BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - DESPITE the intermittent showers patrons braved the weather, all in the name of fun and entertainment, at the annual SKNVibes and Appleton Knockshore Night and left the venue fulfilled from the local performances and that of the headline act, popular Jamaican dancehall artiste Jah Vinci.
The event was held last night (Mar. 30) at the Sandy Point Hard Court.
Seemingly prepared for the showers, the organisers had erected a number of tents and they had most certainly proven to be a counter to the weather, but not for all the patrons as some of them were drenched.
The rain started falling early in the evening and it was rumoured that the event would have been postponed. However, an impressive crowd was in attendance and many of them were seen dancing and swaying to the music in the drizzle.
The night got off to a good start shortly after 10:00 p.m. with DJ Flames, who warmed up the ‘early bird’ patrons with a variety of musical selections including Reggae, Hip Hop, Dancehall and R&B.
He, DJ Flames, was name Referee for the DJ Clash segment of the event while Ubal and Lapsey of Heineken Evolution Sound were the Judges.
But the competition was sparked with a bit of controversy which caused people to wonder whether some DJs were getting personal with each other.
However, all of the participating DJs shook hands to let the patrons know that it was just friendly rivalry.
The competition was of four rounds: Old School; Reggae and Lovers Rock; Soca and Local; and Freestyle (anything goes in round four).
The Sounds, which each saw a team of an announcer and selector, except for DJ Dangles who was both announcer and selector, were judged on Crowd Reaction, Song Choice and Mixing Ability with five minutes on the clock for each round.
The competitors were asked to keep the competition clean, which include no personal and no swear words.
Members of the audience rooted for and screamed when the songs played by their favourite competitor, while the crowd generally responded to the songs they loved the most played by either of the two in both DJ Clashes - SP versus SK with and DJ Dangles and Xtacy representing SP, and DJ Sixaklak representing SP and Unstoppable Chalice representing SK.
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE DJ CLASH
Round 1 – Dangles vs. Xtacy
Tunes played by Dangles included ‘Sim Simma’ by Beenie Man, and Xtacy did jams like ‘Murder She Wrote’ by Chaka Demus and Pliers and ‘Rallyback’ by Supercat.
Round 2
Dangles dished out songs like ‘Crazy Baldhead’ by Bob Marley and ‘Destiny’ by Buju Banton while Xtacy ran with ‘Black Woman and Child’ and ‘Solid As A Rock’ by Sizzla.
Round 3
Dangles played ‘Hollywood’ by Grand Master , ‘Oxygen’ by Nu Vybes Band International and ‘Ride Up’ by Kollision Band while Xtacy played tunes such as ‘Crazy’ by Nu Vybes Band International, ‘Wine and Push it Back’ by Ultra Sonics Band and ‘Wotless’ by Kes.
Round 4
Dangles hit out with ‘Remedy’ by Jah Vinci and ‘Badmind Fi The Year’ by I Octane.
When his turn came, DJ Woodis criticised Dangles for playing songs from an artiste who was going to be featured on the show that night.
“Jah Vinci dey tonight and you a play Jah Vinci”, expressed DJ Woodis.
“This is how you start the juggling”, he added, while ‘Affairs of The Heart’ By Damien Marley was instead selected.
Following that round the Kollision Band kept the audience rocking and grooving six minutes shy of one hour (12:35 a.m. to 1:29 a.m.) with hits like ‘Hustle’ and ‘Big Shake’.
During the second DJ Clash segment, in Round Three, the audience went wild as Unstoppable Chalice and Sixaklak played the popular tunes like ‘White Sheet’ by Nicha B and ‘Sandy Point’ by C-Money, respectively.
From about 2:17 a.m. to 3:23 a.m., music lovers and fans of the Nu Vybes Band International (De Sugar Band) got a good ‘sweat out’ and made good of the opportunity to jam and bounce hard to tunes like ‘Oxygen’ as well as renditions like ‘Differentology’ by Bunji Garlin and ‘Grenade’ by Bruno Mars.
Following the ‘Sugar Band’ jam session, points of the DJ Clash were announced with Dangles scoring 164 and Xtacy 175.5, while Sixaklak chalked up 184 and Unstoppable Chalice 201.
According to DJ Woodis, “dem cheat Sixaklak”, as he asked the crowd to indicate if they agreed.
During the DJ Clash between Xtacy and Unstoppable Chalice, patrons went wild with excitement over many of the tunes played. Both Sounds were asked to play 10 songs each, alternating turns.
Highlight of songs blasted by Unstoppable Chalice with Bouskey and DJ Woodis were ‘Skin too Tough Fi Bleed’ by Vybz Kartel and ‘Shook’ by Tommy Lee.
DJ Flames, during that session, had warned the two competitors that they were getting “a little too personal”.
Following that segment, about three police officers were called on stage in helping to handle what appeared to be a conflict that stemmed from the clash, as one DJ in particular seem to be upset over something.
The matter was soon after resolved.
The headline act, Jah Vinci, emerged onstage at about 3:55 a.m. belting out ‘Guide Me’, which instantaneously sent the crowd into frenzy with many singing line for line. About five minutes into his performance, Jah Vinci threw a number of CD to the patrons.
Other songs delivered were ‘Prayer’ and ‘Watch You Friends’, which are two of his hit tunes.
Approximately 20 minutes into his performance there was a heavy downpour of rain which lasted for about 15 minutes.
Some 25 minutes later, Jah Vinci returned after the water was swept off the stage dished out ‘Remedy’ and ‘Mommy Don’t Cry’.
The event ended with a jam session with the small Axe Band that lasted for about one and a half hours and included tunes such as ‘Soap Drop’ and the Carnival Road March hit ‘DCH’.
Unfortunately, the Grand Masters Band which was scheduled to perform did not.
