Left: Ricky Trooper (second left) of Sound Trooper along with the Guinness ladies and members of the sound system with the winners' cheque in Marlie Mount, St Catherine, on Saturday night. Sound Trooper defeated Blacc Widdo in the first semi-final of the Guinness Sounds of Greatness competition. Right: The Bass Odyssey crew with the Guinness ladies after collecting their winners' cheque for beating Bredda Hype in the Guinness Sounds of Greatness semi-final, held in Marlie Mount, St Catherine, on saturday night. - photos by Mel Cooke

First there were 16 sound systems and after many a dub plate, thunderous forwards and resounding boos, two of the towering names in sound-system clash culture will tangle in the Guinness Sounds of Greatness finals on January 9 at Mas Camp, New Kingston.

On Saturday night Sound Trooper decimated Blacc Widdo, despite overwhelming partisan support for the eventual loser, and Bass Odyssey beat a valiant Bredda Hype in back-to-back semi-finals in Marlie Mount, St Catherine.

It was the end of good runs for Blacc Widdo and Bredda Hype, relatively lesser-known clash sounds, after much bigger names such as Black Kat, Black Scorpio and Danger Zone had fallen by the wayside.

A large crowd turned out for the clashes on an uncharacteristically rainy night in Kingston and St Catherine, the flurry of dub plates and selectors' jibes uninterrupted by the weather as a sole brief shower caused only a shift in the crowd. A large proportion of that crowd turned out specifically to support Blacc Widdo, as when MC Johnny Handsome canvassed the crowd before the clash started there were cheers for Widdo and boos for Sound Trooper.

Paid respects

But Trooper was more than equal to the task, going first in the opening juggling round, taking it to the Blacc Widdo supporters from the get go. He paid them respects for supporting their sound, but made it clear that "dem a go dead!"

The exchange of 45s was the start of Trooper's clear dominance and he declared that "a widow is a woman who har man dead lef har. So a tree gal ova desso". They exchanged Bounty Killer tracks, but by the time they played Courtney Melody's Dangerous Widdo was on the decline, Trooper responding with Junior Murvin's advice to "cool out son".

Widdo got successive boos, including for Yakkety Yak, while there were rounds of forwards for Trooper, including when he pointed at his opponents and Bogle chanted "all dem deh, whe dem deh did deh?"

"Oonu tree eediat. A big league oonu come," he said, naming the late Squingy from Bass Odyssey, Tony Matterhorn and Fire Links among the few persons who can stand up against him in the business of killing sound systems.

Bloody round

If it had been a boxing match, the referee would have called a halt to the dub for dub. Blacc Widdo did not have a prayer and was battered again and again and again in a brutal, bloody round.

Judges Squeeze and DJ Al turned in a scorecard of 350 points for Sound Trooper and 261 for Blacc Widdo. In the overall score, their assessment accounts for 30 per cent and the crowd for 70 per cent.

The score in the second clash, Bass Odyssey 338 and Bredda Hype 314, showed that it was a much closer affair. Bass Odyssey literally gave away the first round, openly rejecting the format of the contest which called for juggling party style and going for clash tunes. The fun Bredda Hype hit the nail on the head repeatedly with his songs and speeches.

His downfall came in the tune-for-tune round, after they went toe to toe with Bounty Killer tunes. When Bounty Killer announced "Bounty Killer pon the borderline" for Bredda Hype the crowd immediately recognised that it had been played before and booed. Bass Odyssey, with Damian up front, responded with Bushman intoning "call the hearse, for the body's getting stink" and the crowd whooped. When Hype tried to explain that it was a "little misunderstanding" he was booed again. He did make up ground in the round with Buju chanting "me an oonu, me an oonu", but the error cost him dearly.

And in the dub-for-dub round, Odyssey played a dub plate which hit hard by making references to the activities of certain female artistes. Bredda Hype was clapped away for a Silvertones and the two sound systems tussled over who played the bigger tunes, Hype's Toots numbers running second to Bass odyssey's Beres dubs.