Soca superstar Machel Montano is returning to a place he says helped raise him, as more than four decades of music, memories and Caribbean history take centre stage at Brooklyn Public Library (BPL) in New York this month.

Brooklyn Public Library shared that “The Journey of a Soca King: The Exhibition” will open at BPL’s Central Library on August 22, run until September 12 and showcase costumes, trophies, vinyl records and other artefacts documenting Montano’s journey from a seven-year-old performer in Trinidad and Tobago to becoming one of Caribbean music’s most internationally recognized figures.

For Montano, Brooklyn represents much more than the location of another career milestone. He said:

“Brooklyn helped raise me. I lived here, I learned here, and some of my earliest audiences were right in these neighbourhoods.

“So for this work to come back to Brooklyn, in a place that is free and open to anybody who walks through the door, that means everything.”

Montano’s Brooklyn connection stretches back more than 40 years. In 1984, at just nine, he spent time in the borough after being selected for a scholarship to Marie Brooks’ summer programme and participated in workshops that helped shape his development.

He later performed at Madison Square Garden alongside calypso legends including the Mighty Sparrow, Mighty Shadow and Lord Kitchener. By the mid-1990s, Montano and his team were staying on Utica Avenue for periods of time and recorded his first Road March-winning song, “Big Truck”, right there in Brooklyn.

Visitors to the exhibition will be able to explore curated pieces from Montano’s career, listen to selections of his music at Central Library’s vinyl listening station and view pivotal moments from his life and career.

Programming will also extend to BPL branches in Caribbean communities across Brooklyn.

Montano added:

“What moves me most is thinking about a young person walking in, seeing the costumes and the trophies and the records, and understanding that this came from a small island and reached the world…

“I hope every child who visits leaves knowing that their culture deserves that kind of space.”

BPL president and CEO Linda E. Johnson said the exhibition reflects the borough’s strong Caribbean identity. She said:

“Brooklyn is home to one of the largest Caribbean populations outside the Caribbean, and the library is committed to preserving and sharing the stories, histories, and cultural contributions of the communities we serve.”

This one-of-a-kind exhibition follows the 2026 release of Like Ah Boss: Journey of a Soca King. The Like Ah Boss documentary will also be projected onto the façade of Central Library on September 3.

The activation will place Montano’s story on the same imposing Brooklyn landmark that became a canvas for another global music icon just three years ago.

In 2023, lyrics from hip-hop superstar Jay-Z’s catalogue were projected across the exterior of Central Library as part of The Book of HOV, Brooklyn Public Library’s sprawling exhibition celebrating the life and career of the Brooklyn-born rapper and entrepreneur.

Now, BPL turns its cultural lens toward Soca and the Caribbean, using Montano’s remarkable journey from Trinidad and Tobago to the world to explore the music, migration and cultural influence of a community deeply woven into Brooklyn’s identity.

The exhibition draws from Montano’s personal archive, which was inscribed in 2024 on UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register for Latin America and the Caribbean.

“The Caribbean community built a home here,” Montano concluded, “and this exhibition is a way of acknowledging the mark we as a people have made on this city.”