|
 In
the 20-year history of ‘the greatest one night reggae show on earth’,
the most bottles, clashes and gunshots ‘rained’ at Sting 2003.
To the ringside spectacle of the reported 20,000 dancehall patrons who
turned out for the annual controversial event, popular deejays Desmond
Ballentine o.c. Ninja Man and Adidja ‘Vybz Kartel’ Palmer
took the event’s clashing culture to another level…too far.
Edging the dawn, the showdown, as it was theatrically described, took
place just before sun up at approximately quarter to six Saturday morning.
With the backdrop of sporadic launching of water-filled plastic bottles,
two previous lyrical killings and Vybz Kartel taunting for veteran Sting
clash champion Ninja Man to defend himself, the stage was built for what
took place at the Boxing Day event inside the Jamworld Entertainment Complex.
"Him say him a bad man and a beat up woman and baby. Then if you
beat up lady, that mean to say you a lady bad man and if you beat up baby
that means you a baby bad man," Kartel jeered Ninja.
Performing some of his latest crowd pleasers punctuated by close range
verbal assaults at Ninja, Vybz Kartel copied the exact strategy Ninja
used in the lyrical killing of Merciless in 2001.
"Whe him deh? Unno sen up the b@#^y man nuh," Alliance member
Kartel scuffed. Shortly after calling Ninja Man a homosexual, members
of the Sting stage production, security, management and his entourage
quickly came to stage front and steered Kartel off stage.
 Apparently,
Vybz Kartel's taunting had one "B" word too many and his verbal
slaps to Ninja's ego demanding a dual was accepted when the "gorgon"
charged to centre stage.
Using popular allegations of his drug abuse, sexual offense charges by
family members and stories of his physical abuse of his woman and child
against Ninja Man, Kartel seemed well prepared to make a mockery of him.
The situation only worsened, when, after only a few seconds after Ninja
came to centre stage, bottles and stones rained in his direction. A first
for the veteran DJ dubbed Mr. Sting who has been an institution on stage
the 20-year event.
Appearing to have his work cut out for him, Ninja Man, being labeled a
"crack head" by Vybz Kartel, was in for more surprises. Kartel
stepped across the "Federation of Clashing" imaginary safety
regulation divide line. Or somebody must have been calling Kartel's name,
because apparently he heard a bell go off in his head. Or he must have
thought he heard "let's get ready to rumble!" because that’s
exactly what happened.
 Kartel
and his crew forced their way to stage front, which quickly took a turn
for the worse when the two got too close and physical. A fight ensued.
At one point Ninja Man, who was grossly outnumbered, tried to beat a hasty
retreat but was slapped, kicked and thumped out of his graduation outfit
(that he ironically wore to distinguish his higher level class) and off
stage by Kartel and his cronies.
The security team had to quickly rush in to break up the fight.
Exiting stage left, Ninja later entered the stage from the right alone
which saw him again quickly making a hasty retreat from the hurls of bottles
and missiles that came at him.
"A gun fi gun ting dis now, a gun fi gun ting dis," a frazzled
Ninja declared.
The missile throwing continued for a while but the valiant or business
ingenuity of Beenie Man, who capitalised on the opportunity to walk away
with Sting while everyone else was busy fighting, returned the show to
normalcy.
When everyone thought the worst was over, MC Nuffy made the mistake of
announcing to the crowd that the warlord Bounty Killer would not be performing
because of the incident.
This triggered a heavier shower of stones and bottles. The bottle throwing
seemed to last forever, despite efforts from Sting promoter Junior ‘Heavy
D’ Fraser (handicapped by a hoarse throat from constant shouting
back stage) to speak to the massive.
Then if that was not enough, patrons were sent fleeing when gunshots randomly
rang out.
The rain of bottles which damaged a lot of equipment coupled by the gunshots
which led to a stampede, resulted in approximately 23 persons being injured,
with some being hospitalized.
Centre of Controversy
 Once
again, Ninja Man was at the centre of the controversial Sting. But this
year he graduated without honours…and he was dressed for the occasion
too.
