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With the "Riddim Clash 2004"
just around the corner it's time again to represent for the
Soundbwoys! Supersonic, Berlin's No.1 will face a fierce battle
with the likes of Freddy Krueger, Ricky Trooper and One Love.
In the Interview Nadine talked with Supersonic MC Spider about
controversial clashs, Dances in Berlin and Football.
Germaican Observer: How long has Supersonic
been around and who are the members of Supersonic?
Supersonic Sound (Spider): Well the first time Supersonic
made itself a name was when Panza (Selector) was doing
his first mixtape and that was released in like 1998, and
like the year after I was joining Panza and there is
Uzzla who also is the man behind Downbeat, the
No.1 Reggae shop in Berlin.
G.O.: Do you think that you can make
it internationally, like on the level of Killamanjaro
or other famous Jamaican Soundsystems?
S.S.: If you are at the right spot at the right time
then I'm sure, but you have to prove yourself and it's hard
to really stay on that level... and especially for us it's
like how we are based and it's getting better for us, more
artists are passing through and more concerts and more shows
and you get better links. Like the sounds outta Jamaica get
free tunes and they getting the tunes as they come out there
and we're getting them 2, 3 months later.
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G.O.: What is the Soundsystem scene
like in Berlin, being the capital of Germany?
S.S.: Well the problem with Berlin is that you can
go out to Dances from Monday to Sunday, and for example on
a Thursday night you got like 4 different dances and you got
so many Selectors and Sounds and it's not really like easy
to keep dances and to promote them, you got a lot of quantity
but not too much quality...
It's just too much sometimes, and people just looking for
cheap parties where you pay a little bit of money and they
don't really care about the quality... like who's playing...
for example we brought Killamanjaro the other day and you
had like 120 people in the place that's strange and then you
have somebody with no name and he pulls like 300, 400 people
just because he's charging like 3 Euro only and so it's not
easy.
On one side Reggae music is getting more and more into the
people but on the other side it has to be a little bit of
quality and I don't know, we will see what the future brings.
G.O.: Was there any Sound or MC that
actually inspired you to also want to play on a Soundsystem?
S.S.: Not really, I just loved the music and in the
early 1990's when I was getting into it, I really did like
Troopers' style when he was on Killamanjaro.
When it came to clashes nobody could test Trooper,
he had a lot of influence on me but I was never really following
no Sound, there were a lot of good Sounds that I liked to
listen to but it was never like: I wanna play like this Sound...
just wanted to do my own thing.
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G.O.: Let's talk about some of the
Soundclashes that Supersonic have been in, you clashed
some time ago with Sound Quake in Stuttgart and some
people think that Supersonic should have won, what
do you think?
S.S.: It was a really good experience and honestly
I thought that the first round was drawn or maybe Sound
Quake had won that round, but the second and third rounds
were like so clear and I was so sure that we really would
make it... maybe if we had played in a different territory
or on a different continent, like maybe if it had been in
Jamaica or in New York then maybe it would have been different.
But the German crowd is also not that deep into the clash
thing like it should be.
G.O.: The clash in Wuppertal was also
another controversy where some also thought that Supersonic
should have won and Freddy didn't play any Foundation
songs in the tune fi tune but still won...
S.S.: It was not the tune fi tune alone, Freddy
was just there juggling and he missed the topic of the night
but he was still getting the forwards... it's the same thing
I was saying before, people not really deep into the clash.
I don't wanna disrespect no girls but they come in there and
they just wanna dance and only give you a forward when you
play a Sean Paul and on the other hand you have other
people who go like "this is Freddy Krueger and
he was juggling for Killamanjaro for a couple of years
and who is Supersonic fi really beat him now?".
I even saw some local Soundmembers fom that area and they
was like booing us when we were playing songs like 'Simmer
Down' from Bob Marley in the tune fi tune and giving
Freddy forwards for like TOK and Elephant
Man, so I saw a lot of badmind people out there who didn't
want to see us getting that kind of ratings, but that's how
it goes.
I hope at the upcoming "Riddim Clash" in Munich
the people will be fair and we will see what the clash will
bring.
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G.O.: Are you planning to like get
your revenge on Feddy at the "Riddim Clash"?
S.S.: I can't really say revenge because you have Trooper
and One Love as well and I feel that they are a
harder problem than Freddy should be. Freddy
don't have a deep box especially when it comes to dub fi dub
at least nobody really knows, but I doubt he has a really
strong box. But definitely I don't wanna drop out before Freddy!
G.O.: How do you prepare for a clash,
do you just play or do you have a special tactic?
S.S.: You just cut your tunes that you have to cut
and you have to voice a lot of specials and get some good
songs for the night, maybe you have a few songs that you keep
for the dub fi dub but when you have a round not going so
well you still have to draw dem out fi get di crowd... when
you have 4 Sounds everbody could play certain songs and especially
the regular that every man have in dem box so you can't really
plan. When you have your plan and you focus on that and a
next man play that song then you get thrown off and you can't
really find another song. So it's better when you don't really
plan too much and see how the people are moving and what you
have.
G.O.: Supersonic has played in Tobago,
what is the Reggae/Dancehall scene there like?
S.S.: It used to be plenty Conscious music and you
have your Soca and Calypso especially when it comes to Carnival
time. It used to be like Garnett Silk, Anthony B
and like Sizzla and they used to be very big there
before they buss in Jamaica and other places... but nowadays
it's very jiggy, because of the Cable TV a lot of people are
influenced by the American HipHop music.
G.O.: Do you have relatives there?
S.S.: Well actually my Baby Mama she is a Trini and
I actually used to live there when I was a youth and I have
a lot of friends and family there too.
G.O.: I heard that you are a football
fan, what do you think of Jamaica's chances of qualifying
for the World Cup here in Germany?
S.S.: That would be great, Trinidad or Jamaica I would
love for one of them to represent or maybe even both that
would be great!
G.O.: Finally some short facts, favourite
Artist?
S.S.: Luciano
G.O.: Favourite Riddim?
S.S.: Rockfort Rock
G.O.: Favourite Song?
S.S.: "Fight Back" - Garnett Silk
& Richie Stephens
Germaican Observer: Thanks a lot and
good luck in Munich.
Supersonic Sound (Spider): Yeah, thank you.
Nadine Reid
G.O. Crew. Leipzig/Germaica
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