Mavado-Kartel Early Morning Truce

KARTEL and MOVADO.jpg
Originally uploaded by fitztheo

This morning, something momentous happened in Jamaica...

Vybz Kartel (Adidja Palmer) and Mavado (David Brooks), two of dancehall's biggest DJs (singer/artists) made a truce...

History of the Kartel-Mavado Feud

For the past three (3) years - Mavado and Kartel - stars of the dancehall, one from Gully Side (the gully by Cassava Piece in St. Andrew) and the other from  Gaza (Portmore in St. Catherine), have been feuding lyrically.

Unfortunately their fans have taken the feud to another level and have been doing everything violent in the name of supporting either of the above two artists - from fist blows to outright gun violence - everything violent has been practiced by the warring factions who follow these two DJs.

The violence has even escalated to the point where school children (schoolas) take sides with one of the above factions and are carrying out violent acts lauded in both of these DJ's songs.

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Well, both Kartel and Mavado appeared on stage together at the West Kingston Jamboree, that finished at 6:00 a.m this morning.

The West Kingston Jamboree is an annual concert put on by the Tivoli (West Kingston) strongman - Dudus Coke and features West Kingston talent.

We understand that Coke first brokered the deal/truce by insisting that both Kartel and Mavado not perform at his event, until they made peace.

(This has strongly been denied by Vybz Kartel, however).

However, Information Minister, Mr. Daryl Vaz announced this morning that Jamaican Prime Minister, Mr. Bruce Golding (whose constituency is West Kingston), will broker a peace deal between Mavado and Kartel tomorrow.

We understand from Kartel, who was interviewed on Nationwide Radio's "This Morning", that when West Kingston patrons saw both DJ's on stage together and that they had made peace - people went wild with appreciation...some were even crying.

Jamaicans are so happy to hear of this truce, due to the possible peace and quiet it will bring to inner city communities in Jamaica and in schools, that it has taken the news media by storm here.

(Over 760,000 persons out of Jamaica's 2.7 million people live in inner city communities).

But here lies the heart of the matter:

Both men will continue to produce songs that promote gun violence...Vybz Kartel says that's what's in demand and that's what he'll supply.

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Well if the message can get out to the warring "schoolas" - (school children where the lines of divide between these two warring faction are so deep, that police had to be seizing paraphernalia depicting Kartel and Mavado in army fatigue - guns and all)...this will be a good thing, as it will cut down on the violence in schools.

In Kartel's interview, on "This Morning", he informed Jamaicans that both he and Mavado will be visiting schools with this new message of peace, so as to quell the violence between both factions in the schools. 

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In light of this new occurrence, however, what will become of  Mr. Laing's "Sting 2009" where the drawing card performance of the night should be a clash among Mavado, Kartel and Bounty Killer?

Surely he must be concerned that Sting may lose it's tart bite in absentia of a feud between these two infamous DJs.

(Sting is a hugely popular December 26 concert that features acts from the biggest dancehall names in the previous year and years of old. It is notorious for promoting clashes as drawing cards for patronage).

Surely Laing's hugely promoted feud between Bounty Killer and one of these men is now in jeopardy??

...well, we'll just have to wait and see.

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I've been reflecting on why both artists have decided to go public with the fact that they bear no animosity towards each other, at this time:

Could it be that:

1) The lock-down of Mavado's early morning concert on Saturday night had something to do with it?

[When the promoter attempted to go past 2:00 a.m. (the alloted time for ending all parties and concerts under the Jamaican Noise Abatement Act) police intervened and shut the party down].

2) The fact that both have been denied visas to perform in the USA, due to their violent lyrics and so have had to be foraging a living out of a meager Jamaican market, is starting to lighten the pockets of these two men?

Or

3) Could it be that international reggae artist, Shaggy's reasoning to both men that their violent lyrics are preventing them from entering the lucrative US and European markets and hence preventing them from capitalizing on US dollars and Euro there, whilst other non-Jamaican artists rake in US $millions from reggae with clean lyrics, is finally getting into the head-space of these two talented, but misdirected artists?

Well, whatever motivated this truce, I say, its about time.

(Both men attempted a truce in 2007... I just hope that this morning's truce will be more permanent). 

Many Jamaicans are tired of this Gaza-Gully rift that has not only caused many deaths among Jamaicans, it has escalated hatred among Jamaican young people to such an extent that they cannot concentrate on their lessons due to the Gully-Gaza feud in their schools and communities.

I just hope that all our people will realize that reggae and dancehall music is bigger than any one or two DJ's and can be hugely beneficial to Jamaica, if the gun violence in the dancehall ceases. 

Nuff said (Jamaican meaning, "enough has been said").

( I would like to thank fitztheo for the use of his Flickr.com inset photo above of Vybz Kartel and Mavado. Vybz Kartel is on the left while Mavado is on the right).

Gillian

Sources Include

1) Vybz Kartel biography on Wikipedia.org

2) Mavado biography on Wikipedia.org

3) Nationwide Radio's morning programme, "This Morning", December 7,2009