Review
Publication date : Tuesday, March 22nd 2005 - 5 325 views
Black chiney in Paris
After Massive B, the New York veteran, it was the turn of the young Miami sound system Black Chiney to be welcomed at La Loco. Founded by the Chin brothers, this crew first made its name with mixtapes before setting up a real sound system in 2001. Winners of Fully Loaded 2002, which rewards the best sound system in juggling, they have risen in power and are now among the best American hopes. For this first visit to France, the sound was represented by Bobby Chin on the mic and Supa Dups on selection.
 When we arrived, the room was already well filled. Klando Sound was running the dance with the Military riddim. Black Chiney quickly took over, after setting up their equipment, which lets them mix MP3s from vinyl turntables.
Supa Dups launched a Bounty Killer remix as an intro and moved on to recent dancehall/roots tracks on dubplate: Damian Marley for his hit Jamrock, the Hard Time and Drop Leaf riddims, I swear with Chuck Fender and Richie Spice. Then came a few more classic dubplates from Cocoa Tea, Pinchers, Beres Hammond, Glen Washington or Sizzla.
 The show built in intensity when the Showtime riddim was heard with a devastating juggling of dubplates: Singer J, no fewer than eight Bounty Killer tunes (including the reworked Murderer with the lyrics "born as a chiney man"), Beenie Man, Baby Cham, Elephant Man and two Vybz Kartel. They got a good forward on Elephant's Badmind before carrying on, still juggling, still on dubplates, with the very latest riddims: Stepz, Dancehall Rock, Coolie Dance, Chrome, Mad Instruments, Jonkanoo and finally Kopa, the riddim produced by Black Chiney. Bobby Chin's MCing kept up the pressure on every tune.
Then came a ragga/hip-hop session where dubplates and remixes blended. Most memorable was the Foxy Brown dub, but also, on the Jamaican side, Bounty Killer, Vybz Kartel, Elephant Man, Beenie Man and Sizzla on the latest hip-hop instrumentals, though not only those. This style made the reputation of Supa Dups and Black Chiney...
The sound then played a few new releases: Elephant Man dubs accompanying dance moves, a Voice Mail dubplate in particular.
They carried on with dubplate juggling on the Black Out, Thunda Clap, Mad Guitar and Military riddims, and finished their set with a few older dubplates.
 The sound took a break and made way for Shadow Killa for a well-handled interlude of classic 45s.
After a breathtaking first half made up almost exclusively of dubplates and remixes, Black Chiney came back for a more conventional dance. Opening with several Bob Marley tunes, Supa Dups quickly mixed old Sizzla and dancehall-roots hits, including several Sanchez (a Miami resident). A few dubplates then embellished a varied selection of recent and older dancehall. The tunes, mostly well known to the crowd, were played very quickly. The sound concluded its performance with a few new dubplates from Vybz Kartel and Elephant Man before handing control back to Klando Sound.
Black Chiney gave everything in their first half, where their ultra-fast juggling triggered forward after forward without a moment's respite. A real demonstration! The second half, admittedly more classic, still saw an impressive number of "big tunes" go by. Among the most played artists that night: Sizzla, Elephant Man, Bounty Killer... Bravo for this night, we want more!
Report written by Benoit Georges
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