11 months ago
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Four days after the assassination attempt on the life of former US president, Donald Trump, Bodyguard sound system seized the opportunity to take clash culture to daring new heights and created a “bad, bad, situation” with an instantly iconic dubplate that trumped all their opponents.
It was Wednesday, July 17 inside the Catherine Hall Stadium in Montego Bay that the Reggae Sumfest Global Sound Clash unfolded with five sounds, of which the 35-year-old Bodyguard was the most experienced. However, they chose to use their young selectors Gary ‘Flairy’ Rodney and Garry ‘Roach’ Roach on that historic night. And while Bodyguard didn’t win the clash, they certainly secured a classic victory owing to the genius of a dubplate that solidly separated dibby dibby, hurry-come-up, tin pan sound from the real OG.
Before we go any further, for the uninitiated, a sound clash – a dancehall phenomenon – is an adrenalin-filled, musical battlefield on which the aim is to lowkey “kill a sound bwoy” lyrically. Braggadocios selectors, using the dubplates from their arsenal, their experience at such warfare, and chatting lyrics that are not for the faint of heart, entertain the hyped-up massive, who are there primarily for the feel-good experience and whose loyalties change like the weather. And for there to be a champion, “one or more sound haffi dead” at which point there’s nothing to do but Call the Hearse, as the Bushman song says and call the funeral parlour Maddens to scrape them up.
Importantly, sound clashes are governed by rules, two of which Bodyguard – and others – say were violated on that night and the sound system’s owners are calling them out.
“We were prepared. We had a new team and we represented well, but we left a bit disappointed in the way we finished. We dominated the entire night and I don’t think we were beaten … we beat ourselves,” Bodyguard co-owner Courtney Singh told The Sunday Gleaner.
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“We were disappointed in a way in which a particular incident was handled. It is a given in sound system culture that a song that is already played cannot be repeated. Any sound that does that has to pack up immediately. But that happened in the final round and we highlighted it to the emcee, but it was not addressed. Bodyguard had played Beres Hammond’s What Can You Do to Stop Your Sound From Dying and Notorious played it back. That is not acceptable. It is pointless having the rules and they are not adhered to,” a genuinely concerned Singh said.
The second incident had to do with a spliced dub, a situation in which a sound takes another sound system’s dub plate special and uses technology to replace the original name with the name of their own sound.
“I know for a fact that a Barrington Levy dub that was played was not real. I am in the business for 35 years and I know what I am hearing. The following morning a friend called and said ‘Courtney, how yuh mek dem get away with that splice dub.’ We accept that we lost. Our selectors make a mistake and they exploited the situation. But these things need to be said,” Singh emphasised without any rancour.
Back to that historic Bodyguard/Trump alliance that was forged through the use of artificial intelligence. This is how it unfolded:
Sarah Parker (AI) breaking news intro being played: “This is CNN breaking news. This is Sarah Parker reporting from from Milwaukee, Wisconsin where I have been able to catch up with the former president. Mr President, what is your response to the incident on Saturday?”
Donald Trump (AI): “These guys are losers! They should have known that if they needed an assassin they should have sent for Bodyguard out of Clarendon. I wouldn’t be talking to you right now. It would have been tragic. My Secret Service just informed me that Bodyguard is about to commit a quadruple murder at Sumfest in Montego Bay. My sources … you know I have the best sources, right … they have told me that Dynamq, Code Red Warrior and Notorious are probably already dead. It’s a bad, bad, situation. By the way, who is Mr Madden?”
It was the biggest mic drop moment at the 2024 Sumfest Global Sound Clash.
“It was pandemonium,” Singh said, still smiling at the effect.
“As soon as the incident happened, I thought about the dubplate. I knew that the technology was already out there with Trump’s voice and I sat down with my technical person who has the knowledge. I think that I am gifted in this way. Bodyguard has been the innovators of this kind of creativity for decades. We did [a dubplate] with Michael Sharpe for Guinness clash and to this day people are still talking about it.”
Singh shared that it was while driving to the country with his wife that he got the final edit and he simply pressed play. She was hearing it for the first time and her response was enough to confirm that the dubplate “sell of”.
“Over the years we have tried to take the serious, aggressive side out of it and make it fun. Not because its a sound clash doesn’t mean that we can’t have humour. It is entertainment, but some people perceive clash .... and dancehall... as ‘a ole nayga ting’. We can deliver it without a lot of cursing. When David Rodigon and Bodyguard clash, it’s like a wrestling match. People from all over the globe have been calling asking ‘How yuh get dis?’ and it is being forwarded all over”.
While exulting in the sheer brilliance of the moment, Singh aired his concerns that AI, with its voice recognition and deepfakes, has the scary potential to dramatically change sound system business.
“AI is a big threat, however, we have to understand that here has to be a line of integrity that we must not cross,” Singh emphasised.
English (US) ·