June 10, 2024 • 15 mins
The Red Bull Culture Clash held in New York City unofficially kicked off the summer for me! Not only is it Caribbean American Heritage Month, the event was inspired by parades in New York City tied to cultural heritage, where teams from the West Indies, Latino, Pride, and Asian American communities showcased their unique cultural elements in a friendly yet fierce sound clash.
Tune in to hear about my experience rooting for the West Indian team “No Long Talk” team, who displayed their competitive edge in understanding “clash” culture. Fans who created the loudest cheers for their teams helped them win relatively undisputed. I dive into the meticulous setup, the spirited interactions with fellow attendees, and the unique decorations that made each cultural group stand out. Whether you're a Caribbean music aficionado or someone who loves cultural festivities, this episode promises to bring you right into the heart of the action, capturing the essence of a summer kickoff like no other.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Hello everyone and welcome to another edition of
the Style and Vibes podcast withyours truly Makayla.
I hope you are doing well.
If you are new to the family,welcome to the family.
If you're returning, welcomeback, family.
Today it's another solo episodewith me.
I've been in the streets.
I wanted to do a quick recap ofthe Red Bull Culture Clash.
(00:25):
As you guys know, red BullMusic does a lot of cultural
events related to differentgenres of music and of course,
caribbean music is one of them,but also they like to highlight
clashes.
They've done stuff in Atlanta,in Jamaica, and so they brought
it here to New York.
So I was in town, I wasavailable and was able to attend
(00:49):
the New York version of thatculture clash.
So they did a take on paradesin New York.
So every culture kind of hastheir own parade.
Representing the West Indieswas the no Long Talking team, so
I'll get more into that.
You also had Ramezcla.
They are a Latino-focused musicbrand based here in New York,
(01:15):
and then you had Poppy Juice,which was representing pride, as
well as Eastern Standard Times.
So that was the Asian Americancommunity representing all the
different facets of Asianculture.
So it was really a connectionof different cultures and really
(01:35):
what I would like to call ashowcase.
So you know, you tell WestIndian people, caribbean people,
that is a clash and we come forwar.
So I think that that isprobably one of the biggest
distinctions that I had, but itwas overall, it was a great
event.
It was really great to kick offthe summer that way.
(01:57):
It was the beginning of June.
The first day in June, it wasreally warm, nice weather.
Couldn't have asked for a morebeautiful day.
I was in Brooklyn, so that'swhere they had it.
It was right over I think itwas in Williamsburg, so it was a
nice outdoor venue.
When you walked in, you kind ofsaw all of the Red Bull trucks
(02:21):
and they had a bar.
They had a small market whereyou could buy from different
vendors.
You could buy merch as well asfood.
The bar, of course, was brandedwith all things red bull.
So how I heard about the event,dj puffy, who I follow on
instagram, he posted about itand so you could either rsvp it
(02:44):
was a free event or you couldbuy a t-shirt.
So that would give you like apromo code, which I never
actually got, but I was able toget in anyway, so I did buy the
t-shirt, the no Long Talkingt-shirt so you could buy the
t-shirt for the truck that youwanted to represent.
You had to pick up the shirtthere, so it's not like you
(03:06):
could wear it to kind ofrepresent.
But what I loved about thedecor is they centered it around
this meter.
It was like a mini circle andeach stage had a truck an actual
truck on it and it wasdecorated for that particular
cultural group representation.
(03:26):
So each one was very different.
So of course, me take up theNulang Takin truck and they were
giving out flags and they weregiving out horns.
So by the time I actually gotthere, I think I was maybe in
the second round, so I wasn'tthere for the opening round.
I do know that I think it wentmaybe about three or four rounds
(03:47):
.
I was coming in at the, thetail end of the first round, so
by the time I had walked aroundthey were already kind of in
that end round.
So I don't know who got.
Who got there first.
I don't know what the pre vibeswere, so I can only give you
the, the vibes and the setupfrom when I got there.
