Breaking News – Long time famed Desert Storm selector King Sharpe has been recruited by Canada’s King Turbo as their newest clash mic man and selector.
This move alone brightens the future for King Turbo and immediately raises their “stock” value. The deal is significant because for some years now (since the departure of Ricky Turbo aka “Metro” from the sound and blood cousin of King Sharpe), King Turbo, most likely Canada’s most stocked sound when it comes to dubplates and specials, has been struggling without a potent and feared clash micsman/selector.
The search has been on for a clash mics man/selector for years now, more precisely since July 20th, 2007 when King Turbo (with MC/mics man Jahmin) and Studio Mixx beat Mighty Crown and King Addies in the Tag Team Clash II at The Docks (Toronto,Canada)
According to Slingshot, the “deal” to recruit Sharpe had “been in the works for some time”, but, it wasn’t until early Spring of this year that King Turbo members Capleton and Cecile (initiators of the idea) proposed the idea to Slingshot, O’Toole and Spex after already doing some pre-negotiations with Sharpe behind the scenes.
After going back and forth for a couple of months, the idea was eventually agreed upon by all of King Turbo’s members. By mid June, not only was King Sharpe recruited as the newest King Turbo member, but, he signed a contract making it ‘official’. According to Slingshot, Sharpe has already appeared at a few dances with Turbo, although nothing ‘clash’ worthy as of yet.
Says Slingshot from King Turbo – “We put a lot of thought into this…it’s not a handshake ting, everything is official, copa set, we just a jell up, an get ready to sawt out some bwoy.”
According to King Turbo’s Shooks Dynamo, recruiting Sharpe was a “brilliant move” as Sharpe “fills the void for an exclusive dancehall selector needed for Turbo.”
The King Turbo family, in preparing for a resurrection of sorts, now have weekly meetings and do their own parties, boat cruises, etc. King Turbo will also be debuting their new website in a few weeks from now, so things appear to be going in a progressive direction for one of Canada’s most loved sounds who still sport radio shows – one on CIUT 89.5 FM (‘Morning Ride’ – Mondays 7 – 10 AM) and the other on Toronto’s G98.7 FM (‘Riddim Track’ – Sundays 8 – 11 PM).
In October, King Turbo will be visiting Jamaica’s Sound Festival event (the only Canadian sound on the bill) organized in-part by Freddie McGregor and the Jamaica Tourist Board – it features visiting sounds from such places as America, England, Italy, Japan and other International countries.
As for King Turbo’s re-emergence into the clash scene – says Slingshot – “There really hasn’t been a clash market (in the last few years) and it doesn’t make money. But, for years, we’ve had no legit MC and now we have one. We need to get rid of some of these soundbwoys…we have a whole bunch of ish we wanna let off, so many things people haven’t heard, stuff that makes me get goose bumps when I hear it”.
UNANSWERED QUESTIONS…
- How does ‘Ricky Turbo’ feel about King Sharpe joining Turbo?
- How does Sharpe feel about switching sounds – from Desert Storm to Turbo and “replacing” his blood cousin – ‘Ricky Turbo’ who is still playing out as another entity of King Turbo?
- Will King Sharpe get love now that he has joined Turbo? Can he “cut it” as the newest member of an increasingly growing King Turbo family?
- How many sounds has King Sharpe been with, anybody know?
- With the addition of King Sharpe, can Canadian clash fans ‘officiall’y say that Canada now has its own Mighty Crown?
- Will King Turbo have an obligation to ‘kill’ Canadian sounds before killing sounds abroad, and, if so, which sounds stand in the way (King Sharpe or no King Sharpe)?
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