Only last year Ninja Man was
the centre of news reports, entertainment features and profiles when he
historically handed over a firearm to then Crime Management Unit head,
Renato Adams.
Ninja Man soon after became
the ‘black sheep’ of the industry to the so called hard knock
deejays and was even labeled as an informant by some.
In August of this year, Ninja Man's appearance on Red Stripe Reggae Sumfest
and his inviting Cobra on stage aired to the public an ongoing feud between
Ninja and Predator. Cobra reprimanded Ninja for his reported assault on
Alliance member Predator.
Some speculate that this bad blood fueled by Ninja Man's constant lashing
out against the Bounty Killer formed Alliance with member Kartel, may
just be at the root of what took place at Sting 2003.
Ninja Man is said to have issued
a statement to the effect that he was leaving the matter in the hands
of the police and may be pursuing criminal and financial litigation against
Vybz Kartel. Ninja's defence is that he was not the aggressor and that
videotapes were there to prove it.
Since the incident at Sting, rumors surfaced of the shooting of Vybz Kartel.
But they were just rumours.
The End?
 Promoters
of Sting, Supreme Promotions, held a press conference on Monday to address
what transpired at the event. This was preceded by an indoor meeting with
the police, the promoters, Vybz Kartel and Ninja Man, who were all present
at the press conference.
Howard McIntosh, strategic advisor at Supreme Promotions, delivered a
statement which offered regrets and apologies.
"We were not involved in
setting up any clash and we were completely surprised at the mass invasion
on stage by the entourage. We went to lengths and took measures to avoid
any clash," McIntosh said.
According to McIntosh, the promoters were at divides as to the decision
to call it a day, but were seriously considering Magnum Sting 2003 as
being the final chapter in the 20-year event that has been continuously
plagued by controversy.
"Regrettably, after 20
years of promotions we are seriously considering to retire Sting. We have
also made efforts to make amends," McIntosh said.
The strategic advisor also said that plans were being made to give support
to traumatised and injured persons who were victims of the chaos.
Despite stringent efforts to keep bottles off the grounds and repeated
reports that no drink would be served in bottles at the event, the promoter
said some vendors broke the rules. "While some [bottles] were stolen
from the bars," McIntosh added. Where the gun firing was concerned,
Supreme Promotions claimed that this was done by contracted security company,
Border Patrol.
In the continuing ‘love/hate’
relationship between Bounty Killer and Supreme Promotions, Rodney Price
aka Bounty Killer was blamed for the mayhem that went on at Sting 2003.
"We feel one disorderly section of the crowd could have been contained
if contracted acts fulfilled their obligations," Howard McIntosh
said, rebuking Bounty Killer.
McIntosh said Bounty made the decision not to perform during Elephant
Man's performance, as he was upset because of the time change.
According to Supreme Promotions,
the time change was not an unorthodox one and pleas for Killer to perform
fell on deaf ears.
The behaviour of Bounty Killer, Vybz Kartel and Ninja Man, in what is
termed the worst staging of Sting, was deemed reprehensible by Supreme
Promotion.
At the press conference, a defiant,
somber Ninja Man refused to speak to anyone and left before the conference
concluded.
However, in contrast, a penitent Vybz Kartel spoke to the media. “What
I regret and would change about everything is the physical violence part.
I just have to be a man and accept when I am wrong. On my part is just
peace from here on straight,” Adidja ‘Vybz Kartel’ Palmer
told Jahworks.org.
Where lawsuits or the pressing of charges on Ninja’s part is concerned,
Kartel said that would have to be up to him (Ninja) but he was willing
to stand up to his actions.
As to what was discussed in the indoor meeting, he said, “Well,
they say we are not to discuss it because it is a matter of national security.”
In the meantime, the police are reporting that summons were prepared for
three entertainers for their use of profanity on stage Sting, under the
Town & Community Act.
Up to press time the police declined to name the three entertainers, but
added that following investigations, more entertainers would be added
to the list.
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