So the sound meter is importantbecause essentially, each team
(04:13):
went, they did their set.
They might've had maybe five toeight minutes to play their set
and then you would cheer intothis small microphone that was
located in front of each truckand, based on the sound of the
people, the meter in the middlewould go up and so you wanted to
(04:37):
make sure that you had theloudest sound.
So it's similar to West Indianculture, jamaican culture, where
you do sound, clash and you'rekind of looking for the biggest
forward or the biggestexcitement.
So in that respect it wassimilar.
However, I do think that, asidefrom Ramezcla, the other two
(05:02):
teams Eastern Standard Time andPapi Juice really just came to
showcase their culture, becauseessentially it wasn't really a
battle necessarily.
They were literally just, youknow, displaying different
sounds, dances, they hadperformances, the decor, they
had their own merch that theywere were giving out like
(05:25):
freebie items.
I think poppy juice gave outlike fans.
Um, I can't remember whateastern standard time gave out,
but I really enjoyed seeing the,the, the cultural exchange.
However, you put clash inadenium and the people then was
not ready for a clash, so in myopinion, it was definitely more
(05:47):
of a showcase.
Um, and I do think romesco gotrobbed of the, the round that I
walked into because I think thatthey should have won that round
.
Um, they had a really good setand essentially each round you
get um a certain level of points, and so Poppy Juice had won a
(06:14):
round and then, no Long Talking,basically won the rest.
So it was very one-sided interms of the scoring because
essentially they just didn'treally come prepared, in a sense
, and then they had one roundwhere they had to.
They each had a particular NewYork theme song in which they
had to remix.
(06:35):
So that was done prior to themeven getting on stage and they
were able to create this songand showcase it for the first
time.
And because no one, I don'tthink, really enjoyed that round
, so it was kind of set adifferent tone, I guess you
(06:56):
would say.
I mean, it was good, it wascreative, but it wasn't really,
you know, typical Clash things.
So, as a Jamaican, when I thinkof Clash, I think of dub plates
and I think of, you know,sounds going at each other in
terms of who had the bestdelivery, who had the best
(07:16):
bravado, like it's a competition.
So I don't think that that wasclearly understood and I think
we've seen this happen in the USwhen they did the one in
Atlanta, even to some degree inthe UK.
So I really think that theyshould restructure this whole
(07:37):
entire thing.
It's either going to be a clashand people really kind of stick
to what the rules are and I'llget to that in a minute or you
present it as a showcase andthen you're basically just
displaying cultures and everyoneis more of a cultural exchange
than it is a clash because, as Isaid, you put clash in that
(07:59):
anything we did Ready for War,and that was very evident
because we were really the onlyteam with dub plays.
No Long Talking was I'm sayingwe, like as if I was on stage no
Long Talking was the only onethat came prepared with actual
dub plays.
I think the others they haddrops, they had a special guest,
(08:19):
but they didn't really have anyactual dub plays.
So I think that was kind ofwhat I observed as well.
And Romesco, like they had somegood job.
I thought that they were goingto play some dubs, but they
didn't.
I think they had a reallyinteresting strategy because
(08:40):
they played a lot of dancehallrhythms, the Diwali rhythm.
They had Lumi D come out.
Nina Sky was on their teamofficially because they actually
DJ now.
So if you know Nina Sky fromthe early 2000s, they've had a
good number of songs, but thenthey kind of transitioned into
(09:01):
DJs their twins and so they wereon the team as well as some
other DJs.
They had Tony Touch, you know,and he's an amazing DJ.
I've heard him, I've seen himplay and so he had some drops.
So he had like a Sean Paul drop.
He played Coffee's song and Iwas just like, oh, did he get a
(09:22):
coffee double?
So that would have been areally great opportunity for
them to really have an actualdub.
I I was surprised to even hearthe the drop, to be honest.
Um, but also, it wasn't a dubplay, it was more like a drop
that he would play like on theradio during his set.
Um, so again, that's not reallya dub play.
