Just because we name Trini Jungle Juice doesn't mean we don't love we Reggae & Dancehall music. So when we hear Irish & Chin's World Clash in Canada, we had to be there! We arrived on the scene around midnight, but due to a mix up with the promoters TJJ crew had some drama to deal with. But to make a long story short, big respect to promoters Ron Nelson & Neil Forrester for understanding the trials and tribulations we media folks go through, and for getting us on the inside.

Since the clash was already on it's way when we got inside, we will let Flair Lindsey (www.irishandchin.com) tell you how the night went down... round by round, blow by blow. Who else can give you a better review than the World Clash experts themselves! This was the line up on the night...

Dessert Storm (Canada)	Lexxus Supreme (Canada)	One Love (Italy)	Bass Odyssey (Jamaica)	Mighty Crown (Japan)	Black Kat (Jamaica)

Black Kat Wins World Clash Canada
www.irishandchin.com

Irish and Chin’s popular World Clash series of events traveled to Toronto, Canada for World Clash Canada. The event was presented by Neil Forrester of Substance Entertainment and Ron Nelson (a popular reggae disc jockey in Toronto). This marked the first time that an International sound clash of such magnitude took place on Canadian soil.

Unlike any other sound system based event, World Clash Canada was staged at Kool Haus in the middle of downtown Toronto, one of the city’s most expensive areas. Surprisingly, clash fans arrived as early as 9:30 pm hoping to secure a good spot in what would later be a ram venue. World Clash Canada featured Dessert Storm, Lexxus Supreme, Mighty Crown, One Love, Bass Odyssey and Black Kat.

The event was opened by Rebel Tone, the only Canadian sound bearing a U.S. World Clash Title (2002). After greeting the sounds with words of encouragement, Rebel Tone had the sound systems pick numbers to determine their playing order.

World Clash Canada was kicked off with performance was kicked off with performances by the Canadian sounds. Dessert Storm gave a splendid performance, which chock full of energy and strong selections. Meanwhile, Lexxus Supreme had a lukewarm opener. They earned a few good forwards. However, their round lacked consistency. Mighty Crown performed an excellent opening round, seizing forwards from beginning to end. One Love struggled to impress the audience. They played popular selections. However, there was no chemistry between One Love and the audience. Bass Odyssey, played by Damion and Worm, had a good opening round. At first, the audience was disappointed that Squingy was not present. But Worm eventually won the audience over. Worm urged the audience to give him a chance, informing the crowd that it is important for the development of new selectors, referring to him self. The “War Tanker” Black Kat closed the first round with a good performance, which included strong speeches and a great display of crowd control. At the end of the first round, Mighty Crown was declared the winner by popular vote.

In the second round, Dessert Storm continued to do well. Dessert Storm’s movement, hype and dub plate artillery governed their performance in the second round. Lexxus Supreme managed to capture a decent amount of forwards. However, the MC lacked argument. The “Far East Rulers” Mighty Crown continued to exhibit excellent strategy. They didn’t waste much time by talking. Rather, they played tune after tune, capturing forwards consistently. At this point, thing already looked shaky for One Love. They failed to capture substantial forwards throughout this round. Bass Odyssey’s vibe with the audience started to improve tremendously. By this time, the audience accepted Worm for who he was, enabling him to be himself. He gave praised to Squingy, Bass Odyssey’s team captain. He informed the audience that the name Bass Odyssey speaks for itself regardless of who is playing. Black Kat continued to make their presence known in the dance. At the closing of the second round, Mighty Crown was again declared the winner. And One Love was eliminated by popular vote.

As 3:30 am struck, the remaining sounds entered into the most difficult round of the competition. In the third round, the use of dj tunes were strictly prohibited. All sound systems were required to play a ten minute round of strictly vocal artists. Dessert kicked off with a decent performance. Lexxus Supreme failed to impress the audience during this round. Bass Odyssey’s vocal round was less than average. Mighty Crown again thrilled the audience from beginning to end, receiving consistent forwards. It appeared that after this round Mighty Crown would be declared the winner, which would have resulted in them winning 3-out-of-5 rounds. This would have brought the event to an abrupt ending. The situation dramatically changed as Black Kat entered the stage and addressed the audience advising them that if Mighty Crown wins the third round, the clash would be over. He insinuated that the audience would be partially entertained. Black Kat’s strategy proved to be extremely effective. Black Kat played less than the average amount of dubplates during the third round. Yet, each dubplate that he played was effective. Black Kat made up for their lack of selections by engaging in conversations with the audience. The 4x World Clash champion was well aware that his only competition for the night was Mighty Crown. Black Kat was well aware that Mighty Crown’s strength lied in a catalogue of international Hip Hop tunes. These hip hop dubplates are typically the climax of Mighty Crown’s performance and serve to be lethal to their competitors. Black Kat simply told the audience that Mighty Crown’s Hip Hop dubplates were fake and that dancehall sounds should be promoting Reggae. Clash fans brought in to Black Kat’s argument. And despite Mighty Crown’s solid round, the “The War Tanker” was crowned the winner of the third round by a landslide vote from the audience. Bass Odyssey and Lexxus Supreme were eliminated.

The tension escalated, as Black Kat, Mighty Crown and Dessert Storm entered an unanticipated fourth round. Despite a decent fourth round, the crowd’s interest in Dessert Storm declined. Mighty Crown took up Black Kat’s challenge, deciding that would indeed brandish their Hip Hop segment. Their actions were a huge a mistake. Unbelievably, Mighty Crown’s powerful international selections were greeted with boos. The audience sided with Black Kat and would not accept Mighty Crown’s Hip Hop dubplates. Mighty Crown’s downfall was the climax of Black Kat’s performance. As Black Kat took the stage, they began to boast about how predictable Mighty Crown was. Black Kat used experience and speech to seize the fourth round. The score was now tied, 2-to-2 and a “tune-fi-tune” face off was necessary. With no rounds under their belt, Dessert Storm was congratulated for properly representing Canada and then eliminated.

The audience called for a best of 11 dubplate shootout, which started with Mighty Crown. They drew decent selections. But by this time, the audience was 100% in favor of Black Kat. After Mighty Crown and Black Kat played six tunes each, Black Kat was declared the winner of World Clash Canada. Black Kat defeated Mighty Crown 6-to-0 in the “tune-fi-tune” face off. To date, Black Kat is the bearer of five World Clash titles which included the recent World Clash Canada victory. The “Far East Rulers” are currently the champions of the U.K. Cup Clash (World Clash England) and World Clash Antigua. These two sounds will meet again at Irish and Chin’s most reputable sound clash, World Clash U.S.

Flair Lindsey
www.irishandchin.com

There you have it folks, Black Kat is now 5X World Clash Champion! Some of the highlights on the night for TJJ were...

- Seeing Chin give that smirk or smile when he knew the dub plate played by a particular sound was BIG & SERIOUS!
- The energy and hype of Bass Odyssey and Mighty Crown MCs as they climbed on top of the speakers to talk to the crowd
- Black Kat's hilarious arguments throughout the night... not to mention almost gettin' lick down when tryin' to tek a photo!
- Understanding why Black Kat is d'original "War Tanker" when he stopped one of Mighty Crown's dubs and grabbed the mic in the "tune-fi-tune" round.... talking about, "de tune already play for the night and this is a war, and a little roughness is necessary..."