Hat tip to my Sean Roofless for providing us with this classic recording!
Hop into Doc Brown’s flux capacitor-equipped DeLorean and ride with me back to 1985. David “Ram Jam” Rodigan has, to this point, been on London radio since 1978 slinging reggae dubplates and been the uncontested champion of England. Barry G, of RJR Radio in Jamaica is his own country’s champion selector and they went “tune fi tune” in this now-legendary soundclash. I think my favorite part is the coin flip performed by Constable Basco at a Halfway Tree substation in Jamaica to determine who went first.
This clash can be found on Youtube and other sites broken up into four parts. However for this post I’ve combined parts 1 & 2 and parts 3 & 4 together (via very rough edits), making it a two part mix. Also the recording is from 1985 so don’t expect amazing fidelity, but it’s passable and the analog nature of the sounds makes the recording.
Rodigan vs Barry G – Legendary Radio Clash – 1985 – Part 1 by Wes – Shadowboxing.Org on Mixcloud
Rodigan vs Barry G – Legendary 1985 Clash – 1985 – Part 2 by Wes – Shadowboxing.Org on Mixcloud
As a special bonus here’s Rodigan’s sit down with Benji B for Red Bull Music Academy at Fabric. It’s enlightening!
Lecture: David Rodigan, MBE (2012) from Red Bull Music Academy on Vimeo.