(09:44):
Whereas no Long Talk and theycame, came with this allison
hindubs murdery ashan, murderyashan, murdery ashan, and that
was only in.
I think that was like in roundthree, three, I think it was
round three.
They played that.
Uh, they did a really good job.
No long talking did a reallygood job like building up,
because all the other groups hadtheir special guests come on
(10:08):
early, and so no Long Talk andSave their special guests.
For the last round they hadShasia Payne, who is Stephen
Marley's daughter, bob Marley'sgranddaughter.
She was there and she's a DJand so she had good dubs.
You know she had dubs with herdad and Uncle Damien, and then
(10:32):
she brought out her cousin YGMarley, and then he brought out
Y Club Sean.
So they really didn't stand achance in terms of the other
teams because you know theybrought out their special guests
early.
I think you know they broughtup their special guests early, I
think.
But Ramez Club, to me they hadlike the closest idea of
understanding what they came todo because essentially they used
(10:57):
dancehall rhythms.
They had the special guests,they really brought the vibes.
You know, they added a vibe tothe entire cultural showcase, um
, and they they had Jim Jonescame out.
They had I can't remember he'son a song with Big Pun and it's
really famous and got a bigforward on, just like the guests
(11:20):
you know that they had and thatthey brought in the last round,
and so they put up a good fight.
So I was kind of upset that itdidn't get have any points on
the board, um, but again it wasthe screaming meter that really
kind of decided who won um andyou know, said we load all the
time.
But I think the interestingthing too is how they could have
(11:45):
restructured it.
So, so, as I'm observing andEastern Standard Time, like I
would have loved them as ashowcase, like to be honest, I
really enjoyed their set.
I enjoyed their special guests.
They gave a huge shout out toBlack culture and Black people
because, you know, there'sdefinitely has been some tension
(12:07):
, particularly over the last fewyears, in terms of really
bubbling up with the Blackcommunity, asian community.
They wove that in, you know,really talking about how much
Black culture has contributed totheir creativity and their
creative musical process.
They got a big forward, youknow, for just really
(12:31):
acknowledging that.
And then their artists wereactually really good.
Like I felt like I waslistening to like a new artist
or someone I had never heardbefore, and they had like some
R&B and hip hop sounds.
They had dancers, they had aviolinist, they had costumes.
So I really enjoyed their set,but just in a different way,
(12:53):
because I was ready to hear aclash and I didn't hear it.
So here's how I think that thisthing could be restructured.
If we're going to continue todo this in the US and we're
going to continue to call it aclash Because there were so many
opportunities for them toreally, really clash they could
have taken a sample out ofRamezco's book but actually go
(13:15):
there and really get differentartists from different genres to
create the dub plates, likethat was core number one.
It looked like they need like anadvisor for each team, someone
who actually knows clash and whoknows what a dub plate is, to
really give them a little bitmore um, structure around how
(13:39):
they execute, because this justwasn't it, this this wasn't it.
And I think where they wouldvalue, particularly if they had
an advisor a clash advisor, ifyou will is they would
understand how to structure adub blade, how to structure
comebacks, how to talk on themicrophone, because then just
(14:00):
kill, kill the people, them them, just kill the people, them, um
, and so it wasn't really a fairfight.
Or what they could do is do theshowcase of all the different
cultures and then have two westindian crews really do a clash,
so that you can really see whata true clash looks like.
(14:21):
So, if you're going to havethat name, really live up to the
clash.
So the one in Jamaica, I think,was the perfect one.
Of course it's in Jamaica, sothat's what they do, but they
really got local crews inJamaica.
It created different teams.
That's why the energy of theJamaica show was different, and
(14:41):
I watched that because I wasn'tthere, but watching that on
YouTube it was definitely adifferent energy.
All in all, I had a really goodtime.
It was a great way to kick offthe summer.
Like I said, I really enjoyedthe cultural showcase with all
the different cultures and whateveryone brought to the table.
But I do think that there is anopportunity to restructure it.
