The long-festering conflict between top dancehall personalities DJ Vybz Kartel and DJ Mavado is threatening to explode into what could be a dangerous street war in light of the rumours and accusations flying around.
The last such rumour is that Kartel’s car was firebombed outside the gates of his upscale residential home on Monday morning.
However, Kartel has shot down rumours that his Honda Accord motorcar was firebombed by thugs on a motorcyle.
“Ridiculous! Nutten no go so,” a calm-sounding Vybz Kartel told XtraNews. “The Honda had an electrical problem and the firemen from Half-Way-Tree came and extinguished the blaze. That’s all, my car was not
firebombed.”
Checks with the HWT Fire Station revealed that a formal report had already been submitted to the York Park HQ regarding the incident.
“At the end of the day, Jamaicans should know it’s just music, no physical altercation. Mi no have nothing against David. If he does (have anything) against me, I don’t see it. My focus now is on positive songs like ‘Money Fi Spend’, ‘Million By A Morning’, and ‘Life Sweet’, uplifting songs for Jamaica. So don’t expect me to perform those clash songs onstage, just regular thug anthems and daggering songs. Money over war,” he said.
Vybz Kartel has been involved in a lyrical clash with David ‘Mavado’ Brooks, a member of the Alliance in recent weeks, with the two exchanging hardcore disses on the Martial Arts rhythm resurrected by Cordel ‘Skatta’ Burrell.
According to industry insiders, Kartel had voiced a song called ‘Send a Hell’ before Mavado kicked off the lyrical war when he voiced ‘Dem A Fag’ on ‘Skatta’s microwaved rhythm, the Martial Arts.
Mavado, in his dis song, makes references to Kartel’s tattoos and takes umbrage with a well-known Kartel line about ‘not wanting to know God’. In the song, Mavado spits in his distinctive voice: “De bwoy dem a fag, dem a fag, ah b—-an alone nuh waan know God, well bleach out and full a tattoo like Rod”.
However, Kartel’s response, ‘Weh Dat Fah’ is caustic, delivered with chest-thumping swagger and fury, and the listener is immediately keyed into the head-knocking intensity of the track. He drops a kicker of a chorus where he suggests that he is having relations with Mavado’s mother while repeatedly asking ‘wah dat fah?’
And for the umpteenth time, Kartel makes several references to Mavado’s effeminate brother, and he also questions Mavado’s street credentials, dubbing him a ‘community barber’. He also draws atten
tion to Mavado’s potentially blasphemous title, Gully Gadd, and declares “tell Gadd say Selassie is my Emperor”.
Kartel also addressed rumours in the street that his right-hand soldier, Jeffrey Hype, had been punched in the face by Mavado, while both were at the Constant Spring Police Station.
“That is preposterous. How could (something like) that have happened before cops without anyone being arrested? That is not true,” he reasoned.
When contacted, Portmore Empire street manager, Jeffrey Hype said that, “Ah music me ah deal wid, nothin’ else. Mi nah stop play ‘Wah Dat Fah’ inna mi vehicle, that is my answer, mi no have nothing else fi say.”
Sources close to Mavado’s camp said this was all about a lyrical war and they had no interest in it getting physical. According to the source, however, Mavado plans to tek it to Kartel on stage Irie Jamboree in New York on Sunday.
“Kartel caan test Mavado, whether in lyrics or anyting, suh Kartel fi jus easy himself, cause Mavado a bigga artiste fi him. Mavado international, Kartel local. Him just a look a hype cause nothing nah gwaan fi him. Kartel fi guh siddung wid him bleachout face,” said a Mava
