Ethnomusicology Lecture: Jessica Baker, University of Chicago

Speed Meets Speed: IShowSpeed's Musical Encounters in the Caribbean

In spring 2026, Darren Watkins, the 21-year-old streamer known as IShowSpeed, livestreamed his way through fifteen Caribbean countries in under a month, backflipping, racing, eating, and musicking at the pace of a speedrun, the gaming genre built on completing a game as quickly as possible. In Island Time (2024), I argued that in the small-island Eastern Caribbean, speed is how change registers, as a felt shock. Watkins, whose brand is that he never tires, offered the region a mirror of its own speedy aesthetics, while locals in the chat and on the road commented and guided in real time. For all the polish of the corporate-sponsored tour, some encounters felt more frictional than others, often because of mishearings on both sides of the camera. Listening to these moments, especially musical ones, I ask how speed and "irl streaming" (fast tempos, surface engagements, misrecognitions) produce the feeling of a shared moment, often without shared meaning. What can Caribbean music, as its island hosts presented it, and a Black body branded as tireless tell us about encounters that are brief, loud, and widely broadcast?

This event is free and open to the public. All are welcome.