Tony Rebel - FileTONY REBEL brought the New Kingston Independence Street Jam last Sunday to a close. Rebel made his performance about more than the music, even though there is usually a message in his lyrics. After starting his performance with Loyal Soldier, which helped to build his hype, he stated to the audience: "We love nuff ting roun' here, but nuff tings wi nuh love an one ting wi no love a hypocrite! If yuh have someting fi tell mi, come tell mi to mi face. So bun a fire pon all hypocrite!" With that, he went into the song of the same name.
From here Rebel moved into Sweet Jam Down. It was then time to move on to another message, which was a segue from Sweet Jam Down which states that the only problem with Jamaica is that "no money naa run". Rebel told the audience, which at this point was still eating out of his hands, that "Mi rebellious cyan done". This statement pre-empted his argument that he had the solution to the money problem.
At this point, one woman who seemed to be thoroughly enjoying herself and providing her own musical backing with a bottle which she beat repeatedly against the steel scaffolding yelled "Talk! Bus di secret!" The secret was one that the audience fully expected - marijuana. Rebel took a very circular route to get to his point, stating that while he would not tell anyone to smoke ganja, hemp has multiple uses.
To emphasise his point he drew on song. His lyrics sent the audience wild, especially when he sang:
How yuh fi lock up di man caa yuh fin' a likkle herb
And so much hard criminal out a road?
How yuh fi lock up di man caa yuh fin' a likkle herb
And bin Laden still out a road?
At this point, he had to 'wheel and come again'.
Rebel then took his set up a notch by adding some 'e-dancing' to his set. "Everybody gone computer savvy," he stated making reference to the 'Log On' and the 'On-line' dances. At this point he called a young man to the stage to demonstrate. He, however, upstaged the youngster when he imitated the 'Drive By', but included the changing of gears in his version. He then introduced a new e-dance, called the 'E-mail'.
Rebel closed his set by going through some of his earlier hits, such as Fresh Vegetable and Chatty Chatty before coming back to his more recent hit Just Friends, for which he called up Swade. He ended with If Jah Is Standing By My Side.
All the other performers in this segment gave much shorter sets, though not all were as thrilling. Roy Rayon, the energy man of the Festival competition, put his trademark energy burst on the show. His presence seemed to have been quite anticipated as chants of his name filled the air before he was officially announced.
Rayon mixed his performance with a few non-festival songs. He started his set with Another One Come, Another One Fall, then switched gears. He performed This Little Girl of Mine and Too Experienced. However, festival songs are his forte and that is what the crowd wanted to hear. They were duly satisfied when he went into his winners Come Rock, Love Fever and Give Thanks and Praises.
Lovindeer, who was dressed in full revival gear, also took a turn at the microphone. To match his outfit, he started out with Jump Revival. Still somewhat in keeping with the mood of his outfit, he performed a few songs on the 'Nine Night' rhythm, including Wine Go Down Low and Girls Gungo Walk before going into his own repertoire with Shortwood and finally Wild Gilbert.
Leroy Sibbles also gave a quick-spirited set, which saw the audience rocking while he was on the stage. He drew on hits such as 54-46 and I Feel Like Dancing.
Newcomers Tess-Ann Chin and Kyan also performed. Both did rather well and showed great performance potential. Stevie Face also had a short time on the microphone, though his 'hype man' proved to be far more impressive than he was.
