The Jamaica Observer’s Entertainment Desk continues with the 35th of its biweekly feature looking at seminal moments that have helped shape Jamaica over the past 60 years.

WHEN Joseph Hill wrote a song saluting Pan African leader Marcus Garvey 45 years ago, even he was surprised at its ominous impact.

Two Sevens Clash, produced by Joe Gibbs, was inspired by Garvey’s alleged warning of grim events in Jamaica on July 7, 1977 — the day the sevens met. It was frightening enough to keep an entire nation on edge.

Hill was lead singer and chief songwriter for Culture, the group that did Two Sevens Clash. In 1997, to mark the song’s 20th anniversary, he spoke to the Jamaica Observer.

“We were thinking about Marcus and His Excellency’s [Emperor Haile Selassie] efforts to try and keep black people’s eyes open. It was a revelation of the truth when black people would start seeing themselves in a different light,” he said.

Jamaica at the time was gripped in a civil war. In mid-1970s there was sustained friction between the ruling People’s National Party led by the socialist Prime Minister Michael Manley, and the Jamaica Labour Party, headed by Edward Seaga.

Manley’s message of self-reliance and black consciousness was a perfect base for the dreadlocked Hill’s song. Two Sevens Clash was released shortly before July 7, 1977, and by the time the date came around hysteria had set in.

Businesses and schools were closed for the day, and a nation braced for the worst. But there was no dramatic incident.

In 1997 Hill defended the song, saying it was relevant for the times.

“From the 70s black people have been on their feet again,” he said.

The Linstead-born artiste blamed the country’s social prejudices for the paranoia that resulted.

“The people were made to be frightened. There was too much of this ‘backra’ [slave master] mentality,” he said. “In those days there were people who used di revolution just to get poor people jumpy.”

Two Sevens Clash (which is also the name of the accompanying album) continued Culture’s strong surge. The trio had broken through in 1976 with Jah Jah See Them a Come, though it was not until Two Sevens Clash that they got their next big hit.

The album also fared well. It included Jah Jah See Them A Come and the defiant I’m Not Ashamed.

Distributed for many years by American independent label Shanachie Records, the album is one of reggae’s great catalogue pieces.

Culture went on to bigger things following Two Sevens Clash. They split with Gibbs and moved on to Sonia Pottinger, Jamaica’s best-known female reggae producer, for whom they recorded hits like This Train and Natty Never Get Weary.

Joseph Hill died in Germany in August 2006 at age 57. His son, Kenyatta Hill, has assumed his role in Culture.