On a night which saw Baby Cham dazzling with an awesome performance, Bounty Killer and Beenie Man took their feud to an all-time low, washing their proverbial dirty linen before patrons at Thursday night's 'Storm Front' segment of the 2006 Red Stripe Reggae Sumfest in Montego Bay.
By Adrian FraterDisplaying exceptional stagecraft, confidence and charisma, Baby Cham firmly established himself as class act and possibly dancehall's hottest commodity, using his growing catalogue of hits to stir the fans into musical ecstasy with one of his greatest performances on local soil.
RULING SUPREME
Combining his social commentary with his dazzling lyrics, Baby Cham ruled supreme as he unleashed songs such as, Babylon Boy, Vitamin S, Bun Bad Mind and Lean on Me. He later worked himself into a mass of perspiration, thrilling the audience with his latest releases including the red-hot Ghetto Story.
However, while Baby Cham and other standout acts such as female deejays Spice and Macka Diamond and male stars Chuck Fender, Elephant Man and Capleton were seeking to impress the patrons, Bounty Killer and Beenie Man were more concerned about doing damage to each others' reputation and ego.
Bounty Killer, who was the first to take the stage, did not call Beenie Man's name but left no doubt whom he was talking about when he angrily declared that his mother's name was being drawn into the feud and then proceeded to ask the crowd, "Who is Jamaica's biggest gal clown?"
He further declared, "A him go tek up trash wah me dash weh him a mussa janitor."
KNOCK ON WOOD
Seemingly stung by what Bounty Killer said, Beenie Man launched a scandalous counterattack when he took the stage to close the show. After accusing his rival of being jealous of the fact that he got D'Angel pregnant and was planning to marry her, he went on to raise questions about Bounty Killer's manhood.
BREED IT BREED IT
"Angel lef yu because she tired of yu tongue and she wanted a real man," said Beenie Man, who at one point invited D'Angel, whose protruding stomach attracted a lot of attention, to join him on stage. He also poked fun a Bounty Killer's popular slang 'bullet bullet', stating that, "While yu a bullet bullet me a breed it breed it."
While the 'cass cas' dominated their respective stints, both acts nonetheless managed to connect with the fans. Bounty Killer, who had the words, 'cross, angry, 'Warlord', and 'miserable' written on his jacket, connected well with songs such as Eagle and The Hawk, while Beenie Man, nattily attired in red and white, dazzled with a few hits and shared a combination with Ninja Man before departing the stage.
Top female deejays Macka Diamond and Spice showed that the females of the dancehall are now legitimate contenders for supremacy. Spice, who skilfully blended her subtle x-rated lyrics with her solid hardcore style, had the crowd jumping in delight to songs such as, Fix Me Good and Virgin Story, while Macka Diamond earned a richly-deserved encore for well-delivered songs such as Lexxus and Benz, Bun Him, done in combination with Black-er.
Chunk Fender, who started out by singing snippets from several of his songs, gradually settled into a steady grove and soon had the crowd rocking to, Gash Dem, Oh My Lord and Can't Stop Try. Elephant Man was the opposite of Chuck Fender as he started out blazing with songs such as, AK Over The Wall , Bad Man Forward and Higher Level, but fizzled before closing with his dancers displaying placards calling for peace in the various hot-spots around the world.
TAME FIREMAN
Capleton tried his best but his best was seemingly not good enough to move the crowd, which seemed preoccupied with waiting for Beenie Man's response to the tirade of Bounty Killer earlier. Although MC G.T. Taylor tried desperately to get the crowd to react to the Fireman by calling back for encores twice, it was clear that his spark was not turning into fire with the fans.
Busy Signal, Mavado, Wayne Marshall, Fanton Mojah, Gyptian and Voicemail all justified their places in the star-studded line-up with crowd-pleasing sets. The newcomers X-Factor, the Merital Family, Hit List and Danielle all proved surprisingly strong. The tried and proven Conrad Crystal and Sugar Roy, Little Hero, Natural Black, Aidonia and Leftside and Esco also worked reasonably well in their stints.
