The difference between the Clash and 45 Shoot Out.
The World Cup Clash is a dub plate-oriented event. We put in the 45 minute round to give the clash a bit of spice. The 45 Shoot Out is the total opposite, there's five rounds altogether, four rounds of 45s and one of dub plates.
What spurred the 45 Shoot Out round?
I realised a pattern over the years of doing World Clashes that by the time the event gets to the third or fourth round it gets boring. The 45 round wakes everybody up. It cuts the monotony.
How do you get crews involved in the World Clash?
It's difficult to get sounds in and the approach depends on which sound system it is. Some look so forward to the World Clash that you don't have to mention it twice. For other sounds who have had a very good year, you know that's weeks of negotiation.
In Jamaica there is a big ego problem when it comes to clashing. Once the selectors reach a certain status they no longer need the clash ting and don't wanna risk their status. Most sound systems are immune to losing a clash.
The juggling systems like Matteron and Fire Links give the most problems when you go to book them because of their status. The problem is that in order to get the hype going, we need to book these guys.
Why haven't Stone Love competed in recent Clashes?
Honestly? I don't think they want to spend the money for the preparation. Some people think that Stone Love don't believe in clashing but I think it's the spending. I don't blame them as the money that you spend on the tunes, you can't make back. Stone Love could spend £20,000 on a dubplate to play the World Clash and never clash again, it's wasted.
What’s the future for the World Clash without these high-grade Sounds?
The future looks bleak. The clash fans won't give the new sounds a chance. When they come on the World Clash stage, people don't wanna see them. One Love is a major exception. If a sound from Jamaica or New York puts in 5%, a European sound must put in 15% just to get that same forward. Pow Pow, King Tubby, Klassique and Sir Coxone came to World Clash, these are not bad sounds but they just don't get the break. In Europe, they respect the culture and music, in America, that's garbage.
How can new sounds gain acceptance?
The only way for a sound to get the acceptance is to go up against what we call the elite class; Tony Matteron, Mighty Crown, Killer Manjaro, Bass Odyssey and Ricki Trooper. They must clash these guys, do well, they don't have to win but the tapes must get out there.
When a clash happens in Europe, Japan, or Canada, the tapes never reach here and when the sounds come over to New York, it's hard. I can't promote the sounds unless they promote themselves. One Love, for example, entered the World Cup Clash when nobody knew them but they did good, they went to UK Cup Clash and did even better, their cassette is all over the streets. By the time they came back to World Clash, everyone knew they meant business.
Dream Team line up for World Cup Clash 2005
Ideally I'd want Fire Links, Matteron, Mighty Crown, Bass Odyssey and of course Black Kat.
How does the visa issue effect Clashes?
The thing holding back the dancehall industry right now is visas, so it's difficult. It's tearing the industry apart. Tony Matteron was meant to be here (World Clash, New York '04). I spent weeks preparing, he was almost here so we printed the flyers and he was turned down the night before the Clash.
I don't know what's going on, lots of our sounds have been held up because of visas. Odyssey has gone, Matteron has no visa and Jara's out. King Addis and Saxon are the most difficult to deal with. Saxon told me that my World Clash is fake, they wanted me to pay them $25,000 to bring them over. I'm one of the biggest Saxon fans and want to get back to real tunes but it's a different generation and I can't justify spending that.
World Cup Clash contenders | Who will win?