(15:03):
If you're going to call it aclash, make sure everybody
understand the rules and makesure they follow them.
Give them a clash advisor, orjust make it a showcase.
Don't make it a clash, don'tmake it a competition and then
expect a different vibe.
So would love to hear yourthoughts.
I'm sure you've seen some ofthe clips.
Please let me know what youthink if you were there and what
(15:27):
are your thoughts.
Just let me know.
So until next time, leah TomeiPeeps.
Hello everyone and welcome to another edition of
the Style and Vibes podcast withyours truly Makayla.
I hope you are doing well.
If you are new to the family,welcome to the family.
If you're returning, welcomeback, family.
Today it's another solo episodewith me.
I've been in the streets.
I wanted to do a quick recap ofthe Red Bull Culture Clash.
(00:25):
As you guys know, red BullMusic does a lot of cultural
events related to differentgenres of music and of course,
caribbean music is one of them,but also they like to highlight
clashes.
They've done stuff in Atlanta,in Jamaica, and so they brought
it here to New York.
So I was in town, I wasavailable and was able to attend
(00:49):
the New York version of thatculture clash.
So they did a take on paradesin New York.
So every culture kind of hastheir own parade.
Representing the West Indieswas the no Long Talking team, so
I'll get more into that.
You also had Ramezcla.
They are a Latino-focused musicbrand based here in New York,
(01:15):
and then you had Poppy Juice,which was representing pride, as
well as Eastern Standard Times.
So that was the Asian Americancommunity representing all the
different facets of Asianculture.
So it was really a connectionof different cultures and really
(01:35):
what I would like to call ashowcase.
So you know, you tell WestIndian people, caribbean people,
that is a clash and we come forwar.
So I think that that isprobably one of the biggest
distinctions that I had, but itwas overall, it was a great
event.
It was really great to kick offthe summer that way.
(01:57):
It was the beginning of June.
The first day in June, it wasreally warm, nice weather.
Couldn't have asked for a morebeautiful day.
I was in Brooklyn, so that'swhere they had it.
It was right over I think itwas in Williamsburg, so it was a
nice outdoor venue.
When you walked in, you kind ofsaw all of the Red Bull trucks
(02:21):
and they had a bar.
They had a small market whereyou could buy from different
vendors.
You could buy merch as well asfood.
The bar, of course, was brandedwith all things red bull.
So how I heard about the event,dj puffy, who I follow on
instagram, he posted about itand so you could either rsvp it
(02:44):
was a free event or you couldbuy a t-shirt.
So that would give you like apromo code, which I never
actually got, but I was able toget in anyway, so I did buy the
t-shirt, the no Long Talkingt-shirt so you could buy the
t-shirt for the truck that youwanted to represent.
You had to pick up the shirtthere, so it's not like you
(03:06):
could wear it to kind ofrepresent.
But what I loved about thedecor is they centered it around
this meter.
It was like a mini circle andeach stage had a truck an actual
truck on it and it wasdecorated for that particular
cultural group representation.
(03:26):
So each one was very different.
So of course, me take up theNulang Takin truck and they were
giving out flags and they weregiving out horns.
So by the time I actually gotthere, I think I was maybe in
the second round, so I wasn'tthere for the opening round.
I do know that I think it wentmaybe about three or four rounds
(03:47):
.
I was coming in at the, thetail end of the first round, so
by the time I had walked aroundthey were already kind of in
that end round.
So I don't know who got.
Who got there first.
I don't know what the pre vibeswere, so I can only give you
the, the vibes and the setupfrom when I got there.
So the sound meter is importantbecause essentially, each team
(04:13):
went, they did their set.
They might've had maybe five toeight minutes to play their set
and then you would cheer intothis small microphone that was
located in front of each truckand, based on the sound of the
people, the meter in the middlewould go up and so you wanted to
(04:37):
make sure that you had theloudest sound.
So it's similar to West Indianculture, jamaican culture, where
you do sound, clash and you'rekind of looking for the biggest
forward or the biggestexcitement.
