MUNGA Honorable and sound system Road Karma were the toast of Guinness Sounds of Greatness competition held at the Rudolph Elder Park in Morant Bay, St Thomas, last Friday.

The dancehall deejay was the guest performer at the event. He had fans cheering wildly by just the utterance of his signature intro: ‘YEAAAAH YEAAAH’.

“I grew up on sound clash and it’s a big part of dancehall. It’s something that has national appeal so it’s only natural for Guinness to align itself with sound clash. I was honoured that the Guinness brand reached out to our team, Hilltop Records. That was all it took and we made ourselves present. It’s significant for us to be here because St Thomas is a sound clash place, home to greats like Winston Blake. All in all, Jamaica is a sound clash place, sound clash lives within dancehall and dancehall is Jamaica,” he said.

Blake was an established selector on the veteran sound system Merritone. The 75-year-old died in February 2016.

Munga’s set included Earthquake/Gangsters Don’t Play Around, Wine Pon It, and Party Hard. The crowd went wild when he performed Nah Mad (Ova Nuh Gyal). He ended his set with the song that gave him prominence, Bad From Mi Born.

Meanwhile, Road Karma got the better of Twin Star Sound, High Grade Sound, and Massive International Sound. The sound system set themselves apart at the very start, pulling ahead on points in the 15-minute juggling round.

For the challenge round, Twin Star battled it out against Road Karma for the Best Spice song, while Massive International and High Grade Sound matched up for the Best of Lady Saw. In the end, the judges gave the nod to Massive International and Road Karma to face off in the evening’s final.

Resident judge Not Nice described the final as: “The closest ‘Dub-fi-Dub’ round I have ever seen.”

Guest judges Copper Cutty of Coppershot and Ikel Marvlus (Downsound Records) joined Not Nice in the call for a tie-breaker.

“This has to go one fi one,” said Not Nice.

In the end, Road Karma pulled the most forwards and took the honours.

Road Karma is slated to face off with DJ Naz, Shadrock Sound, High Grade International Sound, Natural Vibe Sound, Real Money Sound, and wild card Unruly Stumpy Sound in the series finale on June 28 at Red Stripe headquarters located at 214 Spanish Town Road in Kingston.