Watch our ReggaeMania.com 80-minute VIDEO capturing Video footage, Audio and Photographs from the Irish and Chin World Clash 2018 Sound Clash held at the Tibet-Canadian Hall, Toronto, Canada 11.17.18. 

Mystic To The World!! 2018 World Clash Champions!



Hello ReggaeMania massive.  Our city is still buzzing over the fact Canada’s very own Mystic, won the Irish and Chin 2018 World Clash, held this past Saturday night in Toronto.  Our city and our entire Sound System fraternity are very proud of Mystic for this accomplishment, and this Country will continue to have bragging rights for keeping the Championship title in Canada for three years straight (Canada’s King Turbo were past winners in 2016 and 2017).  If any of you non-Canadians are upset or claiming bias, you’ll have to suck it up, humble yourselves and wait till next year this time to to settle the score musically.  In the mean time, we all say congratulations to Mystic, always underestimated, yet very deserving and so very talented.

Irish & Chin’s World Clash 2018 (20th Anniversary Edition) featured 8 championship Sounds playing in the following order;

COMPETING SOUNDS IN PLAYING ORDER / TERRITORY

1. King Turbo / Canada (1)

2. Empire / UK (1)

3. 3-Sevens / Caribbean (Antigua)

4. Jah Works / Japan

5. Mour Dan / Germany-UK(2)

6. DeeBuzz / Europe

7. Mystic / Canada (2)

8. Dynamq / USA

CLASH STRUCTURE AND RULES:

8 Sounds Clash over 7 Rounds of Clashing. 

1^st Round (5’): No Elimination. 

2^nd Round (10’): 1 Sound Eliminated.

3^rd Round(10’): 2 Sounds Eliminated.

4^th Round(10’): 1 Sound Eliminated.

5^th Round(10’): 1 Sound Eliminated.

6^th Round(10’): 1 Sound Eliminated.  45 –shop lock.

7^th Round (15’): 2 Sounds showdown in a Rapid Fire Tune-fi-Tune. 

Winner (determined by Crowd Vote) Crowned 2018 Irish and Chin World Clash Champion.

World Clash 2018 was held Saturday, November 17^th inside Toronto’s Tibet Canadian Cultural Centre.  Doors were open at 7 pm, clash time started about 10:15 pm, and a champion was crowned sometime after 5:00 am.  MC Ajax (from the Irish and Chin camp) was a credible and entertaining host for a packed venue that may have had up to 1600 people in attendance. 

On this Saturday night, temperatures had cooled down in Toronto, a factor that helped the door move fast with generally small yet steady line ups.  Once inside, fans would generally get their money’s worth.  The Tibet-Canadian Cultural Hall was large and spacious, amplified with a large stage, a near flawless sound system with intelligent LED video-board styled-lighting, and a bar that moved smoothly.  It seemed like there were more women than usual in clash attendance, and because Sounds were allowed to play 45’s for the first 5 Rounds, many of the women would be seen having fun dancing during the clash. 

By night’s end, people would have experience a decent clash, which had very few highlights and epiphanies when compared to clashes of the past.  No complaints though from our own Mystic Sound,  who worked hard to succeed as champions of this pivotal and historical event.  By night’s end, they would make their hometown proud as well as the entire Canadian Sound Clash fraternity by emerging as winners of the event.  Throughout the clash they kept reiterating that the trophy would not leave Canada, and they meant it.

In looking back at World Clash ’18, it’s easiest to understand the event from a Sound-by-Sound perspective.  In the order that they played;



#1. KING TURBO

From a King Turbo “fan” point of view, I believe we witnessed “Ricky Turbo”, not “King Turbo”.  Most clash die-hards already knew that for some time now, sound founder Andrew aka Slingshot had not been on talking terms with co-founder, Ricky Turbo.  The two have had differences historically, but fans had been hoping these differences would be put aside in time for the big night.  Of course, this didn’t happen.  Instead, we saw Ricky Turbo give it his best shot with some substitute selectors.  Missing, was the real King Turbo crew – there was no Slingshot, no Spex, no Dyce Lox, no Jahmin, no body!  Behind the controls were two people nobody knew, one of whom was a young female selector whose lack of experience may have cost Ricky his clash! 

