It was all about the 3 The Hard Way Soundclash (a Saint Best Ent Promo) –  featuring 3 sounds clashing on the Friday (August 17th) night of the Montreal Reggae Festival  – Rootsman (Toronto) vs Little Thunder (Montreal) vs Showtime (NYC). The venue was packed, with an easy 300-plus educated clash fans inside most of whom had paid $30 advance or $40 at the door for admission.  The year previous at the Montreal Reggae Festival, the same Friday night saw a clash featuring Jaro and Blackat.

The clash got underway at 130am, and featured a 20 minutes per sound, first round–(strictly dub plate) showdown. Little Thunder played 1st, Showtime 2nd, Rootsman 3rd

ROUND ONE (20 mins)

  • Little Thunder got forwards for their first few songs, but boiled down near the middle of the 20-min round, only getting a small handful of forwards between he halfway point and the time their round ended.  Some reports say that from the 7 minute mark and throughout the remainder of the round, Little Thunder were booed by the crowd, and the boos only got worse when the sound tried to cuss back the crowd
  • Showtime (NYC) got forwards in the start of their first round but the settled down to mere mortality.  The mic-talker was hard to understand, his speeches weren’t clear and he talked too fast despite claiming to be in the business for more than 12 years
  • Rootsman (Chucky and Ranger) started with Glen Washington (Rise allamp; Shine). After 2 or 3 dubs it was clear who the crowd favourite had become.  Rootsman was bussing the clash – some already saying “dance dun” – emphasized when they drew for Marcia Griffiths’ “Rootsman Is Gonna Kill You Tonight, No badda put up no fight”. The sound cruised through the round with riddims that includedFar East, Cuss Cuss, Kutchie and Real Rock. There were some singles selected featuring artists like Busy Signal, Beenie Man, I-Octane, that also helped lead the dance. For a 20-minute round,  at least 75% of it were pure forwards!

ROUND TWO (15mins)

  • Little Thunder was wicked in Round 2 – with tunes cut to counter act everything. They had a big Mavado dub cut to counter act the Rootsman Bounty Killer.  They had new I-Octane, new Khago, many cut on original riddims. The held their own in Round 2, coming hard with very hard tunes
  • Showtime switched their MC for Round 2 – initially a welcomed move by the clash critics.  Skinny was okay, but the replacement MC was better, and had more control over the crowd while working hard to earn more forwards. Showtime got what will be remembered as one of the biggest forwards of the night when then dropped Pinchers (Bandeleroo).  Ironincally, it was one of those cases where the forward came despite the tune not playing – just a tiny bit of the start of the riddim was all that was needed to turn over the place! The boos went away for the most part, although not completely.  It was apparent that people like Showtime, they just didn’t like the box.
  • Rootsman start was mediocre in Round 3 as they drew for LUST (Just As I Am) and (You’re My Inspiration). Ranger later made a speech referring to Sizzla as Little Thunder’s artists and pointing out to the crowd that because Bounty Killer was Rootsman’s artist, for Chucky to “line up” 30 Bounty Killer. It was over at that point, the sound could hardly finish the dubs that they drew – and even started taking requests from the audience. Then came the Kartels, Munga (Kill Sound From Weekend to Weekend), Khago (Tun Up Di Ting), and the best forward for Rootsman for the night – Capleton’s “Kill Sound Everywhere”, as well as a special called Don A Road by Dwayno and Dolla Kind.

ROUND 3 – 5 MINS EACH

  • Little Thunder played first in Round 3. The played good songs, mostly foundation – and got no great forwards. Overall, an ordinary round for Little Thunder, not matching the intensity of their 2nd round
  • Showtime played an uninspiring 3rd Round with nothing memorable coming from the box,  The new mic talker was not quite normal and it would be fair to say the sound from the USA flopped in their important 3rd Round.
  • Rootsman didn’
    [t have to do anything special in Round 3 – they just kept beating tunes, knowing they were safe in the clash. The drew some Bounty Killer (Clappa Clap) which got a big forward, as well as Idonia (We A Kill Dem Off).

TUNE-FI-TUNE

  • Round 3 had ended, it was 3:20am and the Club had to close @ 3:30 – time for Tune-fi-Tune!  Showtime had been voted out after their last round, so the tune-fi-tune would feature only Little Thunder vs Rootsman.
  • Tunes 1 allamp; 2:
    Little Thunder drew for Culture with “Conquer” as their first tune
    Rootsman played Jr Reid “Use Dem Brain”
    Round One Decision: Rootsman
  • Tunes 3 allamp; 4:
    Not sure what tune played as Little Thunder’s 2nd tune
    Rootsman played “Killing a sound is so easy to do”
  • Tunes 5 allamp; 6:
    Little Thunder drew for their anthem, Bob Andy/Marcia Griffitsh (We’ll Be Together / Kill A Sound Bwoy” and got a decent forward
    Rootsman played a Puddy Roots custom tune (Trying to Conquer Me) – “Tonight Rootsman murder Little Thunder sound”, tactically withheld from earlier counter-action usage possibilities in Round One
  • After: Rootsman played Leroy Smart (Victory) to seal the clash and collect the trophy. Words from selector Chucky…”on to the next one”….