By Dekoy
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King of the Jam 2004b

Dekoy tells the tale....

I’m walking down the pathway, passing dog-walkers, joggers, cyclists and the odd picnic-ers, to see on the horizon the hill which has had many a jam upon it’s name.

So, with my 2-litre water supply in hand, I approach the grass and walk towards the spot. I see a few torsos, eclipsed by trees and leaves, standing among some bags laid on the floor. I walk a few more yards, crushing a number of isolated twigs under my foot, and to push away the gates, that are the branches that some are familiar with, to find smiles on familiar faces. Why, its Nevo D, Hoop 118, (his friend Pete), Cyber and instigator Mark.

I wasn’t the only one there – luckily - so we greeted each other and went about with hand-gestures, which settled universal respect with one another. I had promised, according to Cyber, to provide nametags for all – and I did supply – but only a measly ten or so tags (to my disappointment I found more at home the next day), which wasn’t enough by a long shot.

Anyway, water down, grasping a non-permanent marker, I wrote my name in capitals; “DEKOY”, and pasted it across my naval, as it did not stick on my head. I encouraged others to follow. I saw that Nevo and Hoop already got their hands on the limited edition KOTJ top and unfortunately was short of change to get my own ‘limited edition’ khaki top.

Mark explains to us the prizes for the day, and takes out the ol’ video camera, hinting at the silence. So out of nowhere I hear a click roll! I turn to Cyber’s cheeky grin and I see that he is ready, so I join .. the Jam was on.

The Summer Jam

Many kicks and snares later, more and more people start rolling in. The jamming, I felt, had started to die down a bit. I looked around – Mark was chasing squirrels, Joker, after proudly showing us his personalised tops, was looking into the distance, some were just talking and Hoops’ ‘cock-nose’ and giant inflatable mic provides entertainment, and time for laughter when it was needed, throwing it around and making silly jokes as we do. Suddenly Cyber commanded that we jam so Nevo and me get up to accompany him. By this time other potential ‘jammers’ had arrived and were interested.

I try to attract some cute females from a nearby group, only to find that they didn’t speak the language – but I’m sure I heard one of them say ‘let’s go’ later on. (Hey, wait a minute). My 2-Litre power supply was now 1.

The question of Marvill’s absence was brought up a few times, like also the mystery of whether some old skoolers would appear. It was apparent that some couldn’t make it, like Fresh Bref, A-Plus, Bevis and the like.

Hoop 118, Benny Silver & B3N

Marvill does arrive, in true King fashion, Akademiks-clad, a smile spread across his face and late. I go over and hail him – after all – this guy turned up last time on his own and won it just like that with an amazing library of sound effects. With his loud and resonant clicks and rolls, he joins the slow-growing assembly.
But beatboxers it isn’t – King Of The Jam welcomes all types of musician from spoken word to instrument specialists. Speaking of which, someone spots yasSON from a distance and he arrives with his now-famous didgeridoo and panpipes. But to compete in style, I, myself hand made my own wind instrument; yes – homemade panpipes!

Then they all started coming; Shlomo, aRRO, Benny Silver, E WanDan, 420, AAA, you name them.

When it was time for the solos, we started to get a bit uncomfortable – for we knew we weren’t armed with our political facts and figures that was required! But this we hid from Mark…

Few showcases following, and a casual gentleman appears from the right, bearing a handful of flyers, and questions Mark; “What is this? What’s going on here?” a few of us laugh, but the brave chap continues with his chatter, offering us church slots that appear weekly, or something. I guess, being a strong Christian, I should have picked up a leaflet myself but at the time I was waiting to get up there and box!

So the solos flew past, Basic with his polished whistle-scratches, Benny Silver with his amazing freestyle speech, me with my straw-panpipes and of course Hoop with his all out war gear. To everyone’s surprise defending King 2004A Marvill didn’t perform, I have yet to ask him why.

We waited, not in silence, but in sounds and beats for the judge’s decision. Mark commentated with a countdown but everyone was in such a good mood we kept jamming! I guess it really didn’t matter who won or what happened – we were all in high spirits. After continuing reminders, Mark finally does get us to settle down, as he, in his mind, prepares his speech in front of the avid beatboxers seated before him.

KOTJ 2004B Winner - Hoop 118

The coveted title announced last, we listened through ‘not-so-amazing-but-great’ winners; and they were Benny Silver, Cyber and I! To my surprise I got an award for dedication, to which I’m truly honoured for. I imagine Cyber’s disappointment at hearing that he was on the ‘mic edge’ of winning, but it went to Hoop 118. King Of The Jam 2004B! What a surprise but also a great one! We all knew his determination and imagination must have given extra brownie points, and onlookers we very much amused by his performance as most of us noticed!

After thank you speeches we were told the Jam officially was coming to a close, but this never stopped anyone. I stand up as Cyber says ‘let’s jam!’ and I say nothing, but smile as I knew everyone there, even guys who didn’t partake in earlier jams that day, were ready. There was the only girl – name unknown to me – who also joined in! Nice.

Yass and his Didge

People soon started departing, either taking trains to other side of London, or England even. But I’m sure their day was worth it, after all, supporting HUMANBEATBOX.COM and being part of the virtual and real community of beatboxing helps to push this baby forward.

So soon it was only the few of us, Mark, Shlomo, yasSon, the ‘beatbox girl’ and myself clearing up the mess of water bottles and food packets as we scanned the once-green grass, we filled up over three bags! Damn! And I still don’t know why I found ten nametags with ‘Nevo D’ on ‘em!

We slowly started walking down, over the bridge (and far away, and mother duck said quack quack quack quack and only 5 little beatboxers were left). And we did see quite a number of ducks, geese and other bill-ed birds. yasSON and me laugh endlessly over the image of a ‘duck KOTJ’, with names like ‘King Of the Beak, and ‘King Of The Bill’!!

A Jam of many Jams!

Oh, it was too much. Mean-while Mark, Shlo and the ‘beatboxer girl’ were in conversation about another music-related subject, or so I gathered. I kept laughing at tourists’ reaction to the sound of yasSON’s beatboxing – I bet they never heard anything like that before! It was to be that everyone was off to the pub, which way to go was a decision we left with Mark, until we got to Westminster station.

Alas, I had to go, and I had thoroughly enjoyed KOTJ2004B from the earliest hour of 12:00, but the day was far from over for me; I had a rendezvous with my old friend who collaborated in directing a music video for his friends, and then after that a leaving party for a girl at my work place. It was good.

But this was a great day, it really was, and I recommend everyone to have a little taste of Jam, as it's very addictive!

See you guys at the next one!

PEACE

Dekoy.

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