Red Bull Culture Clash

Earlier this year, Red Bull teased this monumental 4-sided battle by sending Boy Better Know to Jamaica to discover some of the roots of clashing culture and get in the right headspace for the Earls Court spectacular. If you haven’t seen the film, as it proves that BBK – just like the other sides in this war – really do mean business. As the first siren blared across the exhibition centre (The Telegraph’s Ski and Snow Convention reconvenes today) and the London grime powerhouse launched in to their opening gambit, a night of big-budget sparring got underway. It was a night that proved that when a big idea is placed in the right hands, it can be a winning form of entertainment.

Earlier this year, Red Bull teased this monumental 4-sided battle by sending Boy Better Know to Jamaica to discover some of the roots of clashing culture and get in the right headspace for the Earls Court spectacular. If you haven’t seen the film, watch it here as it proves that BBK – just like the other sides in this war – really do mean business. As the first siren blared across the exhibition centre (The Telegraph’s Ski and Snow Convention reconvenes today) and the London grime powerhouse launched in to their opening gambit, a night of big-budget sparring got underway. It was a night that proved that when a big idea is placed in the right hands, it can be a winning form of entertainment.

Each corner of the room had it’s own victorious chapters throughout; Skepta bounding on to the stage for That’s Not Me came through as an early contender for drop of the night but it was almost instantly upstaged when Wiley came on for Too Many Man. BBK looked set to reclaim their crown from last year’s clash until Rebel Sound (Chase, Status, Shy FX and David Rodigan) found someone-who-knew-someone and managed to get their opening round launched by a faux “breaking news” segment hosted by retired national treasure Sir Trevor McDonald. This is what made the whole clash so special, an exhaustion of options that forced these artists to get creative, shameless and in turn, even more entertaining.

The inclusion of the A$AP Mob added a bit of venom to proceedings with quad bikes, dancing girls and Rocky starting a dangerously violent looking mosh-pit when he drew for Niggas In Paris – tactics like this had people wondering whether the Harlem whippersnappers had fully prepped for a clash of this scale. Rocky and Ferg carted out their hits just like clash veterans Stone Love brought out reggae golden cuts and got the crowd gassed with a round-two launching of Rum and Red Bull straight after Ace Hood’s Bugatti.

If you can’t tell already, a lot happened at the culture clash and Crack’s mind is a little fried. That’s what happens when you spend an evening in a colosseum of noise and energy like this one. There was BBK launching shots at Tempa T for appearing with Chase and Status and “snaking the mandem for a pay cheque”. There was Danny Brown bundling on stage for a liquor-slinging rendition of Blueberry with the A$AP Mob. Maybe our highlight was the Kurupt FM collective providing Rebel Sound with a custom dub plate of Get Out The Way with attacks on all rival squads. Oh shit wait, there was the bit where Rihanna re-recorded We Found Love just for this and threw shade at Boy Better Know.

It was high level battling and Rebel Sound took the crown because they had the arsenal to fire the hardest shots.  By the end of it though, the winner was the last of Crack’s worries. Battered and bruised, we left the battlefield after a no-expense-spared showcase of internecine warfare.