AFTER winning first place in February’s Echoes of Sound System competition, St Elizabeth-based sound Ruffcut will take on its next assignment on August 12.

The sound system will go up against Echo One, King Ghetto, and Hurricane at Bass Odyssey’s Sound Fest at Grizzly’s Plantation Cove in Priory, St Ann.

Kevin Barrett is the owner of the seven-year-old Ruffcut. He says the sacrifice and financial resources that has been injected into the sound over the years has paid big dividends.

“Right now, Ruffcut is one of the fastest rising sound systems in Jamaica and a lot of other sound systems would like to beat us. Every sound wants to clash with the ‘Crocodile’ (Ruffcutt), but we will not clash with other sound systems that behave in an unprofessional manner. We have invested a lot into the sound and we will not allow anyone to derail our success. Things have been going great for us, but a few weeks ago, we were playing at an event with three other sounds in St Elizabeth. This event was not billed as a clash, but one of the other sounds tried to turn it into a clash. I want the fans to know that’s the reason why we never clashed with them,” Barrett told the Jamaica Observer.

“Ruffcut will not entertain this kind of behaviour if we’re going to clash, we must be booked to clash which means everything has to be dealt with professionally. We are not afraid to clash, and we will clash any sound as long as everything is arranged in the right and proper way,” he continued.

Since its emergence in 2015, the eight-member Ruffcut has built an impressive reputation as a clash sound having won numerous clash competitions including the Online 45 Shop Lock clash series in 2021 and the Echoes of Sound Systems competition earlier this year.

“Ruffcut maintains a unique form of entertainment, which includes focusing predominantly on songs customised for the sound system, known as dubplates,” said Barrett.