I don’t run blacklists on this blog - though Superchunk and The Hair and Skin Trading Company may disagree with that - but reggae artist Bunny General has on previous occasions offended me to an extent where I thought I would never include anything by him here again. However, to my surprise, Spy Fi Die turns out to be one of the best dancehall tracks I’ve heard Peel play. The artistry and exuberance here overrides any queasiness over Bunny General’s previous bigotry. It helps that, unlike in the disgraceful Pon Mi Border, Bunny General has traded baiting other ethnic minorities for baiting soundboys in sound clashes. Braggadocio and arrogance plays a central part in the culture of sound clash. Most of the time, I find it a turn-off to listen to MCs going on about how great they are compared to the competition, but confidence can be infectious to listen to when it’s delivered as well as Bunny General does here.
The “spy” context in this song, I think refers to moles within a sound crew who might pass on information to rival crews about the music that could be played in a sound clash, so that crews can trump others by finding rarer dubplates to play and draw the crowd to them. The “killing” referred to in this context means beating out opposition crews by beating them in the sound clash. Nevertheless, Bunny General and his producers show they cannot be entirely trusted not to drag the tone down by dubbing on gunshots throughout the track. As with the hip hop wars, the links between sound clash and gang culture in the Caribbean could overlap to almost interchangeable effect. So much so that the basis of this track, including Bunny General’s vocal was remixed by Top Cat as his version of the dancehall standard Informer Fi Dead later in 1993.
Video courtesy of Bunny General - Topic
No comments:
Post a Comment