Taking over the Camden Roundhouse for the second year the battle got underway last Thursday night with team Skream and Benga, Metalheadz, Soul Jazz and Channel One all warring to become the winner of the Red Bull Music Academy Culture Clash. The clash was policed by music legend Don Letts who jumped from stage to stage encouraging jeers, hoots and braps for each competing system. All four stages were jam packed with supporters and DJs, revelers danced toe-to-toe watching Dizzee Rascal rave on the Metalheadz speakers and Channel One’s flag wavers.
The night started with Storm a.k.a the first lady of Drum and Bass jumping on the decks in an elegant dress followed by Goldie who made a moving dedication to Metalheadz pioneer Kemistry by playing Inner City Life. Soul Jazz bought a fantastic selection of classic ragga joints but it was Channel One who worked the reggae and boosted the subs with classic joints fresh out of Jamaica, a live trombonist and Mikey Dread stepping up to play a likkle bongo set for the crowd were enough to cement this mighty sound system as the winners.
Sound clash participants are known world wide to partake in jibing and teasing the opposition in order to keep the adrenalin pumping - Thursday night was no exception. The beef between team dubstep and team DnB hit new levels with Metalheadz blasting a naughty refix of the Katy B and Benga hit Katie On a Mission, adding further insult to injury Metalheadz played a mash up of Benga’s Night with Nirvana rock hit Smells Like Teen Spirit – but this did nothing to dampen the spirits of these established sound boys who blew the speakers (not literally) with tunes from their debut release and joints from Trolley Snatcher and Rage Against the Machine. Chatting words of encouragement FWD’s favourite MC Sgt Pokes held the mic with dignity and pride.
From beef to boogie, in the final round each stage fought hard for the crown demonstrating their ability as some of the UKs most treasured and loved DJ crews. Soul Jazz played an awesome mix of old skool jungle and ragga that saw the crowd irrupting into a skank fest. Both team Metalheadz and team Skream and Benga went full throttle whipping out furious bass ridden joints that exhausted and ended them both. The competition was tight but Channel One with their superior bass weight showed the three other systems why they have been playing Notting Hill Carnival for decades and in the words of chief selector Mikey Dread, ‘Channel one sound system will be here for the next 20 years – without fear. Rastafari. ’
Listen to the Culture Clash in its entirety at Red Bull Music Academy Radio.
You can also catch snippets from show on the Pick N Mix show broadcast live from the Red Bull Studios.
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