About

"Nobody Canna Cross It" is a video remix series based on a Jamaican news interview clip with a local Mavis Bank resident Clifton Brown about the flooding of Yallahs River in June 2011. Following the broadcast of the interview, many Jamaicans took note of Clifton's unique "twang accent" and began creating remixes and tributes.

Origin

On June 5th, 2011, severe rainstorms hit the coast of Jamaica, including the rural parish towns of St. Andrew and St. Thomas, where a bridge was swept away by the flooding of Yallahs River. A local news team from Television Jamaica was dispatched in the region to interview the local residents on the scene and among them was an optimistic, outspoken community member who identified himself as Clifton Brown.

Notable quotes:

• "Nobody canna cross it"
• "The bus can swim" (di bus can swim)
  

Clifton's unique "twang" accent, a pejorative term for the British-like dialect of English spoken by Jamaicans who grew up speaking heavy patwa but wish to "clean up" by sounding more akin to the British pronunciations, inspired DJ Powa to create a musical remix and upload it via YouTube on June 15th, 2011.

Spread

Since its debut in mid-June, DJ Powa's remix went on to gain over one million view and Clifton, the subject of the interview clip, has been interviewed by several TV channels in Jamaica. Following the coverage by news sites like Jamaica Observer^[1] and Jamaica Gleaner^[2], the news of the Jamaican viral video was also picked up by several internet humor blogs and communities like Reddit^[3], Tosh.0^[4] forum and I-am-bored^[5] forum.

Interviews

Interview with Clifton Brown and DJ Powa

Clifton Brown on Bless Entertainment

After the rise of Clifton to internet stardom, Jamaica Gleaner^[2] reported that the organizers of the annual festival "Dream Weekend" visited Mavis Bank to search for the celebrity resident, as they saw Clifton as a good match for a marketer of the event.

Notable Remixes

Search Interest

External References

^[1] Jamaica Observer – [Video] Clifton Brown Still Canna Cross It

^[2] Jamaica Gleaner – Smirnoff Dream Weekend Finds Mavis Bank Star

^[3] Reddit – Nobody canna cross it

^[4] Tosh.0 Community – Nobody Canna Cross It

^[5] I-am-bored Forum – Nobody Canna Cross It: Another Summer Jam?

^[6] Jamaica Gleaner – Shame On You, TVJ!

^[7] Jamaica Observer – Deconstructing the ownership rights of Nobody Canna Cross It