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Welcome to Sound System Fridays — Canada’s first and premiere online Reggae-Dancehall show featured the best in local and international Reggae and Dancehall Sound Systems, Dee-Jays and Artistes playing and performing live every Friday from the ReggaeMania studios at Brimley Rd. & Highway #401 in Scarborough. Picking up from where CKLN Friday Night ReggaeMania left off, Sound System Fridays was video-steamed and broadcast live every Fridays 9 PM – Midnight on U-Stream, iTunes and ReggaeMania.com for all to enjoy. Unfortunately U-Stream was sold and we did not back-up our videos – still hurts. But, you can see the Pics, listen -download the complete Audio archives, and read the show reviews.
Click here to see the complete 2012 – 2014 Schedule for Sound System Fridays. Turn On, Tune In – ReggaeMania – Sound System Fridays…madd!
This SSF show featured THUNDA HAWK Sound [MC Poison + MC Ice Ras + DJ Chronic M.D.]… Thunderhawk Sound (reppin’ Lawrence Heights aka Jungle) hosted Sound System Fridays this week. I was introduced to
them by my boy, Plucky (aka J-Nyce) who’s been trying to get me to book them for Sound System Fridays for the last eighteen months or so. I never took him seriously because I didn’t think that he took the dubplate/Sound system business seriously – little did I know. I spoke to Plucky the day of the broadcast; he explained to me that he wouldn’t be making an appearance later on that night, but that his Sound would be there to represent. The only thing he didn’t tell me was that they would be arriving late – as in, over 90 minutes late! Even after they arrived (they didn’t have a ‘good’ excuse), it took them 15 minutes before they dropped their first chune.
Luckily for Thunderhawk, I wasn’t in a bad mood. Truth has it, most Sounds as of late show up late for their show – it has almost become ‘the norm’ even though this practice is unprofessional. I don’t quite know the reason behind it, but I can throw out some guesses – the Sound might be disorganized, they might lose track of the time, or they’re relying on others for transportation; and for some, it’s a tactic.
Some Sounds lack the insight of fearlessly playing for three straight hours as they don’t want people to know just how ‘deep’ their box is. I must admit, I had fun playing for the first hour – I ‘killed’ it musically! I was a little disappointed with the transition – I had to wait another 15 minutes for them to get ready, set, and play their first chune. I could have continued playing. It was time for Thunderhawk to shine!
I’ve got to give Thunderhawk some credit though: from the beginning of their show until the end, it was a smooth ride – musically speaking. Thunderhawk is composed of MC Poison (owner), MC Ice-Ras, DJ Chronic M.D., J-Nyce (Plucky), Greg Hawk, Mr. C., and Indian Stitch – the latter three were absent from the show. Chronic M.D. is a smooth mixer and his dub selections proved it – the night was well-paced and took on a mature tone. I had a good time listening! Whoever’s at the helm of Thunderhawk knows exactly what they’re doing – from their vision to dub cutting.
However, it’s one thing to impress me, but what about the ‘chat’ room critics? They weren’t having it! They too had been disappointed by Thunderhawk’s late arrival and were giving it to them throughout the show. Despite their well-cut dubs, they were guilty of dropping ‘early warm’ dubs during the peak hours of the show. The critics and Soundman alike were definitely not buying into their excuse – ‘holding back dubs for Fully Loaded.’ It was poor judgement on their part!
Thunderhawk expressed their fearlessness when it came to ‘speech,’ but only took it so far – they didn’t call out any Sounds’ names. Big Up Thunderhawk – a 20-year-old Sound that has been revamped after being parked for a while (the owner was playing for another Sound)! I hope they’ve got something in store for Fully Loaded; we’ll just have to wait and see. Big Up the artiste of the night – Kelard! This artiste is ripe and on point – he needs to hit the studio and record songs for radio airplay. Check him out, you’ll be impressed!
I asked Thunderhawk about their ‘clash’ victory record. They bragged and boasted about winning several clashes and that they had the trophies to prove it. I then asked them to recount a favourite memory from one of those clashes – nothing. The chat room got hot! According to the chat room participants, the clash they spoke of never happened; they were lying! That didn’t sit well with some of them who immediately took to Canadian Sound Clash Fraternity on Facebook to voice their opinion. I, of course, was unaware of this at the time, but can confirm the thread’s existence.
