Kandré McDonald, Freelance Writer

The fashionable set, including this hottie, made their presence felt at the event.

It was all about flossing and jeering at Jagga B's Dancehall Biggest Giveaway session at Arizon Inn, Port Henderson Road, Portmore, last Saturday night.

Actually the partying did not really start until about 3:30 Sunday morning as the crowd came out late, but arrived in their numbers to make the event a success for yet another year.

When The Gleaner team arrived at the venue at 1:30 a.m., it was like a ghost town with only a few attendants making final preparations and the jerk chicken vendors arriving to capture the best spots. When we returned at 3:30 a.m. there was a total transformation on what is dubbed 'the Back Road', with cars lining the street in all directions and patrons standing in lines that stretched for several metres.

Once on the inside it became obvious what the party was all about. There was the advert that branded the dancehall session as a big giveaway event. However, that was not the central focus. The patrons were out to make fashion statements while showing off to the mass their spending power.

Some of the biggest brand name clothes were being worn including designs by Gucci, Armani, Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior and Guess. The patrons were not merely attired in brand name clothing but some of the latest and flashiest. This trendy fashion was complemented by patrons drinking Hennessy, Alizé, Hypnotiq and other expensive liqueurs. It was at the end of the party that it became obvious as to how much the patrons had drunk. Lots of Hennessy and Alizé bottles lined the floor in the VIP area.

On the musical selection and performance side of things, the party did well. The sound system segment did not run as smoothly as Portmore's own MC Nuffy intended. It was not that the disc jocks were not organised, but too many persons wanted to play Nuffy's role.

Money giveaway

There was the constant bombardment of the microphone between stints and even sometimes in between as persons tried to orchestrate the money giveaway segment, a job that was initially reserved for Nuffy. There was also the case of persons trying to big up almost everyone they knew.

However, whenever the selectors got a chance to juggle they did not disappoint. The Stone Love crew started the ball rolling on a high note with some well received selections from Beres Hammond, Marcia Griffiths, and Buju Banton. They also grooved the ladies with Mikey Spice before handing over to the Afrique Sound system at 4:30 a.m.

With daylight fast approaching, each selector was given 30 minutes to express themselves musically. However, this was soon cut to 20 minutes when they calculated the number of selectors left to play and the fact that live performances were not factored in.

Afrique gave a splendid showing with selector Super Claude accentuating their set with some soothing love songs that connected well with the ladies. Hotta Ball came on and 'burn' a fire that ignited the entire venue.

The last drop

After some extended giveaways that saw persons getting and/or being promised money in excess of $100,000, Rebel T finally got a chance behind the turntables. It was now 6:45 a.m. and the crowd was not going anywhere as they jammed to Papa San's I Will Survive.

Many more interesting happenings took place, including Bounty's jab at Beenie who was in the VIP area laughing and dancing during the attack. There was also Sky Juice's set which was interrupted to facilitate Bounty's performance and Matterhorn's set that closed the show shortly after 8 a.m.

When The Gleaner exited the venue at 8:05 Sunday morning, lots of money had been given away, many patrons were leaving and still a few others stayed behind to get the very last drop of Tony Matterhorn's extreme sexual commentary.

The hotties came out to party and pose at Jagga B's Dancehall Biggest Giveaway.

Modelling a gwaan: These women got the attention of the cameraman at Jagga B's Dancehall Biggest Giveaway 2008, held at Arizon Inn, Port Henderson Road, on Saturday, January 5.- photos by Nathaniel Stewart/Freelance Photographer