One of Grenada's better soca artiste, Jerry Baptiste (Papa-Jerry) will on Saturday night launch his 10 track soca album for the 2004 carnival season with a soca showdown and fete at the Crochu Multi-purpose Center at Crochu in St. Andrew's.

In an exclusive interview with GRENADA TODAY on Tuesday , Papa-Jerry said the album named, "The Patriot", will have ten of the best nail-biting lyrical renditions for Carnival 2004.

The songs will focus on the day-to-day social, political and cultural issues that affect the Spice Isle. The show will feature a list of other artistes such as Japs, Inspector, Sheldon Douglas, Chain, Assassination Crew, D-C Ranks, Steve Theodore and Muscles.

Also known as The "Fireman", the soca artiste who entered the soca arena in August 2001 described himself at the type of person who works with a plan and dedicates a lot of his time to the composition of new hits for each coming season.

"My work begins immediately after each carnival is over. I do not believe that I have to wait until the next carnival season is drawing near to begin working on my album. This is not good preparation in my view", he said.

According to Papa-Jerry, his inspiration comes from being "an observer" who feels a sense of responsibility to comment on the many ills in the society. He said that this year one could expect a top quality album with a difference based on his innovative ways of writing.

Some of the tracks in the album were recorded at the Phat Tracks, Mt Zion and Emmanuel Duncan's Studios. Papa-Jerry said he intends to participate in all of the major carnival related competitions this season based on his variety and quality of material.

He also used the opportunity to clear the air on a number of issues that surrounded last year's celebrations when he released his popular hit, "War". The artiste said that "War", was never intended to insight violence but to defend himself when it was discovered that a few people were attempting to slander his name and tarnish his reputation.

Papa-Jerry stated that as an individual he has a responsibility to defend his name and this year will be no exception with his compositions, "War part 2" and "Not guilty" which he hopes will assist him in dealing with the negatives.

The songs in the album are: The Ruler, The Patriot, The Prime Minister, War Part-2, Not Guilty, HIV, Betrayed, My Time Now, No America and Kindness. In a brief overview of the songs, Papa-Jerry said that "The Ruler", speaks about a person who does not understand the difference between leading and ruling which are two different things.

In the case of "The Prime Minister", he indicated that the song is about his own concept of what qualities the person should possess, as well as how that person should execute his duties.

The Patriot is a tribute to Grenadian heroes and how they have been treated over the years. Papa-Jerry also commended the GRENADA TODAY newspaper for always being ready to assist him whenever he makes a request.