As for why a Sound would make a claim like that, it’s beyond me! I don’t even understand the calling of competing Sounds’ names – smh! Needless to say, it backfired on them – some of those ‘supposed’ competing Sounds were tuned in to Sound System Fridays. All I can say is, I wish them luck in cleaning up this mess! You can bet, come Fully Loaded, it’ll resurface and they’ll have to face it head-on! Enjoy the Podcast!
This SSF show featured 4 Sounds; METROMEDIA Sound [Sky Juice + DJ Skully], RENAISSANCE [DJ Jazzy-T], STEP-A-CHOICE [DJ Itchy#1] and HEATWAVE [DJ Spragga Roots]…The SoundSystem Fridays line-up saw
legendary Sounds – Metromedia, Renaissance, Heatwave, and Step-A-Choice tearing it up inside the ReggaeMania studio. Earlier that day, I received word from the promoter that Bass Odyssey wasn’t able to make it to Canada due to circumstances beyond their control. So now, it was up to Metromedia and Renaissance to carry the show alongside Heatwave and sidekick Step-A-Choice Sound.
The anticipation of waiting to see and hear both Sounds made my heart beat faster. At 9:05 PM, I heard a knock on the door and saw Metromedia’s Sky Juice alongside Jazzy T from Renaissance with escort Shock Deeze of Lexus Supreme Music Group walking in. DJ Kenny would arrive on a late flight thus unfortunately missing the show. Delighted that they showed up on time, it was now Metromedia time!.
Oliver was not present, so all the selecting would be done by Skully. The bad news was that these iconic Sounds – Metromedia and Renaissance had to leave by 9:35 PM to get ready for their next gig (Love & Dancehall Reggae Giants at The Guvernment). So, while it was great having Metromedia in the studio, it really was a tease. Sky Juice, upon walking in, really loved the vibe – everyone in the studio was having fun except Jazzy T, who’s suffering from a migraine. He talked on the mic a bit, but didn’t spin any classic Renaissance dubs. This was okay with Sky Juice, who sat down and selected dubs that his younger counterparts would’ve played with a little chat going on.
What was interesting was that the viewers and listeners at home could not see or hear Sky Juice’s ad lib, which was comical! For almost every foundation dub that he selected, he would bother Jazzy T, asking him, “You know this one?” For the most part, Jazzy T ignored him and tried to nurse his migraine, but as Sky Juice continued on, it was clear that Metromedia was in ‘clash’ mode – warming up for their following night gig where they would meet Renaissance in war at World Clash R.E.S.E.T also featuring Fire Links, Soul Supreme, King Addies, Mighty Crown, and LP International. Good for Sky Juice, he should never be underestimated!
I didn’t get the chance to do an in-depth interview with Metromedia or Renaissance due to time constraints, too bad really as I was looking forward to it; both Sounds and I go way back. Big up to Lexus Supreme Music Group for delivering Metromedia and Renaissance to ReggaeMania studio – they went above and beyond and played a few more tunes once both Sounds left, then handed it over to Step-A-Choice who then handed it over to Heatwave. Both of these Sounds dub boxes run deep – classic dubs that are so heavy that they demand to be heard.
Most of Step-A-Choice’s set was without the MC, yet it sounded so good! Spragga brought the ‘dancehall’ vibes back – his bass voice anchoring the Heatwave dubs and specials made for a great end of the night. Unfortunately for Spragga, midnight came too soon. I had to end the show at a decent time as I was scheduled to fly out early Saturday morning to New York for World Clash R.E.S.E.T. No live artistes this time ’round, just iconic Sounds representing. Enjoy the Podcast!
This SSF show featured TEMPO Sound with DJ Red Out + Jah Leon… Big Up Tempo Sound – hosts of Sound System Fridays last Friday night on ReggaeMania.com. The crew showed up on time (a first in a while) and
were ready to represent. In the house was Soujie (original owner of Tempo alongside Shabba Ranks), DJ Redout (MC/DJ), Ivan – (a visiting DJ/Promoter from the Slovakia Reggae Scene), special guest DJ passing through – Bigga Boss (Sniper Sound) and artiste – Jah Leon. This crew was excited! They were well prepared and presented an interesting journey back in time – they dropped dubs that hadn’t been touched in a long time, not to mention, a custom ‘Ron Nelson’ dub – Big Up Tempo!