Ricky Turbo had a decent first Round, but in the 2^nd Round, he left a big stage empty too often, in effect losing the crowd while trying to fix things behind the turntables.  A world clash night was not the night to experiment.  Musically, there were no custom tunes or new tunes, as an ill-prepared Ricky Turbo tried to get by with his usual one-man against the world antics. By the end of Round Two, the crowd, who had been curious to see if Ricky Turbo could pull it off, now realized that they would not be getting their money’s worth, chiefly because the real King Turbo crew wasn’t there.  Ricky Turbo, drawing first, was the first Sound to play at World Clash, and they were exited first by the crowd; somewhat embarrassing for the back-to-back defending World Clash champs.  

Without doubt, there is crisis in the King Turbo camps.  I hope this experience will lead to King Turbo, who seemingly has more lives than a cat, taking some time out to fix their internal problems.  If it wasn’t clear before, it should be very clear now; This World Clash loss, preceded by their embarrassing loss to Rootsman earlier this year, proves that their strength lies in working together as a team instead of apart as individuals. 

#2: EMPIRE:



Empire, one of two Sounds on the bill representing the UK, was second up to bat at World Clash. This Sound reminded me of one of our Fully Loaded Sounds.  Their first Round was steady, they got some forwards here and there, but it would soon be clear to fans that they lacked the big tunes to maintain past the 3^rd Round (they were eliminated at the end of Round 3 – the second Sound to be eliminated).  Empire came to World Clash with regular tunes on regular one-a-way riddims, somewhat like going to a gun fight with a knife or machete.  They were the first Sound to get booed, during and after their set, although they didn’t seem to let the boos bother them.

#3: 3 SEVENS



Antigua’s 3-Sevens Sound (Caribbean champs) dropped out after Round #5 after defeating Dee Buzz in a 1-Song Shootout after it was too hard to determine, by a show of hands, who was to be eliminated after getting the lowest amount of votes.  After surviving this end-of-Round #4 shootout, they ran into stumbling blocks when drawing the “combination” theme for their mystery round which they seemed ill prepared for and struggled through.  Upon till this point, 3 Sevens, for the most part, had the crowd a way, and seemed to be on a mission to eliminate King Turbo from their very first Round.  They had steady crowd support even when things were getting sticky and when the crowd were booing Sounds for the slightest miscues, weak tunes, and for speeches that did not connect with songs.

#4. JAH WORKS



Jah Works has so much potential.  A friend noted to me that while other Sounds stayed on stage during the event, Jah Works was the only selector to walk through and feel out the crowd during the clash, interesting.  This one man Japanese-Rasta Sound was the final Sound to drop out before the Tune-fi-tune between Mystic and Dynamq.  Selector Osaka played solid and consistent throughout World Clash, and was very likable, steadily gaining confidence with consistent crowd support. 

Jah Works was the first Sound to get a huge forward at World Clash.  They won the place over with nicely cut Sanchez dubs while making a serious statement with their Jah Works (Terror Fabulous) anthem dub plate. At times, Osaka would even use his Rasta-dread lox connection to mesmerize and win over the crowd.  Jah Works also had one of the greatest mystery round performances when he drew the “God Bless” theme and mashed up the place with 45’s-only for the entire Round. 

Jah Works seemed to enjoy mixing classic dancehall tunes over hip-hop beats, but this did not score well with the World Clash audience.  He also learned that despite how big Drake may be in Canada and the world, playing “God’s Plan” and “Starting from the Bottom”(!) would earn him little response in the Canadian sound clash arena.  Jah Works, at times, spent too