With amateurs like this, how does a professional dancer stand out? Easy: by outdancing everyone. Ding Dong made his appearance around 3am, and although the DJ briefly summoned him over to the DJ booth, he could soon be found on the floor, efficiently showing up anyone who tried to upstage him, women in plastic sunglasses and young men in gang colors alike. Mainly, though, this was a group effort: When the selector played Voicemail's Get Crazy, based on a spring-loaded beat called Gangsta Rock, Ding Dong led the crowd in the leaning, twisting dance step.
As you can tell from the DVD, Ding Dong is a likable star, even though he'll probably never be a nimble lyricist. (In Badman Forward, Badman Pull Up, he mainly just chants the title.) But in America, where rapid-fire reggae lyrics are often considered an obstacle to success, that may mean he is more marketable than many established reggae stars; no doubt some record executive is hatching a plot now.
By 5am on Saturday morning, the fluorescent lights were on and people were starting to file out, clutching fistfuls of glossy fliers advertising the next party. One of them, scheduled for Sunday in East Orange, New Jersey, paid tribute to Ding Dong's hit while leaving him out of the loop entirely: It's called, Badgal Forward, Badgal Pull Up, and it's an amateur contest. No professionals required.
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