Tempo Sound goes back to the late 70s, the King Tubby/Ska days when Sounds owned their own audio systems. Back in the day, Sounds that played out had to rent trucks, hire staff and set up their gear before even thinking about dropping their first chune on the turntables. Before Tempo set up shop in Canada, according to Soujie, only a small handful of Sound systems existed in Canada – Kenyata, Black Zodiac, Upsetta and Stereograph to name a few.
Some of you may or may not be satisfied with their choice of chunes, but, this is a non-issue this night. Tempo avoided playing 45s and cruised through their set without breaking a sweat playing exclusive dubs and specials (Michael Prophet, Colonel Campbell, Big Youth, Dirtsman, Delroy Wilson, Nico Demus, Hammermouth, etc.) backed by ‘short but sweet’ speeches and topped off with a solid live artiste performance anchored by a great interview.
Tempo revisited the late 80s and early 90s of Dancehall – although plagued with violence, it was musically more ripe for the picking. Few would argue that some of the best music ever put out was released during this era. It was also during this era that Toronto was put on the map – some of our best selectors today, including Fire Kid Steenie (who still reigns strong to this day) come out of that time period. People in the Dancehall Scene don’t know this, but, Steenie’s ‘initiation’ into the business was through Tempo Sound, not Super Fresh. Tempo Sound was the first to bus’ ‘im!
Soujie is an interesting cat – very skilled when it comes to discovering talent and being a mentor. Although Soujie is older now, he is young at heart and his spirit is free. Now that he has relaunched Tempo, he wants people to recognize them as a “war” Sound. Says Soujie, “Original, a deh so we come from, we a bring back di bad boy Sound. Mi guh a nuff dance and people a play di same ting everyday…but, we nah guh inna di play play ting – di joke ting”.
Tempo still has some work to do before they rise again. One thing I’ll comment on is the quality of their dubs – the audio quality is poor. This is most likely caused from transferring old scratchy dub plates to MP3s and not accounting for additional adjustment. Nowadays, a Sound must keep up-to-date dubs in their box in order to be relevant in the dancehall – in fact, a combination of old and new chunes is where it’s at – this, combined with skill, execution and speech is how you win in the ‘clash’ arena.
Tempo did score on the artiste front – a talented youth from Scarborough that goes by the name Jah Leon. I have no doubts, I think you’ll enjoy this artiste. Again, it just reinforces the fact that Toronto and surrounding areas are churning out some very talented Reggae artistes. Big Up yourself Jah Leon – you’ve got what it takes to make it!
On a final note, I would like to apologize to Tempo and to our loyal Sound System Fridays supporters for our site going down shortly after the start of this show. This was an unexpected surprise. Our hosting company shut us down (without notice), claiming that the traffic on our site had ‘spiked’ causing some interference with their ‘other’ clients sites. This was news to us, we hadn’t done anything different before, during or after this show. Fortunately, many of our viewers knew how to find us on Ustream and TuneIn. To ensure this doesn’t happen again, ReggaeMania.com will be moving to a dedicated server. Enjoy the Podcast – it’s slightly distorted at times – if you’re looking for better quality audio, check the Ustream link!
This SSF show featured SNIPER Sound with DJ Bigga Boss… Sniper Sound represented on Sound System Fridays last Friday night with DJ Bigga Boss at the helm. The remaining members of the crew were off
promoting their “Fine Juggling” event for the following weekend. Bigga Boss AKA Fatman arrived an hour late, but, played for two hours straight. I liked the vibes he sent out. This Sound got beat up ‘musically’ in their last two clashes, Bigga Boss said, “no more”! Perhaps that was the inspiration behind his playing that night – he dropped some amazing dubs, not to mention, his execution was flawless. With just Bigga Boss and myself in the ReggaeMania studio, it seemed a little strange – I missed the fanfare and guest artistes. Not much else to review here, download and enjoy the sounds of Sniper!
Welcome to DJRONNELSON.COM. My name is Ron Nelson. I am a Canadian recording artist and promotional urban shift-shaker based in Toronto, that is my legacy, and I am happy to share my life story with you on this website. I hope you learn and enjoy.
