DANCEHALL 101 - SOUND SYSTEMS
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For those of you that never knew a sound system is a group of guys that compete with other sounds to show off who has the best tunes and who can make the people bounce. If u were in Harare u might of heard of sounds like Silverstone and Stereo One. Even if you havent u just done know it. Those of you who used to jump on ET’S the tapes they played for u were most likley from a local sound .
Now at a soundclash this is what would happen. Competition for the best equipment and the most exciting music was fierce and sound clashes – contests whereby two sound systems in the same dance played alternate records and were judged by audience reaction - frequently spilled over into violence. Clashes are still part of reggae culture, dub plates get cut with the DJ’s name being overlaid on the track. e.g if u ever heard vybz kartel sing ‘picture me and u, u and me k.i.s.s.s.i.n.g’ the dublate will spin and the tune will then go like ’see dem sound bwoy dem a flee k.i.l.l.i.n.g. The more dubplates you had the wilder the crowd goes as it is a remix if you were
or will boast popularuty that the sound actually knows the artist himself.
Sound clashes are the place to hear the freshest tunes being spewed out by the best dancehall spitters, also the newest dances are shown off but thats another story…
