Fully Loaded 2002
by Whaddat Contributor Kerise

It was slated to be the event of the summer and it proved itself to be just that. If you were not at Fort Clarence on Sunday for the annual party fully loaded, then you missed quite an experience. I told myself that this was to be the only session I was going to for the summer, seeing that I have not been to a loaded event since 1999- yeah I know it’s been a while, but trust mi the wait was worth it.

I touched in about 6:30 and the crowd was quite good, essence was playing at the time that did a good job. The crowd came rolling in about 7:30 and that’s when I knew the party was about to start, and that it was going to be GREAT. Nuffy who started the show as MC had the vibes going from the beginning, before Spragga came and took over as MC, which was good, as he did several tunes in between introducing the sound systems. The deejay did one particular tune, which he said would not be released until 2007 due to the power of the lyrics. The deejay also managed to maintain some order on the stage when it seemed the situation threatened to become uncomfortable.

The sound selections were just great, I was wondering if it was because I haven’t been to a loaded event in two years, if the sounds were always this good. Great performances came from Black Chiney the Miami based remix sound who had the crowd blazing fire for most of their performance, they played several Warrior King dubs while stating that they were the sound system for the youth. They boasted that although Fully Loaded belonged to Tony Matterhorn, they would enter into the selector’s back yard and done di place. One Love also gave a stunning performance, digging for big tunes from the bottom straight to the top. The Italian based sound had the crowd going not only with their remixes, but also with their dances, these guys not because they were from Italy means they cannot do the log on or the online, they were just great. Sky Juice, bwoy Sky Juice just always come to entertain and entertain he did, he gave a good performance, the crowd loved him. Razz and Biggy was also an excellent item, they gave numerous remixes, the crowd favourite being the Beverly Hills Cop remix off Wayne Marshall’s tune purple skunk, it was BAD!!! Asylum DJ’s did well also, but there were some disappointing acts coming from Concorde and Ecstasy Disco. The selector of Ecstasy was booed after he had insulted a woman in the audience. He was encouraged by Nuffy to apologize but the crowd rejected his apology. Concorde was booed because of poor choice of words. The selector pointed out that he was light-skinned, but he did not like women darker than him, what a statement to make, when majority of the women there were darker than him, he certainly got booed.

The crowd was feeling good, and the vibes was just great, it got even better when Ashanti hit the stage for her 20-minute performance. She opened her set with Baby, which had the women screaming, and fires blazing. The R&B beauty also did Foolish and what’s Luv- much to the delight of the crowd. To end a good performance, the singer called up JA Rule and both teamed up to perform Always on time which had even more fires blazing especially when JA Rule rapped his part, which had the ladies weak. They also performed one other song before they were joined by Charli Baltimore who was also greeted with a good response. The local big guns also fared well, with great performances from Elephant man, he did elephant message and other current tunes. Kip Rich, Bounty Killer Lady Saw (who was at her best) Bling Dawg, Mr. Lex Mr. Vegas, Danny English, Egg Nog, Determine, Vybz Cartel, Assasin and Zumjay also represented well. The place was just hype it couldn’t get any better, but unfortunately it got worse, when the police insisted that the 2:00am cut off time be observed. The crowd was behaving quite well even when the police plugged out the sound system, but it was the plugging out of the microphone, in the middle of Beenie man’s performance, that really got the crowd upset. Bottles came flying from all directions, and people had to seek cover from various places. I understand the fact that the cut off time is 2:00 but would 15 minutes have killed them, they should have simply let Beenie man finish his act which would have avoided the bottle throwing.

I was simply upset, not only because the police abruptly ended the show but because Mr. Fully Loaded himself Tony Matterhorn did not even touch the stage, ah mean the man come with nuff dub plates just for loaded and never get to done di place. All in all loaded was a great event, apart from the overloading back stage due to the cutting of the fence, and the usual traffic, it has certainly been the best session I have been to in a while. If you missed it, bwoy you missed quite an experience.

Nuff Luv
Kerise