Fans Divided, Is Vybz Kartel Shading Jahmiel Or Simply Enjoying His Music?
The debate among Gaza fans over the last two days has been whether Vybz Kartel is encouraging peace and unity with Jahmiel or subliminally jabbing the MVP aligned Dancehall deejay.
Jahmiel’s recent release, We Alone, was given a big highlight when Kartel shared a clip from the official audio to his Instagram Story with 1.2 million followers.
Kartel, who is still basking in the release of Of Dons & Divas, which has been performing well on the charts, added a caption that quotes lyrics from the song, “Been through the storm.”
The incarcerated deejay may merely be feeling the message of the uplifting track, but his post left some fans confused about the motive.
Fans may be perplexed because just two months ago, Kartel gave Chronic Law his endorsement when he and Jahmiel, were trading blows back and forth in a lyrical standoff. In fact, on April 21, when Chronic Law fired shots at Jahmiel (Jamiel Foster) with a new diss track titled Talk Facts, Kartel (Adidja Palmer) took to his Instagram to support the song by quoting his favorite verse – ‘Rasta yuh cyan guh ah Zion inna frock’.
He added: “I thought I was the only alien…apparently not.” At that time, Kartel even said he was enjoying the battle between the two but seemed to be siding with Chronic Law.
Law is affiliated with the 6ix clan, which is led by Squash, and that made it easy for Kartel to choose sides. Jahmiel is also closely associated with Mavado (David Constantine Brooks) and Alkaline (Earlan Bartley), who together have formed a dancehall collective known as the MVP. Mavado and Kartel have been feuding since 2006, while his beef with Alkaline started in 2014. So it’s quite easy to understand why fans are perplexed about the post.
Dancehall fans trying to figure out why Kartel would post this song have also offered other opinions. One theory was that Kartel is not control of his Instagram, so it could have been one of his sons or other handlers of the account. But the incarcerated deejay seems to be very much involved with the management of his social media accounts.
Another popular opinion argued that it couldn’t possibly be shade because Jahmiel wouldn’t stand a chance if it came to a lyrical war with Kartel, so it must be an attempt at unity.
Fans seem to be divided about what they think as some feel Kartel is definitely trying to get a reaction out of Jahmiel. In contrast, others believe that he is simply confident with his latest contribution and is seeking to end some of the beef in the genre.
This fan said: “gi dem a straw fi clutch pon,” inferring that maybe Kartel hopes that Jahmiel will respond so that he can demolish him.
Another fan believed it was just a nice gesture on the part of Kartel: “Vybz Kartel is showing Jahmiel that just one post from the teacher can mek him relevant and important and that the 2 fish that him a follow not helping him career.”
“Kartel has his reasons, nobody knows, when you think you know what kartel is thinking, you have already lost because kartel is always 10 steps ahead,,,,, but kartel never really had problems with jahmiel, why would he have problems with his biggest fan?” added another fan in reference a contentious exchange between Jahmiel and Kartel earlier this year.
Another fan said, “Kartel put music 1st not camp or artist & others need to take a page outta the Boss book and show luv to the music , support Dancehall & Reggae . A the genre mek u kno the artist not the other way around #GazaIsDancehall.”