Vybz Kartel wants everyone to know he is not losing sleep over Mavado. In a new Instagram video, the Worl’ Boss said nobody could make him “pree” his fellow deejay, using the Jamaican slang for watching someone closely or fixating on them.
The clip lands after days of chatter sparked by a string of Kartel’s posts and captions. One read “Arena Shella.
Everybody Else A Play Ketchup,” while another simply said “Birds of a feather flop together.” Fans quickly started connecting dots, and plenty of them landed on Mavado.
Kartel didn’t exactly deny being playful, though. He openly admitted that he trolls people and said he studies Dancehall closely. He also added that some people may want to bring him down, but they do not possess his intelligence.
That mix of denial and self-aware mischief is classic Kartel. He brushes off one reading of the posts while making it clear he enjoys stirring the pot. For fans who love a good lyrical war, that leaves plenty of room to keep guessing.
The history here explains why people jumped so fast. Kartel and Mavado sat at the center of the Gaza versus Gully rivalry in the late 2000s, a feud that split Dancehall fans across Jamaica.
Tensions ran so high that the two met with then Prime Minister Bruce Golding in December 2009, and they later embraced on stage at Sting that year in a public show of peace.
Even with that truce in the record books, any hint of friction between the two still gets the culture talking. Some fans see the posts as harmless banter from an artist who has always liked to provoke.
Others think there is no smoke without fire, especially with captions that read like bars aimed at somebody specific.
Kartel’s current run adds another layer. He walked free in July 2024 after more than a decade behind bars, when the Privy Council quashed his murder conviction and the Court of Appeal declined to order a retrial. Since then, he has been back in full voice, and his online presence has been just as loud as his music.
The timing also lines up with a milestone. Kartel is celebrating his first certification in Canada, with his 2016 hit “Fever” officially certified double platinum by Music Canada on November 5.
That a song nearly a decade old is still racking up numbers shows how far his catalog continues to travel outside Jamaica. It also gives him a fresh talking point every time someone suggests rivals might be gaining ground.
Mavado has not been quoted in the source material responding to any of this. With Kartel insisting he is not preeing anyone while still promising to keep trolling, the next caption could reignite the whole conversation.
