#2: SUDDEN DEATH SOUND CLASH PART 02 ANARCHY EDITION | 05.25.19
King Shine vs One-a-Day @ 188 Orenda Rd., Brampton
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Polly Famous, former LP and King Klepto member, now turned One-a-Day marksman, is undoubtedly among our top three when it comes to ranking Canada’s best MC’s. Critics admit it seemed like a marriage made in heaven, when our most sought-after MC struck gold twice, and was recruited as the newest mics-man for One-a-Day, an uprising U.S. Sound stocked with heavy artillery, yet in need of a good, experienced and available MC. Now, the stage was set for Polly Famous, already a ‘hero’ in his town, to clash in his own home turf.
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One-a-Day would go up against another reputable mics-man, an MC-craft master himself, since talking thrash in clash would only see him in his natural element. Welcome New Jersey’s King Shine sound, starring MC Jimmy Spliff, stepping up to bat against One-A-Day inside 188 Orenda in Brampton. Clash fans who were in-the-know had already marked this one on their calendars.
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Sudden Death got off to a great start, and a less than midsize venue was graced with about 200 people in attendance. Like a boxer trying to knock out his opponent in the very beginning of a fight, Polly and One-A-Day, shot out of the gate, appearing unconcerned about pace. Playing first, pouncing, and using badman tactics to try and ‘bad up’ and embarrass the opponent seemed to be the tactic employed to set the clash’s tempo and win the crowd over to the One-A-Day side. After a fully-charged first round, many people were left with the impression that One-A-Day would end up winners at night’s end. One-A-Day MC Polly Famous spoke confidently and triumphantly on the mic, and was giving it his all.
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King Shine would not be intimidated by One-A-Day‘s bullying tactics, and would use his own impressive MC skills to counteract and outshine Polly’s recent performance. Jimmy Spliff out-talked Polly, using all the information and research he had gathered about Canada’s ‘most feared’ selector, to embarrass One-A-Day, cripple their momentum, and eventually strip Polly of his confidence. It was Jimmy Spliff who was more lethal with his speech, not afraid to tell Polly, in his own home town, that he (Polly) was ‘no bad man’. Spliff wasn’t afraid to push Polly’s buttons, and even spoke disrespectfully about Polly’s ‘nine kids’. People soon realized that it was Jimmy Spliff, in fact, who was the true gimmick master.
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Polly Famous, despite being backed by a superior arsenal of up-to-date and costly dubs, lacked the versatility of being able to present for the people, a comedic, funny or light side to his lyrical prowess. Throughout Sudden Death, he continued to appear lyrically and tactically one-dimensional. Jimmy Spliff, on the other hand, was able to use the comedic aspects of his talent to counteract almost every Polly Famous speech. A ‘bad’ selector himself, Jimmy Spliff had the advantage of appearing ‘likeable’ by successfully combining being ‘funny’ with being ‘bad’. Polly appeared serious all the time, and risked taking things too personal. Spliff, knowing that ‘badness’ can only bring you ‘so far’ in clash, would often fall back and and entertain the crowd with a few jokes. The crowd bought into it, and witnessed King Shine lyrically skating circles around One-A-Day by out-playing, out-smarting and out-maneuvering their opponent from clash start to clash finish.
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At the end of the night, there was no need for tune-fi-tune to determine the winner of Sudden Death. Even though the first round was declared a draw, King Shine went on and won all of the remaining rounds. The clash would end as another victory for King Shine, and unfortunately for Polly, his first personal loss after a small string of consecutive victories since joining One-A-Day. Fair to say – the barrage of sweet new dubs presented by One-A-Day during the clash was more-than impressive, but the Sudden Death trophy seemed destined to go to the Sound with the superior mics-man and winner of the battle of the MC’s. ♦
Big up Lion of Cambridge and Daley Works Promo for putting on Sudden Death, voted #2 by our ReggaeMania.com Awards pollsters for ‘Best 2019 Sound Clash in Toronto’.
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