On the 22nd of December, Lyssons Park St.Thomas was turned into a festival of fulljoyment as a chorus of chants rang out exalting the Unruly Boss as the unheralded King of Dancehall.
Unruly fest was a stage show of supreme grandeur as the stage set up screamed “production value” as it was solid, sound and steadfast. The lights shone brightly, the speakers didn’t amplify any disruptive screeches as everything was the way as it should be, heavenly. Panning from the stage into the venue revealed a different world. This world was muddy, murky and wet all these conditions were not
Man-made but more of divine nature as the Almighty allowed rain to reign on the Unruly’s king parade. The event organizers tried their best to combat the muddy situation as dry grass was thrown on many areas that were invaded by grubby waters. This provided some comfort but not enough as I saw enough muddied Clarks and Bridgets know patrons’ bathtubs had a rough morning.
The performances that pleased me at UNRULY FEST were: I-Wayne, Agent Sasco, Jah Vinci, Bugle, Popcaan, Bushman, Drake, Baka, Quada, Jah Frass, Dre Island, Bounty Killer and Tory Lanez. I think that’s the entire show really, it was that good! All performances were amazing and for three thousand five hundred Jamaican dollars I think everyone in attendance has to be charged because that’s flat out robbery.
Imagine paying the sum of 5 cheese patties, two tings and 4 pieces of coco bread to enjoy some of the best talents worldwide. (Please don’t question my math skills, I beg you). My standout performer….. no it wasn’t Drake but it was I-Wayne because it was so entertaining to see one man light fire on so many things. In a next life I-Wayne would be a great arsonist. My next standout performers were Drake and Popcaan simply being I have never seen any live performances from them and simply feeling the air leave my lungs and not returning whilst watching them perform was lit.
Let me not be the one to speak only on my experience at Unruly Fest, check out what some patrons had to say.
Romario Oil (Spanish Town, Jamaica) – What attracted you to Unruly Fest?
I was honestly attracted to Unruly Fest by the fact that my fav hip/hop rap artiste
Drake was going to be present.
Tina Ashley (Kingston, Jamaica) – What was the highlight of the event for you?
Funnily, as much as I love Drake and damn near died when he came on stage, I was HYPED when Live Up to my Name was being performed. I was full on jumping and shouting the lyrics because that’s my hype song.
Shaquille Blake (St. Elizabeth, Jamaica) – What is your take on Popcaan signing to OVO?
It’s been coming (YY, I have to respect Popcaan’s never ending agenda) for some time now, I guess his previous Mixpak deal hindered it but big up Dreskull, yuh done know. I mean Drake is in his peak, his prime, Popcaan get to be a part of that, he gets to tap into that fan base, Drizzy commercial value, his alignment with Apple Music and Billboard I can only see Popcaan and Dancehall benefiting from it, it’s by no coincident that his FOREVER album is now back at No.1 on the reggae charts after the news reached media outlets, I really looking forward to seeing Popcaan flourish even more internationally from this.
The patrons loved Unruly Fest what more can be said?
I really hope this will be the future of concerts in Jamaica as we have already seen where Protoje and Chronixx have replicated international standards when it comes to their individual shows. I hope one day in Jamaica we will be having two or three-day music festivals to rival those overseas because the evidence of quality is there.
The magnitude of this show measures quite high on the Richter scale as we all bared witness to the ascension of dancehall’s greatest sons. Growth was the major theme of this concert as we saw the Mr. Sutherland cement himself in Dancehall’s foundation as an all-time great. Popcaan first marveled us with the timeless dancehall spiritual entitled ‘Dream’ where he told us “nuh listen to badmind talk or message weh pagan send cause dem a dream”. Those song lyrics erupted with europhia out of the volcano we call our emotions. Popcaan told us to dream and now he tells us to be firm and strong as he maintains his mission of encouraging us as only the Unruly Boss can.
mhm.
Hakeem ‘Uncle’ Bryan
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