STING!

STING

I sit here this morning, writing something I had no intention writing about,why? Because it no longer give me the high it gave back then. Has STING lost it’s STING?

Boxing night was always the night I asked my mother to migrate from my bedroom at the back of the house and sleep in her bed because it was at the front of the house and her window was wide enough for me not to miss anything.

The National Arena was where STING began with Ninja man , the killing Ninja who was expected to win every clash and he never failed to deliver. Right there on spot, he came in with his permit to bury, licensed to kill. Shabba Ranks, Supercat, Flourgon, Junior Demus , not only got killed but all were sent to musical Meadowrest.

The patrons coming home from STING always had something to talk about, even after seeing Ninja Man year after year. In 1990 , with the Ninja Man and Shabba Ranks clash, I really expected to see Shabba in tears, on youtube. It was personal, heart-felt and something to look forward to, as many of the patrons could not explain that it was Shabba’s ego that floated on the ground at STING, instead they said he wanted to cry , and why? Ninja man called him ”dodo pants”. All this I heard from Mommy’s window. STING was something I had to see, and I hated Ninja man because he killed my Dj at the time, Shabba Ranks. I could not stand Ninja Man just for that.

Technology has given me the opportunity to see all that I was too young to see and understand but even now , a brilliant 2011 and over twenty years, Jamaica has not produced such a talent. Ninja Man , manipulated, tenderized his opponent before putting them on his chopping block. They felt uneasy, defeated sometimes by his prancing around the stage, or by his mocking of them. A natural, because he seemed mightily unware  of what he himself did.

It would be easy to dispute that talent needs just the right amount of narcissism, but it does. One has to believe and recognize who they are and never lose sight of that because in doing so the battle will be lost, without an actual war.

Has STING seasoned its STING? This was the show of shows, the root of the grass  that many feared and had to stand a way off, looking. It was the ”poor” people’s Grand Gala. Trench Town, Down Kirk, Rema, Tivoli, Jungle and Back Bush all put aside any turf war they had, to go to the National Arena and watched these men, whose beings sang music. From their facial expressions to the way they moved, it was obvious they were there for more than just the hype. The crowd’s reaction was intoxicating, charismatic almost like a drug. Was this STING?

Yes, I am afraid, it was STING , and it has gone on way after Ninja Man stopped performing because it was really never about him. It was about the music, good music, talented music, intoxicating music ,charismatic music. Raw /natural talent in surplus. Something we don’t have now. Without this, STING will continue to UN-STING