Mel Cooke, STAR writer

Isaiah Laing - file photos

This is the third installment of our multi-part interview with Isaiah Laing, head of Supreme Promotions, which puts on the annual Sting Boxing Day concert. We have been through the ex-policeman's start in music, the origin of Sting and its growth from Cinema 1 to the National Stadium. Today, Laing speaks about the importance of clashing and gives us more Sting memories. Although it has toned down significantly over the years, Sting is still remembered for its epic deejay clashes.

The STAR: So how is it that clashing became a part of Sting in the first place?

Isaiah Laing: I like competition and you know Jamaicans are like that. Anywhere competition is, that is where they want to be. There were a lot of shows in those times, y'nuh, and I wanted my show to be different. And maybe the kinda power I had, I could ask the artistes to do certain things, and them do it for me, and then it becomes the norm for Sting to be the clash show. Even if you clash on other shows and certain artiste dead, is like yu nuh dead until yu come a Sting (he laughs). When you reach Sting, that's when you really dead.

S: Why you called it 'Sting'?

L: That name came through Michael Palmer (the singer of Dem a Lick Shot and whose name is mentioned by Tenor Saw in I Got To Be There). One day, I was patrolling. I saw him on Maxfield Avenue and Michael Palmer said "boss, a we yu fe use pon de show y'nuh". Because we did not use him down at Damali (the concert that was kept in MoBay in 1984, before Sting). So he said "a we yu fe use! A we a shot an a we a sting, y'nuh!" (he laughs heartily again). So I just pick out the 'sting' and sey 'da sting deh soun' good, y'nuh'. And I went back to my office and thought about it and just called it Sting. I don't even think Michael Palmer remembers that conversation, why the show name so.

S: Eh-heh.

L: Yeah. Me nah hide it. Just like Elephant Man. He goes everywhere in this world and people call him 'Energy God'. I named him that. Let me see if I see the poster in here. (Laing looks around his Burlington Avenue office, the walls of which are filled with posters of Sting concerts past.) Right. On this poster, 2000, that's where him get that name. Everybody you see up there so. 'Warhead', Merciless, we name him like that. Beenie Man 'The Doctor' had the name before, we work with that. Ninja Man was dubbed as the War god. Bounty was the Warlord.

S: You dub him Warlord?

L: No. And there was a time, 1997, when he had the problem at Stadium there with Merciless. Him sey him no name Warlord, a we call him so. He said that in an interview on RJR. I heard him.

S: But him tek it after a while.

L: (Laughing) Yeah! Him tek it after!

S: So, Sting come down to the '90s now. The '80s was the two set of people clash.

L: '89 now, we never had a clash because of what happen '88 (when the microphone was turned off as the clash got out of hand). We tried to run from it a little, but then we never got the kind of crowd. We had about 20,000 people that year. So ...

S: You know what the people want.

L: Yeah. We know exactly what they want and it is not nice to spend your money and lose it, because them time you not getting any sponsor from anybody. You have to find the money from somewhere and borrow and then something's gonna be out. '89, we had the Fat Boys, brought in foreign act, the emergence of foreign act on Sting. 1990, we had the Bunny Wailer saga. And the Shabba Ranks saga.

S: I remember seeing tapes of the bottling of Bunny Wailer. What happened? He was going on too long or ...

L: No. He did four songs. He did four specials. Bunny Wailer get it wrong. Because it's a dancehall show, him come with what the sound system would normally play in the dancehall. People don't really want to hear that. People want to hear hits of Bunny Wailer over the years. So him come now, start sing some specials, him was singing about Silverhawk when the bottles were flung at him, the first set of bottles. So him tell them expletive and boom flick off the stage. (There is laughter all around.)

S: And Shabba?

L: Shabba now; Shabba's camp wanted the clash 'cause Shabba was the man who had the hit songs. We know that, right through. The clash was on, Shabba wanted the clash, everybody wanted the clash, until about two days before, we get word that Shabba don't want to clash again.

S: Ninja wanted the clash ...

L: Ninja wanted the clash, because Louise (Frazer-Bennett) was managing Ninja at the time and Louise go round and print up her 10,000 pamphlets and say 'Ninja Man for Sting - him a go kill Shabba'.

S: A war she a promote.

L: Yes, is a war. So the night when the people start - because the thing out there, the poster say clash, everything out there promoted as a clash. Shabba went on first and said him no want no clash. Ninja join him. Shabba walk off. Then Ninja start do him tune them, Shabba automatically had to go back out, tentatively, go deejay, not him real self. And Ninja Man start some things (Laing chuckles), point pon him pants and start say '.... pants, .... pants'. (He breaks into a laugh).

S: Shabba cry.

L: Yeah. Shabba cry. So now Ninja Man becomes the real gladiator. Nobody can defeat Ninja. So there comes the real bad bway, Supercat. 1991.

On Saturday: Supercat flings back a bottle; Beenie and Bounty tangle.

FAT BOYS AT WORK: Two members of the top United States rap group, the Fat Boys, at work on Sting '89 at the National Stadium.