Skarpyon is Ragga Soca King for 2011

Shernelle “Skarpyon” Williams is the 2011 Ragga Soca King.

On Friday, June 24, Skarpyon, with his hit song “She Tell Me”, reigned supreme over 14 other hopefuls to be crowned King at Carnival City, Victoria Park.{{more}}

This is the second time Skarpyon has walked away with the Ragga Soca crown, the first time being in 2004, with his song: “On Fire”.

He told SEARCHLIGHT that the feeling of winning the 2011 competition has not yet sunk in.

“I still have more to do. I still have the calypso finals and the Soca Monarch to compete in, so I’m not celebrating as yet; I’m just taking it one step at a time,” Skarpyon disclosed.

Skarpyon first thanked God and then his fans and the patrons who came out to the Victoria Park. He said that he has been receiving ‘tons of telephone calls’ from abroad congratulating him on his win.

It is his hope that persons support Vincy soca artistes more, despite the backlash that has come their way since the start of carnival.

He urged young artistes not to be discouraged when their music is not played on radio stations. “You have to learn to market yourself too. Use Youtube, Facebook and all other media forms where you can get yourself out there,” he urged.

With a well polished performance, Skarpyon, clad in a Samurai outfit, along with his ninja companions, gave a performance worthy of an encore.

Orande ‘Bomani’ Charles with his song, “I ain’t missing” had to settle for the second spot while Lornette ‘Fya Empress’ Nedd rounded off the top three with her groovy tune, ‘Sak Passe’. Both artistes gave stellar performances from start to finish and received huge cheers from the crowd.

Last year’s winner, Delroy ‘Fireman’ Hooper debuted his song, “Any way the rum dey”. He failed to place, as his song was received with mixed reactions from the crowd.

With one of the better songs going into the competition, crowd favourite, Shertz ‘Problem Child’ James, did not do justice to his song, “Stick on”, and had a lackluster performance.

However, the final performer, Gao and perhaps the most anticipated artiste of the night, had the crowd in a frenzy with the song that has been tearing up the airwaves, “Who Jump the Sheep”. With a look-a-like stuffed sheep on stage, many at the Park may have received the answer to what Gao is asking. However, Gao did not place, much to the crowd’s dismay.

Guest artistes on the night, Busy Signal and Skinny Fabulous were definitely crowd pleasers. They performed the song “Rave out” along with a string of other hits from their large musical repertoire.

The other competitors were: Daria Primus, Dennis Bowman, Johnny Rebel, Lawyer Boy, Poorsah, Danielle Veira, Madzaart, Charles ‘Colombian” Villareal and Ellegance.

This is the second competition Skarpyon has won for the season. On Saturday, May 7, he placed first in the Ragga Soca category of the Best New Song competition, held at the launch of Vincy Mas 2011.