VYBZ KARTEL:The Teacha Speaks at UWI
The Teacha Speaks at UWI
The topic of the lecture "Pretty Like a Colouring Book: My Life My ART" pulled out many to see the young man whose "cake soap as (his) suntan". They all watched as he in true lecturer fashion used notes to solidify his points about his "style". Yet still I wondered why there were notes, he didn't reveal anything, nor did his perspective change. He remained adamant that he was no social leader while still recognizing that he was a shepherd and his fan base merely sheep.
Already much has been said about this guest lecture some associating it with the various lectures by individuals within the Dancehall industry such as Bounty Killa, Capleton and Buju Banton. Below is the first of a series of five (5) video clips of the entire presentation by Vybz Kartel.
FIRST VIDEO:
The lecture is tittled by YOU TUBE as "who is Addija Palmer?" the question he answered was "who is Vybz Kartel?" There seems to be rumours circulating that Vybz Kartel is actually a entity separate from the man Addija Palmer. An opinion with in its own merit as he constantly speaks of himself in third person especially if the personna he is referring to is the business entity/ personality/alter ego Vybz Kartel. Not once has he called himself Addija in the media. But what really strikes me as amazing is the way the University of the West Indies handled this presentation.
This academic presentation was held at the Undercroft where thousands gathered to listen to the man as he spoke about the most public figures in the Dance Hall industry. Straight from the horses mouth. The technical difficulties when married with the location difficulty seems only to devalue the University. Was the main auditorium unavailable? And why is it that when he spoke the students, who must have been unaware of the young man's intelligence, made an uproar at his word choices and not his ill thought out analogies and euphemisms? Is it truly a problem for us to understand that he is well within his right to deliver this lecture after all isn't Addija Palmer the only one who can speak to us about Vybz Kartel?
In the second section of the lecture a comparison is drawn between Bogle, Bob Marley and the rude boy sound of "Rebel" Music. Please pay attention to his quiet assertion of himself as a hero. However, in this section of the lecture he makes clear that he is no social leader, but an artist with a fresh flow, style and poetic prowess. He is not responsible for moral decay nor should he be held responsible when the society has already given our youth up for dead. His reference to the media, that spurn support from his fans in the audience, was a direct plea/request to the media to focus on the positives of the Kartel. The positives that when numbered by him are: the opening of a business, and the hiring of 38 workers. This is the artiste that needs the people, so he hires them to make rum? And then bears the tittle of hero? Where are those regular good deeds that should outshine the controversial exterior and repertoire of the music that has become the source of reference being used by the children of our society and deemed by the adults as a negative influence? Is this a question of the media or the man, the teacher,the kartel?
SECOND VIDEO:
With the question: until the colour of a man's skin is of no more significance than the colour of his eyes-WAR, what does the Imperial majesty mean by that? the artist began his discourse on bleaching. But wasn't that statement made as it relates to the harmful philosophy that saw an increase in racial oppression, throughout Africa and the world? And didnt this statement have a distinct co-relation between black skin and blue eyes as markers of racial difference and the barriers that need to be crossed in order for racial hatred to stop?
He seems ready to deliver Lynch's final blow to the fights of his predecessors by destroying the few bars of strength he had remaining as it relates to the colour of our skin. It is true that the Caribbean experience of race is vastly different from the American dilemma but our struggle is no less relevant. If he continues to enter the discussion by dismissing the fact the struggle of our colour is not an archaic one then I am afraid our youngsters will never overstep the class-ist mentality that Micheal Manley struggled to rid the island of. Our issue of colour is as much a financial as it is a racial question. The Browning syndrome, that Kartel does not even allude to in his speech, is a sentiment that has been festering in the minds of our people. Over the years two reggae artiste have been sent back into the studios to speak to their reference of "brown" as it relates to women (Buju Banton "Mmost of all me Love me Browning" and Richie Spice for "Brown Skin"). We bear great disdain for the high coloured of our society,attributing sayings such as "brown gyal" "uppity brown gyal" "a tru she brown" to whom no responsibility be it social or personnal ever seems to stick. The rest of society is left with the idea that "nutten black nuh good" or "you a nuh nubody unless you brown". His reponse to bleaching then enforces that this shepherd who is not a leader (must be the head sheep then, following some one else's orders) valorizing the very archaic principal that sits amidst the entrails of our poor's psyche? Is his bleaching his own sense of inability to become somebody unless he too bleaches away his blackness?
THIRD VIDEO:
The artistes final lines affirmed his position as an organized and diabolical planner of the events in his life as he intends on making his life his art pretty like a colouring book, while he twisted his way out of the illuminati questions to the disgust of the many Christian minded who later questioned him sternly emphasizing the way, the importance of saying he is on Jesus' side as if it would be okay for him to assert this life if he was a public child of Christ.
