The hype, vibes and excitement of attending a stage show often peaks when many artistes take the stage at the same time. Teino Evans takes a look at the phenomenon.
By Teino EvansThis segment of the stage show, often referred to as the 'bomb rush', usually sees a number of top deejays taking the same stage at once. They pass the mic around and each artiste gets a chance to 'do a ting' on the rhythm. But how do so many 'superstars' get to work without a quarrel, especially when artistes are there from opposing camps?
Deejay Assassin says it's all about having an understanding, when there are a number of artistes on stage at once.
"Some a di time, dat happen when is not a pay situation, and di artiste dem jus a pass through an endorse di ting, but how it suppose to go is that there is an understanding that you just do di chorus an pass di mic, especially like, tek for example the Diwalli riddim, me woulda tek di mic an seh 'we a di roughest, our style dem a di toughest,' an pass di mic. However, you will have persons weh wi waan do verse, chorus, outro an all introduce a next rhythm, some man waan over do it an it leaves other artistes just standing around on stage, an when dat start mi normally jus lef, but we jus work off a di vibe, no set order," Assassin explained.
Elephant Man, says experience has a lot to do with the order on stage, as there are certain artistes who he wouldn't trade mics with. He would not give the names of such artistes but said:
"Every artiste know who an who fi guh pon stage wid, dem nah guh pon stage wid no mic shark an artiste weh a guh drop off a riddim, yuh haffi have experience," Ele explained.
"Yuh haffi have timing, cause if me do my hook, an a next artiste have a next tune pon di same riddim, den yuh jus pass di mic gi him. Is a timing ting, fi know when fi tek it (the mic) an stay pon di riddim an don't drop off," Ele continued.
However, Delly Ranx says he has no such issues.
"Me an no artiste nuh have nutt'n suh me can tek di mic from any artiste, but di young artiste dem haffi have respect fi dem elders, and a better fi dem guh work early, even di real bad young artistes dem wi get lost inna di rush. When di big artiste dem a real off tune fi tune, yuh caan get nuh time inna da segment deh as a young artiste," Delly warned.
Here the issue of stage hierarchy becomes an issue. Ele says, in such cases, younger artistes should defer to the more established acts.
"If a vibe a gwaan weh two big artiste a guh at it an a punch di crowd, no young artiste caan touch di mic, him haffi guh wait. Yuh caan know seh we weh have di tune dem an wi deh deh a deejay an waan come tek mic, yuh haffi mek di artiste do dem five minutes," Ele said, adding, "when whole heap a artiste on stage, it gi a impact weh overwhelming cause every artiste have dem fan inna di crowd suh yuh know seh a jus bare niceness."
Delly Ranx suggests that the order on stage is also governed by vibes and is at times rhythm-driven.
"Is a vibe yuh nuh, an some man jus run it by rhythm, suh from yuh have a tune weh can fit pon di rhythm yuh jus jump in an do yuh ting. When a lot a artiste on stage one time, yuh jus guh do yuh hottest tune an keep di vibe."
Despite most artistes shying away from calling specific names, it was obvious that at stage shows over the years artistes like Buju Banton, Sizzla, Bounty Killer, Beenie Man, Capleton and Elephant Man are among the highest on the stage heirarchy and are most likely to perform without much interruption.
