Brian London bettered Winston “Gypsy” Peters in the “War” to claim his fifth Extempo Monarch crown at the National Academy of the Performing Arts, Port-of-Spain, on Tuesday.
Akeem “Preedy” Chance meanwhile retained his Freestyle title.
London, who claimed his first title back in 2014 at the same venue, hit the first serious blow when he told Peters, the former National Carnival Committee chairman, his appearance in the final is the “First time you could get a chance to touch some of NCC money legally,” to which the crowd erupted in support.
It was clear from the opening verses that London led the head-to-head battle.
Gypsy, himself a multiple-time winner, responded that he made “enough money in kaiso.”
He added, “I’m a businessman, it’s plain to see, so I ain’t depending on anybody money.”
He also retorted to London, who coaches Pleasantville Secondary School’s girls’ team and the Defence Force women, that he is “thieving money from football.”
London continued to pick on his cousin and told him he would answer him like Minister Roger Alexander and blew in the bag.
London used his final verse to praise Gypsy, the 11-time extempo monarch, and told the audience Gypsy encouraged him and was the reason why he is now competing.
After the win, London continued to praise the veteran calypsonian.
“Gypsy is the one who is responsible for me being here,” London said.
“I remember when he first got me into extempo, I went to the prelims, myself and a young man in Francois Ottley. We didn’t make it to the finals, and Gypsy came out in the newspapers, and he said to them that both of them (London and Ottley) were supposed to be in the finals.”
He added, “Probably if he didn’t say that on that night, I probably wouldn’t have gone back into extempo, because I felt like I was good and we didn’t get in, and just seeing the article the next day that they wrote about us, that kind of gave me encouragement to go back, and two years later I won my first one.”
London also shared how special it was to have Gypsy as his sparring partner in the final hurdle for the $200,000 first prize.
“I appreciate him so much, and the battles with him for me are always fun, as I said, it’s the student against the master, and when you beat the master, like the old Japanese movie, you always get that bit of validation that, yeah, boy, I did it.”
London has won his five titles in the last 12 years. Other winners within the last 12 years are: Gypsy (3 times), Black Sage, Myron B, and Lingo (one each).
Gypsy said, “I am only keeping myself in this thing because I want to spawn more young people to do this. This is an artform that was dead one time, and I, as a young man, was encouraged to get into this, to try to revive it, and it has revived.
“Today, I have Brian London, who is my cousin, Second Star, who is my cousin, and these are two young fellas who come into the thing, and I feel proud that they have made their way into it, and they are doing good because I saw the potential in them, I encouraged them to do it.”
The judges had the very difficult task of separating the sheep from the goat in the first round of the competition.
London was first to go on stage and picked the ‘Inheritance Bill’ as his topic, but executed with ease using the ‘MaryAnn’ melody.
Calypso Nite (Myron B) executed his piece on the ‘Road March race’ using the ‘Rum and Coca Cola’ melody. Gypsy’s topic was about the Tribe goodie bag that raised its head over the weekend, compounded by Archbishop Jason Gordon’s condemnation of the gift.
Debutants Dr Kno (Kendal Noray) and soca star Sekon Sta (Nesta Boxhill) did creditably well, adding to the judges’ headache. Noray admitted he had issues with his voice due to performances on the weekend, but sang about the Calypso Monarch Finals with dignity.
Sekon Sta was impressive and represented his late father (Merchant) very well with his performances. His voice brought melody and finesse as he sang on the Archbishop’s taking offence to the Tribe’s goodie bag.
Others who gave the judges a hard task in the first round were Preedy, Lingo, and reigning 2025 champion Black Sage.
The Freestyle was just as competitive with Fireball, Sekon Sta and Calypso Nite advancing from the first round.
Preedy paired off with his friend Sekon Sta to retain the title he last year, the first Freestyle Monarch to win back-to-back and the first to win twice. The competition made its debut in 2023 when Calypso Nite won.
An elated Preedy could not hold back his joy in the win.
“I am ecstatic, I feel validated, I am thankful, and I’m honoured,” he said.
“It was amazing, it was ironic because I told him (Sekon Sta) last year he should enter, and he told me no. He’s extremely talented, extremely, extremely talented, and I want to see those guys continue entering. Shout out to Orlando Octave, for whatever reason, he didn’t enter, big up to him, but I want to see him back in it. Squeezy, I want to see him back in it, because to be the best, I had to be the best.”
Results
Extempo Monarch
1. Brian London
2. Gypsy
3. Preedy
4. Lingo
5. Calypso Nite
Freestyle Monarch
1. Preedy
2. Sekon Sta
3. Calypso Nite
4. Fireball
5. Medic