What is interesting to note is not the teacher's response to the topics, but our own. What else were his responses going to be? Can he publicly say that he is proud to be melanin free? What else was he going to revert to but style?
Bogle used to wear the costumes of MSMs and whip users and we never complained, why shouldnt he find solace in the fact that he has seen a trend that we as a nation has not referenced as a problem and has decided to make it fashion/style? Maybe there is comfort to be had in knowing that the dancehall culture of bleaching will be a reflection of the proud black stylist Kartel and no meaning or reference to their disdain for our their skin.
There is so much truth mingled into Kartel's weakly framed argument, yes we are a melting pot of diversity straddling the lines of Out of Many One. And yes there has been a transition from the rebel music to the idealized island commercials of sun beach and frolic. And yes our reggae was also seen as a disgusting representation of our culture during the creation of the art form.But many more things are apparent the culture of reggae music had not and still hasn't made allowances for the disregard for the nieghbours. Maybe its the difference in feel good that Bob alludes to when he sings about disturbance as revolution in BAD CARD
The philosophy of a man is not and should not be the sole philosophy of a nation if it disregards humans rights. Isn't this the reason behind many social and political upheavals and why democracy dictates that the leaders be re-elected every four years. Kartel refers to his distance from humanity when he says that the death of a love one is more painful than the death of a stranger. It is here that the difference lies. For when Bob wants to disturb he recognizes that the disturbance would affect someone close "his neighbour". His desire to distrub is a question of wanting to mash out the fued and create something he values as a defense for being ousted out of a race. Bob in an interview says that his life is for everybody. Kartel seems to be for himself. Kartel though aware of the need for artist and audience wants to be left alone to create styles to create thoughts and patterns of behavior. The deaths of strangers should have an effect on any one because he is your neighbour a fellow sheep.
The traditional and conservative view of humanity and the oppressive need to conform has me looking at the Kartel model with the disdain that any openness and frivolity would gather. But I am also aware of freeness and the need to be different. And as a business model Kartel is appealing to his audience, but even he must ask the question of why is he appealing? It is that question that sets the real argument in motion. If Vybz Kartel was to transform himself into a church going Iconic figure would his appeal be as vast or are we attracted to his difference?
I am not a fan of Vybz Kartel, his music does not appeal to me lyrically or otherwise, but there are people in this island who understand the very heart of his words and who find a major association in his art and his life. If Kartel is to wear only the badge of reflector and not leader, lyrical hero and not transformative hero then we need to look no longer at the man but the people who he shepherds from within the flock.
His lecture has made me ask who are the sheep and who is the shepherd? Is Kartel our piped piper nightmare? Is his music our own reflection? Is he really their hero? And who is he saving them from?
The topic of the lecture "Pretty Like a Colouring Book: My Life My ART" pulled out many to see the young man whose "cake soap as (his) suntan". They all watched as he in true lecturer fashion used notes to solidify his points about his "style". Yet still I wondered why there were notes, he didn't reveal anything, nor did his perspective change. He remained adamant that he was no social leader while still recognizing that he was a shepherd and his fan base merely sheep.
Already much has been said about this guest lecture some associating it with the various lectures by individuals within the Dancehall industry such as Bounty Killa, Capleton and Buju Banton. Below is the first of a series of five (5) video clips of the entire presentation by Vybz Kartel.
FIRST VIDEO:
The lecture is tittled by YOU TUBE as "who is Addija Palmer?" the question he answered was "who is Vybz Kartel?" There seems to be rumours circulating that Vybz Kartel is actually a entity separate from the man Addija Palmer. An opinion with in its own merit as he constantly speaks of himself in third person especially if the personna he is referring to is the business entity/ personality/alter ego Vybz Kartel. Not once has he called himself Addija in the media. But what really strikes me as amazing is the way the University of the West Indies handled this presentation.
This academic presentation was held at the Undercroft where thousands gathered to listen to the man as he spoke about the most public figures in the Dance Hall industry. Straight from the horses mouth. The technical difficulties when married with the location difficulty seems only to devalue the University. Was the main auditorium unavailable? And why is it that when he spoke the students, who must have been unaware of the young man's intelligence, made an uproar at his word choices and not his ill thought out analogies and euphemisms? Is it truly a problem for us to understand that he is well within his right to deliver this lecture after all isn't Addija Palmer the only one who can speak to us about Vybz Kartel?
In the second section of the lecture a comparison is drawn between Bogle, Bob Marley and the rude boy sound of "Rebel" Music. Please pay attention to his quiet assertion of himself as a hero. However, in this section of the lecture he makes clear that he is no social leader, but an artist with a fresh flow, style and poetic prowess. He is not responsible for moral decay nor should he be held responsible when the society has already given our youth up for dead. His reference to the media, that spurn support from his fans in the audience, was a direct plea/request to the media to focus on the positives of the Kartel. The positives that when numbered by him are: the opening of a business, and the hiring of 38 workers. This is the artiste that needs the people, so he hires them to make rum? And then bears the tittle of hero? Where are those regular good deeds that should outshine the controversial exterior and repertoire of the music that has become the source of reference being used by the children of our society and deemed by the adults as a negative influence? Is this a question of the media or the man, the teacher,the kartel?