So in that respect it wassimilar.
However, I do think that, asidefrom Ramezcla, the other two
(05:02):
teams Eastern Standard Time andPapi Juice really just came to
showcase their culture, becauseessentially it wasn't really a
battle necessarily.
They were literally just, youknow, displaying different
sounds, dances, they hadperformances, the decor, they
had their own merch that theywere were giving out like
(05:25):
freebie items.
I think poppy juice gave outlike fans.
Um, I can't remember whateastern standard time gave out,
but I really enjoyed seeing the,the, the cultural exchange.
However, you put clash inadenium and the people then was
not ready for a clash, so in myopinion, it was definitely more
(05:47):
of a showcase.
Um, and I do think romesco gotrobbed of the, the round that I
walked into because I think thatthey should have won that round
.
Um, they had a really good setand essentially each round you
get um a certain level of points, and so Poppy Juice had won a
(06:14):
round and then, no Long Talking,basically won the rest.
So it was very one-sided interms of the scoring because
essentially they just didn'treally come prepared, in a sense
, and then they had one roundwhere they had to.
They each had a particular NewYork theme song in which they
had to remix.
(06:35):
So that was done prior to themeven getting on stage and they
were able to create this songand showcase it for the first
time.
And because no one, I don'tthink, really enjoyed that round
, so it was kind of set adifferent tone, I guess you
(06:56):
would say.
I mean, it was good, it wascreative, but it wasn't really,
you know, typical Clash things.
So, as a Jamaican, when I thinkof Clash, I think of dub plates
and I think of, you know,sounds going at each other in
terms of who had the bestdelivery, who had the best
(07:16):
bravado, like it's a competition.
So I don't think that that wasclearly understood and I think
we've seen this happen in the USwhen they did the one in
Atlanta, even to some degree inthe UK.
So I really think that theyshould restructure this whole
(07:37):
entire thing.
It's either going to be a clashand people really kind of stick
to what the rules are and I'llget to that in a minute or you
present it as a showcase andthen you're basically just
displaying cultures and everyoneis more of a cultural exchange
than it is a clash because, as Isaid, you put clash in that
(07:59):
anything we did Ready for War,and that was very evident
because we were really the onlyteam with dub plays.
No Long Talking was I'm sayingwe, like as if I was on stage no
Long Talking was the only onethat came prepared with actual
dub plays.
I think the others they haddrops, they had a special guest,
(08:19):
but they didn't really have anyactual dub plays.
So I think that was kind ofwhat I observed as well.
And Romesco, like they had somegood job.
I thought that they were goingto play some dubs, but they
didn't.
I think they had a reallyinteresting strategy because
(08:40):
they played a lot of dancehallrhythms, the Diwali rhythm.
They had Lumi D come out.
Nina Sky was on their teamofficially because they actually
DJ now.
So if you know Nina Sky fromthe early 2000s, they've had a
good number of songs, but thenthey kind of transitioned into
(09:01):
DJs their twins and so they wereon the team as well as some
other DJs.
They had Tony Touch, you know,and he's an amazing DJ.
I've heard him, I've seen himplay and so he had some drops.
So he had like a Sean Paul drop.
He played Coffee's song and Iwas just like, oh, did he get a
(09:22):
coffee double?
So that would have been areally great opportunity for
them to really have an actualdub.
I I was surprised to even hearthe the drop, to be honest.
Um, but also, it wasn't a dubplay, it was more like a drop
that he would play like on theradio during his set.
Um, so again, that's not reallya dub play.
(09:44):
Whereas no Long Talk and theycame, came with this allison
hindubs murdery ashan, murderyashan, murdery ashan, and that
was only in.
I think that was like in roundthree, three, I think it was
round three.
They played that.
Uh, they did a really good job.
No long talking did a reallygood job like building up,
because all the other groups hadtheir special guests come on
(10:08):
early, and so no Long Talk andSave their special guests.
For the last round they hadShasia Payne, who is Stephen
Marley's daughter, bob Marley'sgranddaughter.
