Splendid Sound wins Eurocup in Berlin

The clash goes down at YAAM, a little piece of Jamaica in the middle of a big city, including beach, skate stage, basketball court and several bars to fetch something to eat or drink. Great location ! The clash was supposed to start at 1 o'clock, but by that time the place didn't really fill up yet. With half an hour of delay, the people found their way inside and we were good to go. Some sources say about 300 clashfans showed up, wich could be right, the place was full but not overcrowded.

Spida (Supersonic) and Tommy Dollar (City Lock) hosted the clash together and explained everything both in English and German to make sure everybody would understand. After the toss and a little word from all sounds, the first sound could start the war.

1st Round

G-Spot from Austria starts the clash with a long a capella intro followed by a Shinehead but the crowd doesn't respond. A big Shabba Ranks and some Bounty's, but still they don't really connect. Turn 'B.I.D.' into 'R.I.P.'. Custom Cocoa Tea versus Big Bamboo, "Go gome to Italia", some dubs on the Major riddim and another custom. To me they played an ok round,  managed to got some small honest forwards but never connected with the big crowd.

Hakuna Mataata, the German contestant for the night, was up as second. Starts with Foxy Brown on the Taxi riddim and a Cocoa Tea on Far East that gets a forward. Plays some big combo's (Pinchers-Daddy Freddy, Reggie Stepper-King Kong), Super Black, but the MC hasn't got anything to say and as such HM also struggles with the crowd.

3rd sound in line is Splendid Sound from Poland. From their introduction it was clear they had a lot of Polish fans in the building. They started weak, but then picked up. Although the exaggerated and uncontrolled jumping around of the MC annoyed me, the energetic combination, with the selector also acting as 2nd MC, worked well with the crowd. This way even lesser tunes got a big response. Other then a few customs and a speech calling G-Spot a 'pussy sound' , I can't remember too much from their round.

Ivory Sound from Belgium starts their round with a custom Rub A Dub Market from Luciano, followed by Assassin, Beres Hammond with Feel Good, Tarrus Riley'sBattlefield. At the end of the round they play a big custom Shabba and TOK's My Crew My Dogs, but the selection can't really please the people, and left a kind of pale impression.

Big Bamboo starts their round with an Italian classic, followed by a Shaggy and a Christopher Martin custom, Beres, Bounty Coppershot, Romain Virgo (with another 'RIP' directed to BID), Capleton with Murderation, Shabba's Shine & Criss and also counteract the TOK (My Crew) played by Ivory before. Decent first round for the Italians.

Last up was Back Inna Days (BID) Sound out of Switzerland. I remember Sanchez, a selection on the Sleng Teng and had the impression they were mainly trying to burn out a lot of tunes Ivory Sound is known for (Spragga's, Baba Boom riddim etc) – it was a bit up and down at times but a good first round.

All sounds played their rounds, and it was time to vote. Unlike most clashes, where the 1st round is an introduction round without elimination, right now someone will drop out very early. The people are asked which sound they want to see go home, and it's clear BID, Splendid and Big Bamboo are safe. After a second vote it's down between Ivory and G-Spot, suddenly the question changes to "who do you want to stay", leading to some confusion and a sticky vote. Still, Spida decided it was Ivory that should leave, although to me Ivory played a better round then G-Spot and I wasn't to sure about that vote either.

2nd Round

G-Spot survived the vote, but started weak again in their second round. Managed to pick up, but it kept going up and down, so it looked like the next elimination would get sticky again for them. They continued to address some speeches and customs at Ivory, trying to kill a sound that's out already seems unnecessary to me, and with Ninja's Laugh & Grin it sounded quite bitter.

HM started their round with a weather forecast intro - original but it lasted too long. Good Sanchez, Frankie Paul. A wickid Sluggy Ranks "95% crap" dub that cracked me up. Try to counter Cocoa Tea's Go Home but was more a playback then a counteraction. Super C – Lloyd Stiff combo, Pinchers-Cutty Ranks. Good  'Sting' argument when playing Ninja Man against all Cobra's and Shabba's that had been played, but for claiming Ninja Man is their artist; their Ninja dubs aren't good enough. End with some Bounty's but they have the same problem as in their first round.

Splendid made me laugh with a custom Dr Ring Ding saying they're as good as Polish vodka, the 2 best things to come out of Poland. Good speech against G-Spot: "I talk about pussy because I fuck pussy, you talk about it because u ARE a pussy !" Other then that, they couldn't entertain me, but the hip hop segment, the Ali G tune by General Levy and jiggy tunes worked well with the crowd that went crazy. They wouldn't have any troubles going to the next round.

