Red-hot Notorious dethrone Dynamq, cops Global Crown
Published:Friday | July 19, 2024 | 11:39 AMAdrian Frater/Gleaner Writer -
WESTERN BUREAU:
Notorious International, the underdog of the five contenders at the start of the Reggae Sumfest Global Sound Clash, created a stunning upset at Wednesday night's event in Montego Bay, as after masterminding the elimination of defending champion Dynamq in the third round, they upstaged Bodyguard 6-4 in a deciding dub-for-dub round to lift the coveted title.
By virtue of their win, Notorious International, which is based in Maxfield Avenue, Kingston 13, and not in Japan, as was billed, saw the selecting duo of Rohan ‘Little Shabba’ Henry and his Japanese wife Marie ‘Bad Gal Marie’ Sano walk away with the $1.1 million in cash, $1 million courtesy of Magnum Tonic Wine and $100,000 from DownSound Entertainment.
“To be truthful, when it came down to dub-for-dub, we doubted that we could [beat] Bodyguard because, to be truthful, Bodyguard is a big sound. Our hope was that they would make a mistake and open the door for us,” said a gleeful Little Shabba. “They did make that big mistake when they played a dub with Shaggy and Neo, and we knew we had them.”
The global clash, one of eight events on Reggae Sumfest’s seven-day line-up, featured the charismatic Dynamq, the self-styled ‘Nile crocodile from South Sudan', the one-man German entity Warrior Sound with Mattia Rubenstruct; the seasoned Bodyguard, the 1993 World Clash Champion; seasoned campaigner Code Red and the virtually unknown assassin, Notorious International.
In the first round, a kind of warm-up, where none of the sound systems were eliminated, Dynamq, who knocked off Bass Odyssey to win last year, came out sizzling, reeling of well-received dubs from the like of Bounty Killer and Pinchers. However, it quickly became apparent that all the other sound systems had Dynamq as their main target, especially Notorious, who served up brutal counteractions with dubs from Tony Rebel, Junior Gong, Junior Reid and Dawn Pen.
Dynamq, who started the second round with much fanfare, clad in a military-style ‘bush uniform’ and a toy replica of a rife, struggled and breached the rule by playing a Capleton dub with an expletive. The other four sound systems continued to go hard at Dynamq, who they seemed hell-bent on knocking out. However, when moderator Pretty Boy Floyd asked who should be eliminated, Code Red was booted.
In the third round, Notorious, Warrior Sound and Bodyguard all stepped up their game with an array of blazing dubplates. Unexpectedly, Dynamq continued to struggle, and it was no surprise that buckled at that stage, letting go off the crown.
“The crowd was tough tonight, I could not get them to respond the way I wanted to, but it is one of those things, you win some and you lose some, but I will be back” said Dynamq, who admitted he was not at his best.
Down to the final three, Bodyguard began to show its muscle with 30-year-old Gary Roach, the youngest of all the selectors, doing wonders on the microphone and unleashing stinging dubplates. Notorious remained bold with Little Shabba punching above his weight, teasing and testing the other sounds. Unfortunately, Warrior Sound, despite playing a solid round, was eliminated at this stage.
Down to the deciding dub-for-dub, Bodyguard unleashed dazzling back-to-back dubs from Barrington Levy, Beres Hammond and Leroy Sibbles to take a commanding 3-0 lead. At this stage, Notorious got the break they wanted when Bodyguard failed to connect with the Shaggy-Neo dub; and Notorious pounced with a Beres Hammond dub, making it 3-1.
Bodyguard quickly countered with a shattering John Holt dub, which lifted them to 4-1 and in sight of victory. It was at the stage that Notorious delivered the killer punch, snatching the next three dub-for-dub as the impressive neutral fans drowned out the Bodyguard supporters, who were left stunned by the clinical way Little Shabba and Bad Gal Marie ended the contest.
“I have no words to say,” said an elated Bad Gal Marie as she savoured the victory. “Winning a contest in Jamaica means everything. I am so happy.”