2 months ago
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Kenyan national Stephen “Stevlims” Omondi, the television videographer who created a viral unsolicited music video back in 2011 for the Worl’ Boss’ hit song Poor People Land, is still struggling to convince fans that he is neither Vybz Kartel nor the singer of the song.
Stevlim’s video for Poor People Land, the ultimate track on Don Corleone’s 12-song The Message juggling riddim, has amassed close to eight million views on YouTube.
In the song, Kartel criticizes Joe Matalon, a Jamaican of Syrian descent reputed to be the country’s wealthiest man, questioning his origins and how he came to own so much of Jamaica’s land, while descendants of enslaved Africans struggle to find a place to live.
Stevlims, an emerging Dancehall artist and a superfan of Kartel, said that the music video was created using television news footage he shot while on assignment at GBS Television at the time.
He explained that he came up with the idea for a video on a day when he had nothing to do, and, realizing Kartel was in custody and that it was unlikely he would be able to produce a video, decided to take matters into his own hands.
“At that time, I was working with GBS TV station. I was just idling at the edit suite, listening to this new song, and I realized that it didn’t have a music video. At that point, I stumbled onto an idea—shoot the song’s video and use some of the footage from my news coverage to complete the whole video,” he told Citizens TV Kenya.
“I asked a friend to shoot me since I couldn’t shoot myself and still star in the video. I acted as Kartel and used some of my cut-aways from news projects to patch up the video according to the lyrics,” he added.
The video alternates between Stevlims lip-syncing to Poor People Land whilst walking and driving around, and scenes of poverty-stricken areas in Kenya, riots, police brutality, and human suffering. The lip-syncing may have contributed to the widespread belief that Stevlims is the one actually singing the song.
“I’ve had a very hard time explaining to fans that I’m not the real Kartel. He used to be dark-skinned, and then he bleached his skin. Most people now think the dark man in the video is actually Kartel, but it’s really just me…” he said.
During his interview with Citizens TV Kenya, Stevlims noted that the message in Kartel’s song was particularly resonant when it was released, as Kenya was still grappling with nearly all the issues Kartel highlighted in the one-drop Reggae track: police brutality, joblessness, corruption, poor governance, and youth discontent.
Poor People Land was released shortly before Vybz Kartel was taken into custody and later charged with the murder of Clive “Lizard” Williams.
The Message riddim on which Poor People Land was recorded features other popular songs such as Ikaya’s Fly Away, Protoje’s Take Control, Richie Spice’s Gotta Make It, Kymani Marley’s Brave Ones, and Jah Vinci’s Wicked Heart. The Message riddim was released on March 1, 2011.
Poor People Land sees Kartel addressing the issue of squatting, which was particularly pressing in 2011, as data from the 2011 Population and Housing Census showed a 44 percent increase in the number of households in squatter settlements.
In the first verse, Kartel rebukes the government, vowing never to vote again due to the destruction of squatter settlements, while pointing out that Members of Parliament showed little care or concern about the situation.
In the second verse, he turns his attention to Matalon and other non-African descendants, asserting that God had created Jamaica specifically for Black people.
Kartel sings:
“But mi know seh mi a born Jamaican
Mi deh yah from slavery as a African
Summady tell mi weh Matalon come from?
Fi own so much land inna wi island
Tell mi
Mr. Chin go back a Japan
Cah JA, Jah mek yah fi di black man
From Morant Point to Negril Point
From St. Thomas to Westmoreland”
Stevlims, a father of two who now works as a freelance video producer and cinematographer, has a deep desire to meet Kartel, whom he regards as “the best Dancehall artiste ever,” and perform on stage with him.
“He is now ready to reclaim the top spot and remind everyone why he is the best,” Stevlims said.
Regarding the Poor People Land video, Stevlims explained that he initially never intended to profit from it, and that despite the video amassing more than seven million views, he has never earned any money from it.
“I did not monetize the video. I never made a coin from the video despite the millions of views. This is all due to copyright issues since the song is not mine. But, thankfully, I managed to grow my YouTube channel and have continued to attract thousands of subscribers from all around the world,” he explained.
English (US) ·