Montano’s popularity exploded in recent years through high-profile collaborations with Ashanti, Davido, Pitbull, Ne-Yo, Wyclef Jean and the Trinidad-born rapper Nicki Minaj, as well as a feature alongside Ariana Grande on the remix of Major Lazer’s “All My Love.” Fueling his global rise was a steady stream of adrenaline-pumping Carnival anthems and electrifying live shows, yielding an unmatched record of titles including seven Soca Monarch wins, a Calypso Monarch crown, and a record 12 Road March victories, one of the highest honors in soca music.
His Road March streak began in 1997 with “Big Truck” — a track written, recorded and produced in Brooklyn. For a year, Montano and his band, Xtatik, lived on Utica Avenue, where they worked to modernize soca for their generation by accelerating its tempo and subtly fusing it with elements of dancehall, hip-hop and electronic music.
Montano secured his 12th Road March triumph earlier this year with “Encore,” a kinetic tune that matches Carnival’s euphoria, besting the record established by Lord Kitchener in 1976.
“I was a bit leery about trying to surpass Kitchener, the quintessential calypsonian,” Montano said. “But when you get that close to a milestone, you don’t turn back. You put everything you have into it.”
Over two headlining sets at Central Park’s SummerStage earlier this month, Montano performed “Encore,” but made sure to incorporate nods to his adopted home away from home. He fused the song with elements of Alicia Keys’s “Empire State of Mind (Part II) Broken Down” and Frank Sinatra’s “Theme From New York, New York” — and flipped the climactic lyric to, “If I can make it here, you can make it anywhere.”
Behind him, a large screen displayed a four-minute visual montage, combining archival footage of his New York performances over the decades, Brooklyn Caribbean landmarks and New York triumphs including the Knicks’ recent N.B.A. championship. “It felt like the right moment to tie everything together,” Montano said, “and highlight the significant synergy between myself and New York City.”
