10 months ago
108
For the 13 years that he was convicted for the murder of Clive ‘Lizard’ Williams, 48 year-old, self-proclaimed King of dancehall, Adidja ‘Vybz Kartel’, ruled the charts with a plethora of hit songs. His impact on society, however, was more than musical and quite extensive.
On a recent visit to the Cayman Islands, which boasts a huge Jamaican population and is very influenced by the Jamaican culture, it was interesting to hear about the ‘Kartel effect’.
Social media influencer, educator, emcee and brand ambassador, Tajae Grey, aka Lady T, who has called Cayman home since 2005, spoke to The Gleaner about the day the Jamaican Court of Appeal ordered that Kartel and his three co-defendants be released from the Tower Street Adult Correctional Centre in downtown Kingston.
“Cayman was at a standstill that day,” she said.
“Everyone, whether they were at work or not, had their phones in their hands awaiting the verdict. Everyone was excited. Some started making jokes about selling a kidney to attend his first concert. Even promoters here took advantage of it and had Gaza parties that same night. At least three parties had a Kartel poster advertising a release party! It was a great day,” Grey recalled.
Headlines Delivered to Your Inbox
Asked if she would attend Kartel’s first concert on Jamaican soil in December, Lady T declared, “I’m definitely attending. It’s something that everyone is looking forward to for sure and it’s also something that proper planning and preparation have to go into. I’m sure most of Cayman will be empty that weekend.”
WORKPLACES WILL SUFFER
“Lots of workplaces will suffer at the hands of persons putting in vacation time,” she said.
Jamaican-born contractor and concert promoter Leighton ‘Rumpy’ Elliott, who recently promoted Rumpy Weekend featuring Nigy Boy, Nhance and selector Bishop Escobar, shared that “the entire Cayman population is extremely happy that Vybz Kartel has been freed”.
“Once the date for the concert is finalised, I will definitely be making travel plans. That concert is a must-attend event. Remember that’s the world boss!” said Rumpy, who has lived in Cayman for 23 years.
Rumpy added that he would definitely be willing to fork out a hefty sum to book Kartel to perform in Cayman “because it would be a sold-out event”.
This prompted the obvious comparison. Would the upcoming Kartel concert draw a bigger crowd than Buju Banton’s Long Walk To Freedom which reportedly attracted more than 30,000 patrons into the National Stadium?
“Definitely bigger,” Lady T declared. “While Buju’s release was momentous, Kartel’s fan base is extremely large.”
Notably, not everyone agreed with Grey’s or Elliott’s positive assessment.
“I think it’s mixed,” said Christina Anderson, who was born in Cayman but whose parents are from Westmoreland, Jamaica. “Kartel has die-hard fans all over the world, including Cayman. Those die-hard fans are ecstatic, the rest are indifferent.”
Anderson has no plans to attend Kartel’s December concert. “It would likely be too expensive and too many people,” she explained.
CONCERNS
Damion Wright, a George Town resident from Spanish Town in St Catherine, was happy about Kartel’s freedom, but he expressed concern about his long-term safety living in Jamaica.
“He and his [fiancée] need to leave Jamaica immediately. He needs to go to England because it is a set-up. The whole system in Jamaica is corrupt. I am convinced of that,” he reasoned.
Brand Manager with Wray & Nephew, Heineken and Magnum in Cayman, Cedric Gidarisingh, acknowledged that Kartel enjoys wide support there. He, however, expressed concern that not enough is known about Kartel, so soon after his release from prison.
“A lot of people are excited here. We, however, don’t know Kartel’s objectives as yet although his fan base will always be there for him,” Gidarisingh said.
He added, “The key point is whether he will be positive and learn from what he went through in prison and encourage the youths to do good, or will he be negative. This will reveal itself in time.”
Speaking about whether his company would invest big dollars to support Kartel’s first concert, Gidarisingh said his team “will assess the situation from now until maybe next year to see how things progress”.
“The possibilities are endless when it comes to consumption and brand affiliation. At the end of the day, we have to make sure we make the right choices and strategically place it under the right umbrella, especially when it comes to the regional side of things. We would have to be sure that whatever Kartel does, aligns with the brand in a positive way,” Gidarisingh said.
English (US) ·