She was there and she's a DJand so she had good dubs.
You know she had dubs with herdad and Uncle Damien, and then
(10:32):
she brought out her cousin YGMarley, and then he brought out
Y Club Sean.
So they really didn't stand achance in terms of the other
teams because you know theybrought out their special guests
early.
I think you know they broughtup their special guests early, I
think.
But Ramez Club, to me they hadlike the closest idea of
understanding what they came todo because essentially they used
(10:57):
dancehall rhythms.
They had the special guests,they really brought the vibes.
You know, they added a vibe tothe entire cultural showcase, um
, and they they had Jim Jonescame out.
They had I can't remember he'son a song with Big Pun and it's
really famous and got a bigforward on, just like the guests
(11:20):
you know that they had and thatthey brought in the last round,
and so they put up a good fight.
So I was kind of upset that itdidn't get have any points on
the board, um, but again it wasthe screaming meter that really
kind of decided who won um andyou know, said we load all the
time.
But I think the interestingthing too is how they could have
(11:45):
restructured it.
So, so, as I'm observing andEastern Standard Time, like I
would have loved them as ashowcase, like to be honest, I
really enjoyed their set.
I enjoyed their special guests.
They gave a huge shout out toBlack culture and Black people
because, you know, there'sdefinitely has been some tension
(12:07):
, particularly over the last fewyears, in terms of really
bubbling up with the Blackcommunity, asian community.
They wove that in, you know,really talking about how much
Black culture has contributed totheir creativity and their
creative musical process.
They got a big forward, youknow, for just really
(12:31):
acknowledging that.
And then their artists wereactually really good.
Like I felt like I waslistening to like a new artist
or someone I had never heardbefore, and they had like some
R&B and hip hop sounds.
They had dancers, they had aviolinist, they had costumes.
So I really enjoyed their set,but just in a different way,
(12:53):
because I was ready to hear aclash and I didn't hear it.
So here's how I think that thisthing could be restructured.
If we're going to continue todo this in the US and we're
going to continue to call it aclash Because there were so many
opportunities for them toreally, really clash they could
have taken a sample out ofRamezco's book but actually go
(13:15):
there and really get differentartists from different genres to
create the dub plates, likethat was core number one.
It looked like they need like anadvisor for each team, someone
who actually knows clash and whoknows what a dub plate is, to
really give them a little bitmore um, structure around how
(13:39):
they execute, because this justwasn't it, this this wasn't it.
And I think where they wouldvalue, particularly if they had
an advisor a clash advisor, ifyou will is they would
understand how to structure adub blade, how to structure
comebacks, how to talk on themicrophone, because then just
(14:00):
kill, kill the people, them them, just kill the people, them, um
, and so it wasn't really a fairfight.
Or what they could do is do theshowcase of all the different
cultures and then have two westindian crews really do a clash,
so that you can really see whata true clash looks like.
(14:21):
So, if you're going to havethat name, really live up to the
clash.
So the one in Jamaica, I think,was the perfect one.
Of course it's in Jamaica, sothat's what they do, but they
really got local crews inJamaica.
It created different teams.
That's why the energy of theJamaica show was different, and
(14:41):
I watched that because I wasn'tthere, but watching that on
YouTube it was definitely adifferent energy.
All in all, I had a really goodtime.
It was a great way to kick offthe summer.
Like I said, I really enjoyedthe cultural showcase with all
the different cultures and whateveryone brought to the table.
But I do think that there is anopportunity to restructure it.
(15:03):
If you're going to call it aclash, make sure everybody
understand the rules and makesure they follow them.
Give them a clash advisor, orjust make it a showcase.
Don't make it a clash, don'tmake it a competition and then
expect a different vibe.
So would love to hear yourthoughts.
I'm sure you've seen some ofthe clips.
Please let me know what youthink if you were there and what
(15:27):
are your thoughts.
Just let me know.
So until next time, leah TomeiPeeps.
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