{Note: 'Freestyle' in the figurative sense, of course, not the traditional sense}
{Note 2: leave me alone about it!}
Papa San - Sunsplash 1989
The King. This is only the SECOND best such display I could find from the legendary Papa San (of course, I’m going to do this again in the not too distant future, so I’ll get the other for next time) and if I really tried, I could probably fill this post with nothing but his output. The one in question here is from Sunsplash a very long twenty-one years ago and is FULL ON exemplary of exactly why San is regarded as such a legend in this art. For much of this ‘demonstration’, the crowd doesn’t react very much, but I would tell you do to ‘mark’ their lack of response is to imagine just about anyone now doing such a thing. How long do you think it would go before the boos started raining down? And it could probably be anyone, no matter how gifted, such a thing just wouldn’t work and I don’t think it’s a matter of changing of the times, I think it’s a matter of not talking, because you want to hear what is said. And if you look very closely, you’ll see certain groups of the crowd (especially in the front) reacting CONSISTENTLY throughout this DOMINANTLY DEVASTATING display of ridiculous talents and as soon as the music comes back through, the crowd erupts. In that regard, Papa San had and most likely still has no equal.
Entertainment: 5/5
Skill Shown: 87/5
Tiwony - Babtoopal
MADNESS! Tiwony is an artist who is not known for doing such a thing , but based on his style, you could assume that he might just be dominant in such a session and he absolutely SHINES in this thing for Frenchie sound Babtoopal. The Gwada star goes at a few nice pieces including that old crazy ass riddim Red Rat used to use (which is the first you’ll hear him on), the Istanbul (which backs a version of his hit ‘Oupatebizwentousa’) and a few others. The intensity is WAY up more than once and Tiwony is of course well on point throughout on this BIG BIG session.
Entertainment: 4.5/5
Skill Shown: 4.9/5
Buju Banton, Elephant Man & Tigga - Rap City
Certainly one that’s high and heavy on the star power, but definitely not power at its absolute strongest is this session from Rap City (which I’m pretty sure still comes on) from BET. Over the years, they’ve had Reggae artists on, here and there (I think Beenie has been on more than once and Sean Paul and others), but in terms of pure ENTERTAINMENT, this is the one which takes the crown in my opinion. Of course the big deal here is the fact that Tigga (the host of the show) is the only one who REALLY freestyles to any extent and he arguably does more than just hold his own in that respect. Still, of the three, Buju takes top prize, especially when things get all Diwali-ish on the people and he draws for ‘Tra-La-La’ and Ele responds with ‘Elephant Message’, but like I said, who cares. This is damn fun to watch.
Entertainment: 5/5
Skill Shown: 3.5/5
Capleton - Chris Goldfinger UK
Speaking of fun to watch (and star power), this next session comes from the very eager Capleton for Chris Goldfinger’s radio show. Watching Capleton do stuff like this is always interesting because, despite the fact that he goes in on a few different tunes, he ALWAYS seems to have a point to make and is actually more than a bit upset when he doesn’t get to make it. This thing here is POWERFUL example of just how talented the Prophet can be in a very natural (for a musician) setting. The first tune here, on the Drop Leaf here is magic (and I don’t recognize it). Still, the highlight definitely comes later when Capleton wreaks havoc on the Showtime Riddim (“know say man a garbage! FOLLOW BEHIND MAN LIKE BAGGAGE!”) to the delight of the nameless lad standing next to him (seemingly an engineer or such) whose facial expressions reveal him as becoming increasingly impressed by this very loud individual standing next to him on the mic, who he seemingly was previously oblivious to.
Entertainment: 5/5
Skill Shown: 5/5
Queen Omega - Party Time
If I say “Trinidad” and I say “Freestyle”, certainly the first individual who would come to most minds would be Bunji Garlin, but Bunji certainly isn’t alone in those respects as evident by this GEM from Queen Omega for Frenchie station, PartyTime.fr. What really (should) come through here is just a very nice dosage of BRILLIANCE which the Queen has as she effortlessly blends a few of her bigger pieces such as the relatively recent ‘Local’, ‘All I Want Is Weed (old school)’ and of course, ‘Warning’. At times, she could have ratcheted up the intensity a bit, but what she has that will make up the gap for her, unlike every other person on this list, is a truly refined singing voice, which she uses in fair amounts of variations here. All in all, like everything musically she has ever done, it’s a clear winner.
Entertainment: 4/5
Skill Shown: 4.25/5
Vybz Kartel, Mr. Peppa & Co. - RealVibez.net [Vendetta]
This STILL infinitely entertaining session introduced quite a few people to maybe a few very solid and potentially special artists a few years back. Of course, the class of the group was far younger and far less jaded Kartel who, in terms of pure skill, probably lapped his peers involved here (and all these years later, that’s probably still true despite some improvement). Still, in terms of highlights, Kartel shares the honours with Bay-C from T.O.K who goes into the ‘Where I’m From’ and another tune I don’t remember which certainly are big, as well as the now mythical Regan who shows off that SERIOUS talent now under the direction of Hip-Hopper Rick Ross (as ‘Magazeen‘) with his effort from Don Corleon’s once mighty Good 2 Go Riddim, ‘Bran’. Still, you can’t help put be entranced when Kartel draws for early hits like ‘Good Inna Clothes’ , ’Highest Grade (which later became the big hit ’Sen On’)’ and definitely ‘Wosen’. Desperado was also there, as was Calico (who I was once very high on) and a largely still undeveloped version of the now WICKED Mr. Peppa, so should you reunite this crew (good luck finding Desperado), I would most certainly be interested (and because it was under Corleon’s ‘direction’, perhaps we could replace Calico and Desperado, with Pressure & Munga Honourable) (I’m just saying).
Entertainment: 5/5
Skill Shown (in full): 4/5
Saïk is a damn monster! When I began this post I was speaking of Papa San who has certainly defined the art of fast style quick chatting displays, well there’re two individuals who have consistently taken up that art form at the top level and made it a large chunk of their own and it leads to some downright dazzling displays. One is, of course, Aidonia and the next time I do this, he’ll certainly feature prominently, the other is the Prince of Creole Dancehall, Saïk from out of Gwada. I could very well add to this bunch the name of Admiral T, but in my opinion, with Saïk’s skillset, he’s already passed his mentor. Certainly a thing teenage-ish Saïk impressed the hell out of Beenie Man (who also impresses in the first video), but what you see there isn’t even a quarter of where he’s developed to. The second video (which may actually be prior to the first) (but I doubt it) is a far more accurate display as the youth runs a session with other artists (I GUESS), but blows them out of water they were never even in (and the casually passes the mic as if someone actually wanted to follow that stuff) (good luck). On the final video here, Saïk (who looks A LOT like someone who owes me A LOT of money), is downright disturbing. Perhaps it’s because the final piece is built on the strength of material which highlighted his debut album, Face á la Réalité, such as ‘Oblijé Nou Bun’, ‘On Sèl Doktrin' and ‘Plis Ki Pèn De Mô’, or maybe it’s just like I said: The man is a damn monster.
Entertainment: 5/5
Skill Shown: 6/5
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