Which direction will Dancehall take now that (arguably) it's greatest exponent Adidja Palmer aka Vybz Kartel is back on the streets after being incarcerated for more than 13 years?'
As Kartel sat in the back of one of two extended limousines chartered to pick them up outside the gates of the Tower Street prison, he called out to the throng that had gathered to greet him, "Tell di yutes dem fi leggo di badness and crime. A waste dem a waste dem life an It nuh worth it."
Dancehalls stature under siege
I thought that these were poignant thoughts being expressed by him as some of the first words being spoken as a free man. If these thoughts were the representation of what 2024 Vybz Kartel is, how could this version of the man reshape the Dancehall genre, which remains a largely misrepresented and unmined Jamaican National resource.
Despite being incarcerated, Kartel had nevertheless used the systems loopholes to remain connected and relevant over the years he had been away. This despite the genre's experiences of fits and starts, including attacks from high-statured officials who blamed it as one of the leading causes of the island's punishing crime and murder problem. I am willing to submit that the political class used Vybz Kartel's case to score political points given the government's abysmal failure to stem the island's crime and murder problem.
A word on his Release
I felt that the authorities fractured the rules in an effort to secure a points-scoring conviction, and it is a well-established rule in democratic societies that "You cannot break the Law to enforce the law" That is the broad message from this entire episode, and with Kartel's release, the Jamaican Appeals Court finally got it right. The principles on which the concept of Justice operates are: Trust in the system, Efficacy, and Fairness.
There is no denying that Jamaica is a violent space. This has been so for more than four decades. The Government used the Kartel case to send a message to Jamaicans that they were doing something about crime. In the process, they broke the law and disregarded the Constitutional Rights of the accused. Ultimately this was exposed and the Courts had no option but to correct those errors.
Whether Kartl and company were guilty of the crimes is a completely different issue, as the conduct of the trial could not prove guilt or innocence given the illegal behaviors used to bring the case to trial.
It is better for a guilty person to be set free rather than undermine the canons of Justice by using illegal and Unconstitutional means to find accused persons guilty, and in this regard, the Jamaican Appeals Court made the correct decision.
The Jamaican Star Newspaper quoted University of the West Indies' Professor Donna Hope, who stated that she believes that if Vybz Kartel makes a dancehall comeback, he may not reign at the hierarchy's top. According to Professor Hope
"Vybz Kartel has been out for so long, and it's a new version of dancehall, with a lot of new stars who don't even know Kartel very well. So if he comes back now and his health is quite compromised, he will have a lot of work to do to kind of rise above them," said Hope. She said the new wave of artistes has captured the minds and attention of this generation to another level.
"And unlike the guys from [Kartel's] timeline who used to pay a lot of homage to Kartel, call him out in their songs all the time, these young ones are just doing their own thing [because] they are not that connected to him," she said. Professor Hope made expressed the above thoughts to Star Reporter Natasha Williams in an article published Wednesday, July 31, 2024, published by that paper.
Expansive influence
Despite whatever opinions we may have of Kartel, it is my view that it would be foolish to deny his influence. Kartel's reach as far as Jamaica's music is concerned extends way beyond Jamaica's shores. There were commentators tuning in to his release from as far away as Zimbabwe, Ghana, Kenya and multiple other countries in Africa. It therefore beggars the question: will he be able to reposition the Dancehall genre?
Comentarios