When two sounds go to war: David Rodigan details his life as a sound clash King

After the early popularity of my recorded newsflashes people came to expect them of me. Skits on the themes of James Bond characters and spies became a particular speciality. Then I took it to the next level by appearing in fancy dress. I was drawing on my theatrical roots – but it’s a long way from the Rose Bruford School of Speech and Drama to the heat of a sound clash in the vast cavern of Club Jam Roc in New York. Inside that venue, hordes of hardcore fans from the United States, the Caribbean and even the UK had come to see me do battle with the toughest sound system in all Jamaica, the mighty Killamanjaro from downtown western Kingston was taking on David Rodigan from Kiss FM in London.

But I proved that night that some theatrical talent can be a valuable secret weapon in a sound clash. As we prepared to take to the stage, my opponent Ricky Trooper, who was selecting the records for Kilamanjaro, could not believe his eyes as I appeared before him dressed in an Indian turban. “What are you doing?” he asked me. Trooper is the fiercest and most competitive character you could meet in the soundsystem world. But this time he was completely thrown. I just laughed – he’d find out soon enough.

The clash was billed as ‘Jamaica versus England’ and the crowd was hyped up. They must have been as confused as Trooper by my Sikh costume. As soon as it was my turn to play I picked out a specially recorded skit in which one of my actor friends spoke as a broadcast newsreader. It started to play: “CNN headline news. Tonight’s top story: rumours have been confirmed that David Rodigan, the soundsystem serial killer, has landed in the New York area. Police and immigration authorities have confirmed reports that Rodigan is disguised as a Sikh taxi driver [Cheers and laughter from the crowd]. He was last seen driving a yellow taxi in the direction of the Jam Roc club in Long Island. Police are warning members of the public not to approach him, as he is armed and extremely dangerous.”

There are many Sikh taxi drivers in New York and suddenly the turban made sense. People were falling about laughing. I had the crowd on my side. After the newsflash I started playing my real dubplates, but still with the Sikh turban on. I began with an acapella of ‘The Lion Sleeps Tonight’ by the Jamaican vocal group ARP: “In the dancehall, the mighty dancehall... Rodigan’s gonna kill a sound tonight.” It turned into an epic clash that went on for around four hours. There was a clock on the wall and we started at 1.30am. It was round after round after round.