Reggae or Soca? Inside The Ultimate Reggae vs Soca NY 2014

Pick a side.

That was the energy behind The Ultimate Reggae vs Soca in New York on Friday, May 16, 2014, a Caribbean party built around one argument that could keep a whole room talking all night: which music brings the bigger vibes, Reggae and Dancehall or Soca?

Julianspromos was inside for the 2014 edition, capturing a night where the battle was less about declaring one genre the permanent winner and more about watching both sides push the party higher. Reggae and Dancehall brought the bass, anthems and sing-alongs. Soca answered with flags, waistlines and Carnival energy.

The result was exactly what the event name promised: two massive sides of Caribbean music competing for control of one New York dance floor.

Two Sounds, One Caribbean Crowd

A Reggae versus Soca party works because choosing between the two is almost impossible.

One minute the room can be locked into a Dancehall record, everybody singing the lyrics.

Then the Soca side gets its turn and suddenly flags are in the air and standing still is no longer an option.

That back-and-forth gave The Ultimate Reggae vs Soca its personality.

Rather than building the night around one artist or a traditional concert lineup, the music itself became the attraction. Every transition offered another chance for one side to answer the other.

For a New York Caribbean crowd filled with people whose playlists already crossed Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, St. Vincent, Grenada and the wider region, the format almost guaranteed an argument.

A fun one.

2014 Was a Serious Year for Both Sides

The timing made the concept even better.

Soca was coming directly out of a huge Trinidad Carnival 2014 season.

Machel Montano had “Ministry of Road,” which won both the Power Soca Monarch title and Road March. Kerwin Du Bois had taken Groovy Soca Monarch with “Too Real,” while Farmer Nappy’s “Big People Party” had become one of the season’s biggest Groovy records.

New York Soca crowds had plenty of ammunition.

But Reggae and Dancehall were not coming quietly either.

The period was filled with records from established Jamaican stars while a newer generation was becoming increasingly important internationally. Kranium’s “Nobody Has to Know,” originally released in 2013, was gaining the traction that would eventually help take the New York-based Jamaican artist into the mainstream, while artists such as Popcaan were helping shape the next phase of Dancehall.

It gave a Reggae vs Soca party in May 2014 plenty to work with.

The Fun Was in Switching Sides

Of course, Caribbean people are not exactly known for staying loyal to one side of the dance floor when a good tune drops.

Someone could spend ten minutes defending Reggae, hear the right Soca song and immediately start waving.

A Soca supporter could be carrying on about Carnival until the selector dropped the right Dancehall classic.

Then everybody suddenly forgot there was supposed to be a competition.

That tension was part of the entertainment.

The Ultimate Reggae vs Soca created a theme people instantly understood without needing a complicated party concept.

Team Reggae.

Team Soca.

And somewhere in the middle, plenty of people pretending they had chosen a side.

A Party Concept That Kept Growing

The 2014 Julianspromos footage also captures the event during the earlier years of a concept that would continue well beyond that night.

By 2019, The Ultimate Reggae vs Soca was still active in New York, taking over the Hornblower Infiniti Yacht at Pier 40. That edition formally divided the music into Team Reggae, featuring Massive B, Steelie Bashment and DJ Mad Out, and Team Soca, featuring Platinum Sounds, Freeze International and Infrared Sounds.

The event eventually expanded beyond New York as well.

In 2023, an Ultimate Reggae vs Soca edition during Miami Carnival was promoted as a celebration of 10 years of vibes, showing how the format had grown into a long-running Caribbean party brand.

That later history makes the surviving May 2014 footage more interesting today.

Julianspromos was documenting the event near the beginning of a run that would continue for roughly another decade.

Julianspromos Captures the Battle

The surviving Julianspromos highlights put the focus where it belongs: inside the party.

There was no need for a complicated storyline.

The storyline was the crowd.

Every time the music changed sides, the energy changed with it.

For Julianspromos, the event also fit naturally into the type of Caribbean nightlife coverage the platform was building during 2014. Alongside concerts, artist interviews, Carnival events, boat rides and fetes, parties like Ultimate Reggae vs Soca captured something equally important: the nightlife culture that kept Caribbean music moving through New York every weekend.

The footage was shot and edited by Julian C. Hackett.

Looking Back

More than a decade later, the question still works.

Reggae or Soca?

Ask a room full of Caribbean music lovers and you might start an argument before you finish the sentence.

That was the beauty of The Ultimate Reggae vs Soca NY 2014.

It took two sounds deeply connected to Caribbean nightlife, put them head-to-head and let the crowd decide which one controlled the moment.

And judging by the fact that the party concept continued for years afterward, there was really only one winner:

the vibes.