In pictures: Red Bull Culture Clash at Earls Court
Following on from previous seismic soundclashes at The Roundhouse and Wembley Arena, the annual Red Bull Culture Clash touched down at Earls Court last night with a crowd of 20,000 people in attendance. For the uninitiated, Culture Clash pits four bass-heavy music crews against each other in order to see who comes out on top, with the overall winners chosen by the team who get the most noise from the crowd. Jordan Jarrett-Bryan went down to see what was gwarnin’.
‘Culture Clash came to conquer and did so with destructive consequences last night at Earls Court. The capital came to a standstill (just ask London Underground) as sub-low decibels from Kingston Jamaica and Brooklyn New York took on those from East and the rest of London, in a four-way festival of fighting talk (or bars).
It was Rebel Sound, made up of Sir David Rodigan, Shy FX, and Chase & Status, who took the crown from reigning champions Boy Better Know (JME, Skepta, Wiley and crew). The US sounds of ASAP Mob and to a larger extent, Stone Love never really got a look-in and so the UK’s finest battled it out, sparring dub for dub before an exclusive dubplate featuring Rihanna for Rebel Sound, connected with the jaw of BBK – a blow they never recovered from. And that was after Rebel Sound made Red Bull Culture Clash history when BBK affiliate Tempa T burst out onto the stage of Rebel Sound, to the joy of 20,000 and annoyance of BBK. Burn.
Red Bull Culture Clash is a concept with legs which we expect to run for many years to come. But can anyone see Rebel Sound (above) relinquishing their crown anytime soon? Not really.’
Find out more at cultureclash.redbull.co.uk. See Boy Better Know crew members JME at Just Jam at the Barbican on Dec 13 and Wiley at The Garage on Dec 16.
Here are some more photos from last night: