By Mel Cooke, Freelance Writer

Ninja Man - Ricardo Makyn

Clashes were nothing new to Ninja Man, as from his early days on Soul Imperial with Supercat and Early B "every likkle soun' inna Kingston 11 we go roun' an' kill dem". When Soul Imperial and Silverhawk met, though, Silverhawk won, as Supercat and Early B were now with Imperial at the time and Silverhawk had Shabba, Admiral Bailey and many other top deejays. Still, it was through his performance there that Ninja Man got hooked up with King Jammys. But when he move on to Kilamanjaro, the time came to play Silverhawk once more.

"Time fe Silverhawk an' Jaro clash. Me a de top deejay pon Jaro, me an' Junior Cat. De clash a gwaan wicked," Ninja Man said of the historic battle at Skateland in 1987, MC'd by Barry G, in which a sound system with dub plates only took on a set with live deejays.

Cartoon battle

"You have a cartoon name Silverhawk, control by He Man. So me mek a entry, "if you are Silverhawk, I am He Man. Jaro have a tune call de bad wud special (done by Ninja Man). Is like dem draw it an de place mash up. Me sey me naa mek it dead dung. Me tek de mic. Inna tree song inna me performance, de people sey dem no waan hear no Silverhawk. Silverhawk come een nex' roun', pure boo."

Then there was Creation from Spanish Town, with a red hot Papa San on board. "Creation an' Jaro was like Iraq an' Iran. Is like Creation waan de Kingston an' St. Catherine title, Jaro waan de same ting. Stitchie, Papa San, Dirtsman, dem did bad still, but dem neva bad like me boot heel. As long as me name Ninja Man, nutten no go roun' Jaro," he said.

"Dance upon dance, Creation an' Jaro fi clash. Creation destiny was to kill Kilamaanjaro. Jaro destiny was to kill off Creation."

Then there was a huge dance with Creation and Kilamanjaro at Dam Head, just outside Bog Walk Gorge in St. Catherine. However, there was a stage show at the National Arena that same night. "Me go Dam Head go ram de dance, go Arena. When me go Arena, San a a go Dam Head," Ninja Man said. The next day, at a stage show at Fort Clarence Beach, "San sey him kill me." Ninja went on stage and said "Yu kill me in front a 40 people, me a kill yu in front the whole Jamaica."

San started out with a 'perdominenet' speed rap, to which Ninja Man replied, including the children's rhyme about "The grand old Duke of York, he had 10,000 men, he marched them up to the top of the hill."

"San sey him a go Bible. Me sey 'dem sey Jamaica a de dunces' nation, but when people talk we know sense, right?' De people sey true. Biology involve science. Mek me tell yu suppen," and he deejayed "Ninja Man a read outta de Holy Scripture". Then came Psalm 68.

"When me draw de tune, Papa San step pon a speaker wire an' drop. Some Rastafari lif me up offa de stage, sey 'yu a de baddes'," Ninja Man said.

Tomorrow: The Sting clashes with Shabba, Supercat.