Big Bamboo addresses G-Spot about the dissing of Ivory. They play Junior Gong, Buju, Bandelero by Pinchers and some Bounty's and Bounty-Movado combo. Then they turn jiggy and end with hiphop. Part of the crowd is enjoying it while others start to boo them near the end.

BID came in with a strong round. Started with Max Romeo's Public Enemy n°1, Luciano, Tarrus Riley, Cobra … some nice cuts. Selection on the War riddim with Sizzla, Capleton and Reggie Stepper. Shabba, Major Mackerel, Spragga … Get some good forwards. Earlier, another sound 'analysed' the clash so far, right now BID claims "We no ANALyse, we vaginise." Get good forwards during this round, very good round.

Voting time again: BID takes this round clearly, Splendid is safe too, and the German fans als gave Hakuna Mataata a green card, meaning the end for Big Bamboo and G-Spot.

3rd round

Hakuna Matata's 3rd round was pretty boring. I remember a lot of Beres was played, a Ninja Ford-Ninja Man and Ninja Man-Gregory Isaacs combinations and some more Ninja's. The MC was just too light for this level.

Splendid promises more entertainment then HM in their round, but pop down sameway. Playback Luciano  and get boo'd, goes a bit up and down and they try to save it with Sim Simma, but the die-hards don't like what they're playing, and even the Polish fans lose interest this round. Seemed like they lacked belly to last this slightly longer round.

BID starts their round with Freddie McGregor's Big Ship, Third World "96 gunshots", Frankie Paul, Hopeton Lindo's Territory, Hopeton James-Utan Green, Luciano. Addresses Splendid about a few alleged playbacks. Sluggy Ranks, Cocoa Tea, Mad Cobra's, Sluggy Ranks, Josey Wales' Outlaw. Play a few tunes on Sleng Teng at the end, and ask Spida to "Send another sound come" followed by Pinchers. Another good round by BID, they demand for a lock off at one point, but without much response.

Hakuna Mataata is the next sound to go home, dropping out just before the finals.

Dub fi Dub

1: Splendid starts with the Abyssinians – Satta Massagana, that takes the point against BID's Steel Pulse I believe.
2: They play Freddie McGregor next claiming BID is "born a loser", BID counters very aggressively and plays The Slickers with Johnny Too Bad, saying Splendid "run off yuh mouth", taking the 2nd point and making it equal. 1-1
3: Sugar Minott vs Barrington Levy's Murderer. No clear vote, and it's called a draw, no points are counted.
4: Midnight Hour vs Apple Gabriel, point goes to BID, 1 – 2
5: Mighty Diamonds – Need A Roof. BID makes a good speech that it is Splendid who looks like a hobo and needs a roof over their heads, and takes the point withBlazin' Fire by Derrick Morgan. 1 – 3
6: Toots & the Maytals  against Steel Pulse (iirc), another draw. This means the next point is 'Match Point' as only 4 instead of 6 points are needed to win the clash.
7: Splendid takes the next round, against a Bunny Wailer by BID, returning to 2 – 3.
8: On this crucial moment, BID makes a big mistake by starting their dub from the last round, they still play the tune but it doesn't matter. The point goes to Splendid, and they equal to 3 – 3.

I don't remember the last tunes that were played in dub fi dub, but where in the rest of the dub fi dub the voting was pretty equal, when it came down to the real decision, suddenly Splendid had a BIG vote and it was very clear the public wanted them to win the clash. BID still got quite some hands too, but the majority was clearly for Splendid, and the first Euro Cup is going to Poland !

Splendid Sound sure proved they can entertain the crowd, have a lot of stage energy. But other then that, they couldn't really impress me, and I wonder how the clash would have turned out without their busses. Still, you can't say they stole the trophy, the public picked their winner. But to me, BID was the best sound for the night. They consistently played the better tunes, the MC was more aggressive and had the most good speeches and arguments throughout the clash.

Some customs of the night were released already:

B.I.D: http://soundcloud.com/back-inna-days-sound/sets/b-i-d-sound-eurocup-clash-2012
Splendid: http://soundcloud.com/splendidsound/leftside-euro-cup-clash-2012
Big Bambo: http://soundcloud.com/infobigbamboo/tarrus-riley-euro-cup-clash
G-Spot: http://soundcloud.com/g-spot-sound/sets/eurocup-2012-customs/
Ivory: http://soundcloud.com/ivory-sound/ivory-sound-eurocup-clash