SECOND VIDEO:
With the question: until the colour of a man's skin is of no more significance than the colour of his eyes-WAR, what does the Imperial majesty mean by that? the artist began his discourse on bleaching. But wasn't that statement made as it relates to the harmful philosophy that saw an increase in racial oppression, throughout Africa and the world? And didnt this statement have a distinct co-relation between black skin and blue eyes as markers of racial difference and the barriers that need to be crossed in order for racial hatred to stop?
He seems ready to deliver Lynch's final blow to the fights of his predecessors by destroying the few bars of strength he had remaining as it relates to the colour of our skin. It is true that the Caribbean experience of race is vastly different from the American dilemma but our struggle is no less relevant. If he continues to enter the discussion by dismissing the fact the struggle of our colour is not an archaic one then I am afraid our youngsters will never overstep the class-ist mentality that Micheal Manley struggled to rid the island of. Our issue of colour is as much a financial as it is a racial question. The Browning syndrome, that Kartel does not even allude to in his speech, is a sentiment that has been festering in the minds of our people. Over the years two reggae artiste have been sent back into the studios to speak to their reference of "brown" as it relates to women (Buju Banton "Mmost of all me Love me Browning" and Richie Spice for "Brown Skin"). We bear great disdain for the high coloured of our society,attributing sayings such as "brown gyal" "uppity brown gyal" "a tru she brown" to whom no responsibility be it social or personnal ever seems to stick. The rest of society is left with the idea that "nutten black nuh good" or "you a nuh nubody unless you brown". His reponse to bleaching then enforces that this shepherd who is not a leader (must be the head sheep then, following some one else's orders) valorizing the very archaic principal that sits amidst the entrails of our poor's psyche? Is his bleaching his own sense of inability to become somebody unless he too bleaches away his blackness?
THIRD VIDEO:
The artistes final lines affirmed his position as an organized and diabolical planner of the events in his life as he intends on making his life his art pretty like a colouring book, while he twisted his way out of the illuminati questions to the disgust of the many Christian minded who later questioned him sternly emphasizing the way, the importance of saying he is on Jesus' side as if it would be okay for him to assert this life if he was a public child of Christ.
What is interesting to note is not the teacher's response to the topics, but our own. What else were his responses going to be? Can he publicly say that he is proud to be melanin free? What else was he going to revert to but style?
There is so much truth mingled into Kartel's weakly framed argument, yes we are a melting pot of diversity straddling the lines of Out of Many One. And yes there has been a transition from the rebel music to the idealized island commercials of sun beach and frolic. And yes our reggae was also seen as a disgusting representation of our culture during the creation of the art form.But many more things are apparent the culture of reggae music had not and still hasn't made allowances for the disregard for the nieghbours. Maybe its the difference in feel good that Bob alludes to when he sings about disturbance as revolution in BAD CARD
The philosophy of a man is not and should not be the sole philosophy of a nation if it disregards humans rights. Isn't this the reason behind many social and political upheavals and why democracy dictates that the leaders be re-elected every four years. Kartel refers to his distance from humanity when he says that the death of a love one is more painful than the death of a stranger. It is here that the difference lies. For when Bob wants to disturb he recognizes that the disturbance would affect someone close "his neighbour". His desire to distrub is a question of wanting to mash out the fued and create something he values as a defense for being ousted out of a race. Bob in an interview says that his life is for everybody. Kartel seems to be for himself. Kartel though aware of the need for artist and audience wants to be left alone to create styles to create thoughts and patterns of behavior. The deaths of strangers should have an effect on any one because he is your neighbour a fellow sheep.
The traditional and conservative view of humanity and the oppressive need to conform has me looking at the Kartel model with the disdain that any openness and frivolity would gather. But I am also aware of freeness and the need to be different. And as a business model Kartel is appealing to his audience, but even he must ask the question of why is he appealing? It is that question that sets the real argument in motion. If Vybz Kartel was to transform himself into a church going Iconic figure would his appeal be as vast or are we attracted to his difference?
I am not a fan of Vybz Kartel, his music does not appeal to me lyrically or otherwise, but there are people in this island who understand the very heart of his words and who find a major association in his art and his life. If Kartel is to wear only the badge of reflector and not leader, lyrical hero and not transformative hero then we need to look no longer at the man but the people who he shepherds from within the flock.
His lecture has made me ask who are the sheep and who is the shepherd? Is Kartel our piped piper nightmare? Is his music our own reflection? Is he really their hero? And who is he saving them from?
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