Culture - Two Sevens Clash

July 7/Jamaica -- This date marks the anniversary of predicted chaos and apocalypse as described by the Jamaican roots group, Culture. Jamaican activist Marcus Garvey was held up as a spiritual prophet by the Rastafarian religion, which was exploding on the scene in Kingston at the time, and this prediction was attributed to Garvey. The lyrics of the song retell, almost word for word, a speech he gave decades earlier. The cataclysmic event was destined to take place when the two sevens clash, that is, on the seventh day of the seventh month in the year 1977. Culture recorded and released their song Two Sevens Clash early that year and it quickly became a huge hit, testament to the mushrooming popularity of Rastafarian themes. The influence of the song also underscores the enormous impact popular music plays on Jamaican culture. As the fateful day neared, private citizens armed themselves and the army was put on alert. On the day itself businesses and schools were shuttered and people stayed off the streets. Fortunately, the world did not end, and the sun rose again on July 8, but the position Rastafarianism and its form of musical expression, roots music, held in the country's consciousness was indisputable. This is Culture's Two Sevens Clash, from 1977.