5 days ago
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It wasn’t until midnight that the up-and-coming acts, given the chance to shine on the Ghetto Splash platform, started taking the stage at the Waterhouse Mini Stadium in Drewsland. This marked the start of the annual, free event, which usually runs from 10 p.m. until 6 a.m. the following day. However, it was brought to a close well before 5 o’clock on Wednesday morning when the police calmly announced it was time to go home, as it was a workday.
Some patrons were not happy campers, with one disgruntled man even shouting to The Gleaner team, “Write the truth Gleaner! A nuh police nutten, a true dem no have no more artiste roun’ dere fi perform!”
The truth is that many of the big-name acts advertised on the poster were no-shows, including Beenie Man, Skeng, Luciano, Aidonia, Govana, Tarrus Riley, D’Angel, Pablo YG, Jesse Royal, Jahshii, and Tommy Lee. In contrast, by 4 a.m. last year, artistes such as Bounty Killer, Cham, Jahshii, Beenie Man, and D’Angel had already performed, and there was still much more to come. Promoter Patrick Roberts could not be reached for a comment.
The artistes who showed up represented well. It was an interesting dynamics to see the various crews of young acts enter the venue, walking the walk of the famous and dominating their own little world backstage, each set trying to look distinctive, but in the end, all looking like clones.
Veteran deejay Major Mackerel shared that it was him, Macka Diamond and Sita who “tek di show”. Sita was the first of the up-and-coming acts to get a big response. At 1:02 a.m. the lyrical diva unleashed the ‘S’ song in which every word starts with the letter S. It was quite a feat, and, of course, Sita, who was sizzling hot, was representing for “all the gal dem with the tight punash”– whatever that means.
At 2:24 a.m. Macka Diamond, who told the crowd that she is “the hottest big woman inna dancehall” ran out with her chant of Money O and asked ‘Wha oonu waan hear?”.
The answer: “Whole heap a passa passa.” That was her cue to go right into the song with Derrick, What Can Go So. It was very well received and Macka told The Gleaner that she was “more than satisfied”.
As to Major Mackerel, the veteran deejay who is walking on his prosthetic leg minus the crutches, was a hard act to follow, with his “Ni ni ni ni” tune mashing up the place.
Singer George Nooks did a tight, 15-minute set, thrilling with Tenement Yard, Tribal War, My Brethren and Forty Leg Dread. He closed with his evergreen hit, God is Standing By and Ride Out Your Storm, for which he had the Ghetto Splash crowd as his personal choir.
Duane Stephenson’s performance was a “pull upppp” segment as he skilfully delivered Real Ghetto Pain, Cottage in Negril, and August Town.
Notable among the early acts were Samurai, who was there to “show the positives of dancehall”; the commanding 1Konnection who made an impact with the original song, Wish you were here; and the Cayman-based Glamaton who scored with Woman Want Money.
I-Stitch connected solidly with his fans, the Ahbagada Nation fans, and Beekie Bailey showed that he has not lost any of his zest. After saluting the crowd, he called up Nitty Kutchie, and General B who brought back memories of the Monster Shack and Scare Dem Crew days.
Mr Easy was all about ‘90s dancehall with Murder on Dave Kelly’s big bad Bruk Out riddim and Drive me Crazy, both of which went over well. Dancer Luggo Luggo made a surprising appearance on stage during Razor B’s set and Kash, who took time to “big up mi real dawgs dem” spoke the same musical language of most of the crowd.
It was NHance and his crew who brought the curtains down in fine-style, having taken the baton from 10Tik and Renee 6:30. NHance, who is the son of Gaza Sheba, is one of the young acts making strides in dancehall. Ghetto Splash was celebrating its 35th anniversary and its 10th staging at the Waterhouse Mini Stadium.
English (US) ·