edition featured Destra Garcia, Shal Marshall and Skinny Fabulous, giving the event a strong regional Soca lineup representing Trinidad and Tobago and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
The surviving Julianspromos footage from the 2015 event is credited to Intrigue Lane, preserving another chapter of Elevation and Caribbean entertainment in the DMV.
Destra Garcia Headlines Elevation
At the center of the 2015 edition was Destra Garcia, one of Soca’s most established and internationally recognized female artists.
Known for her high-energy stage presence and extensive catalogue, Destra brought her live performance to the Elevation stage during a period when she remained one of the most in-demand artists on the global Soca circuit.
Her appearance gave Washington-area Soca audiences another opportunity to experience one of Trinidad and Tobago’s leading performers outside of the traditional Carnival season.
Shal Marshall and Skinny Fabulous
Destra was joined by Shal Marshall and Skinny Fabulous.
Shal Marshall brought material from his growing Soca catalogue, while Skinny Fabulous added the explosive performance energy that had established him as one of St. Vincent and the Grenadines’ leading Soca exports.
Together, the lineup reflected the increasingly regional nature of Soca events in North America, where artists from across the Caribbean were regularly sharing the same stage.
DJs From Across the Caribbean Diaspora
The 2015 edition also featured DJs including Dr. Jay, Barrie Hype, DJ Back to Basics and Tony X.
Their involvement connected Elevation with several major Caribbean entertainment markets, including Toronto, New York, Miami and Trinidad.
The combination of live artists and internationally recognized DJs helped Elevation function as more than a traditional concert. It remained rooted in the fete experience, with continuous music surrounding the live performances throughout the night.
Full Stop Entertainment and the Elevation Brand
Both the 2014 and 2015 editions were presented by Full Stop Entertainment.
Across the two years, Elevation developed into a recognizable Soca event within the Washington, DC and DMV Caribbean entertainment scene.
The 2015 edition expanded further into an Elevation DMV Weekend, with multiple events surrounding the main Saturday-night fete.
This type of format helped create a destination experience for Soca audiences during a period of the year outside the major North American Carnival weekends.
Julianspromos in the DMV
The Elevation coverage also reflects the continued expansion of Julianspromos during the mid-2010s.
By 2014 and 2015, Julianspromos had moved well beyond its earliest interviews and promotional work and was increasingly documenting Caribbean entertainment across multiple cities.
Washington, DC and the surrounding DMV became part of that growing archive.
The platform captured not only major artists, but also DJs, promoters, venues and audiences, preserving a broader picture of how Caribbean entertainment was developing across the United States.
The 2014 coverage featured Julian Hackett and Intrigue Lane, while the surviving 2015 footage is credited to Intrigue Lane.
Two Years of Elevation History
Viewed together, the 2014 and 2015 Elevation videos provide a stronger historical picture than either event does alone.
The 2014 edition captures Kes The Band and Yankey Boy at Look Lounge in Washington, DC.
One year later, the 2015 edition documents Destra Garcia, Shal Marshall and Skinny Fabulous at Cococabana in Maryland.
The change in venue and lineup shows the evolution of the event while preserving the same central idea: bringing major Soca artists, DJs and Caribbean audiences together in the DMV.
More than a decade later, the footage now functions as a record of a particular period in North American Soca culture.
Part of an Expanding Multimedia Era
The Elevation years came during an important stage in the development of Julianspromos.
What had started with online music promotion and early artist interviews had grown into a wider multimedia platform covering performances, parties, festivals, interviews and Caribbean entertainment across multiple markets.
The footage from Elevation captures that expansion in real time.
Events like these helped build the visual archive that would eventually document more than a decade of Caribbean entertainment history.
From the Julianspromos Archives
Elevation: The Ultimate Day Party – Washington, DC & DMV | 2014–2015 is preserved as part of the Julianspromos Archives, documenting Caribbean music, artists, promoters, DJs and entertainment culture across more than a decade of original media coverage.
The 2014 edition at Look Lounge featured Kes The Band and Yankey Boy, with music from DJ Majestic, DJ Bimshire and Sounds4Life, and coverage by Julian Hackett and Intrigue Lane.
The 2015 edition at Cococabana featured Destra Garcia, Shal Marshall and Skinny Fabulous, with DJs including Dr. Jay, Barrie Hype, DJ Back to Basics and Tony X, and surviving Julianspromos footage credited to Intrigue Lane.
Together, the two videos preserve the story of Elevation during a period when Soca events were continuing to grow throughout Washington, DC, Maryland and the wider Caribbean diaspora.
