Mel Cooke, Freelance Writer
Left: The lyrical Assassin was on the job at the World Reggae Dance Championships held at Ranny Williams Entertainment Centre, Friday, August 1. Right: D'Angel 'blazed' her performance. - Nathaniel Stewart photos
After the Dustville Dancers had closed the contestants' display at the World Reggae Dance Championships and before the results were announced, the moves gave way to the vocals last Friday night.
Mystery Man was first up before the large audience at the Ranny Williams Entertainment Centre with an attempt at deejay humour with a take-off of No One that utilised the overused topic of what Rastafarians should not eat.
Xinyu's extended stab at R&B, confessing, "I surrender for your love", although enhanced by dancers, fell flat and the audience signalled dissatisfaction with persistent handclaps.
She persisted, though, and an uptempo song gave Xinyu some relief. But when she said, "I just one have more thing to say", the crowd did not want to hear. She showed courage in carrying on to close on a heartfelt note.
'Crab inna barrel'
Shane-O entered with a "lightning flash" and slowed to criticise the "crab inna barrel" syndrome, but it was D'Angel's introduction which got the first real rise out of the audience. The hemline of her short green skirt flouncing as she danced, D'Angel declared herself a "downtown girl living an uptown life" and dismissed the rumour-mongers with "low dem, mek dem whisper" in an Air Supply take-off.
"Pickney no pop dung nobody. But education come first," deejayed D'Angel, whose deejay skills have improved significantly but still have room for further honing.
It was Blaze that got the audience cheering most and she closed off with a song of self-definition in which she said "there is no anger in my heart".
I-Octane lyrically stabbed the vampires with a peg to the audience's delight, while Voicemail went patriotic in changing their 'Bembe' chant to 'Jamaica'.
The cheers for Assassin spoke volumes about his popularity and he justified the reception, even though the slew of songs he delivered, beginning with Gully Sitn', were largely cut short, with Roughest among those that got a line only.
- M.C.
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