Beatstreet takes home the trophy in War ina West soundclash Aachen!

The clash went down in KingzCorner, a rather small venue with a nice bassment feeling. No surprise that the place filled up, especially when the clash bus from Leuven arrived. The rules for the clash were straightforward and simple: each sound would play three 15 minute rounds, every sound would be voted. After that dub fi dub, unless one sound won all the rounds. No customs were allowed.  

After a coin toss, it was decided Beatstreet would kick off the clash, starting with a Lukie D. Immediately, they started throwing out big dubplates at an amazing pace. Frankie Paul, Barrington Levy, Burro Banton, Shabba Ranks and especially Capleton set the place on fire straight away. Only downside was the mic sounded terrible, but the pace was set.   Bun Babylon Sound responded with slower dubs first, including Johnny Osbourne, Freddie McGregor. Vershon's 'Inna Real Life' caught a big forward. Continued with Marcia Griffiths, Capleton, Anthony Redrose ('Tempo') and some big tunes on the Sleng Teng riddim with Mad Cobra, Burro Banton and Johnny Osbourne. Solid first round too.    Voting on the first round was close, but Beatstreet took it.   With their second round, Beatstreet continued the same way as in their first one: fast juggling and big dubs. Lots of Bounty Killers, Dawn Penn's 'No No No', Beres Hammond, Sizzla - Capleton combination, Jah Mason, Kabaka Pyramid, Cornel Campbell - Ninja Man combination, and a big Aidonia.    Bun Babylon fought back with a Dawn Penn counteraction ('Yes Yes Yes'), a nice Protoje, Alborosie but then playback a Kabaka Pyramid Beatstreet played earlier. Still finish strong with a nice Sizzla ('Bye Bye' instead of 'Dry Cry'), Mad Cobra and Pinchers.   Beatstreet takes the second round too, pretty clearly.   Their third round, Beatstreet opens with Big Mountain, Maxi Priest, Beres Hammond, Bob & Marcia, Bunny Wailer. Mad Cobra gets a big forward. Switch over at the end with UK Apache's 'Original Nuttah', their well-known Postman dub and end the round with KRS-One 'The Clash Is Over', wich really looked like it at that point.   Bun Babylon Sound doesn't give up though and try to counter with a nice Johnny Osbourne again, Pinchers-Josey Wales combination. With General Degree 'Nah Run Away' and Ninja Man ('Nah Run From No Clash'), they make a clear statement they're not just giving up. Good Mad Cobra and Aidonia too. At the end of their round, they go over their time, and getting quite some boo's for that.    The final vote is more than clear, the German sound only gets a few hands and Beatstreet takes home the trophy to Belgium with a clear lock-off.    All in all, the clash was nice. Bun Babylon Sound played good, but Beatstreet Sound was on a different level this night. Well-deserved victory.

Photos: © Rene Ko