Today in Trinidad and Tobago, voters are going to the polls.

They're electing a new prime minister and parliament.

You may hear "election in Trinidad" and think -- politics in paradise, how will that have any impact on the US?

Well, consider this: Trinidad supplies 75 percent of America's liquid natural gas.

That's what we get from Trinidad.

And in Trinidad, America's presence comes in many forms.

Trinidadian rap began fairly independently of American hip-hop and rap.

In Trinidad, it's called rapso.

Roberts: "Yeah, it was that, rap and the soul, and the soca, rap and the soul, so that's where they got rapso from."

That's singer Roger Roberts of the Trinidadian rapso trio 3Canal.

From left to right: Roger Roberts, Stanton Kewlie, and Wendell Manwarren

They're part of the new generation of socially-aware rapso singers in Trinidad.

The man who invented rapso was Lancelot Layne.

He recorded his big hits in the 60s and 70s.

Roger Roberts remembers his mom saying that Lancelot Layne made stupid music.

But for Roger, Lancelot Layne's sound and words were a huge influence.

Roberts: "One of the first songs he had on the radio was "Get Off the Radio." which was literally saying 'get all these American things off the radio because it's having a negative impact on us as a people.' You know, we starting to think like Americans, and starting to consume too much of America. So it was from that slant. And that just blew my mind, but my mother said 'That's stupidness, that's stupid music."

That didn't deter Roger Roberts.

Later on in his teens along with two like-minded musician friends, Wendell Manwarren and Stanton Kewlie, they would form the band 3Canal.

That's 3canal doing an a cappella version of one of their current hits, "Talk Yuh Talk."

Singer Wendell Manwarren says these kind of lyrics have put the candidates in Trinidad's election today on alert: don't make promises you won't keep.

Manwarren: "We hear what you're saying, and we're going to challenge you. I check your lyrics, and I come for test ya. Far too long you've been foolin' the children. And the second verse talks about you keep feeding your ego, and creating impressions. But judgement come. One day judgement will come. A bomb will drop, you know, so run your run."

In the leadup to today's election, it's not been uncommon for Trinidadians to see the members of 3canal in the streets of Port of Spain, the capital...

And singer Stanton Kewlie says those fans will shout out at them...

Kewlie: "Heeey, talk your talk! Who you voting for?" Because these songs are so relevant, it's what the people say, these songs are exactly what the people say, they're tired, they're fed up, they need change, they want change."

Trinidadians first of all want change in crime.

The murder rate has been spiralling under the government of Prime Minister Patrick Manning.

He's widely expected to win re-election today.

Many Trinidadians also want to know how their wealth is going to be more equitably distributed.

The US is dependent on Trinidad for liquid natural gas.

Trinidad is also just off the coast of Venezuela and shares some of the oil bounty that has made Venezuela rich.

And Roger Roberts of 3canal believes the outcome of today's vote could have a lot to do with the links between Trinidad's politicians and US oil companies.

Roberts: "They have major interests in Trinidad and Tobago, and it's very difficult for our politics to rise above America to say stop or to even say we want to chart our own course, because we literally have to fight America."

Such are the kind of things 3canal sings about in their music.

Rapso is a party music.

And oil companies and Trinidad's politicians might not heed the alarm in party music.

But as Wendell Manwarren of 3Canal says, they ought to recall the origins of rapso: the emancipation of Trinidadian slaves in the early 1800s.

Manwarren: "That moment when the Africans took to the streets with their torches and their drums and said "I am," and made a noise and a shriek that sent the white people back into their houses. And they've been trying to suppress it ever since. That's where we come from. But of course, the spoonful of sugar to make the medicine go down is necessary you know, the little bounce, the little swing. And that's like in Talk Yuh Talk, (sings), it's a counterpoint, you have to go (growls and sings) and you're smiling. Yeah."

The music of Trinidadian rapso band 3Canal brings this edition of the program to a close.

From the Nan and Bill Harris Studios at WGBH, I'm Marco Werman.