The King of the Dancehall stood tall before thousands of loyal raving fans at the Caribbean Music Festival.
That was the first time in over a decade that many Barbadians were witnessing a live Vybz Kartel performance in Barbados.
Despite the numerous “Gaza, Gaza” chants that reverberated throughout the venue early yesterday morning, Kensington Oval was far from a war zone.
Rather, that was the crowd’s way of showering the controversial Jamaican artiste also known as the World Boss, with love and adoration.
Dressed in a blinged-out denim-on-denim outfit, he appeared on stage around 2:40 a.m.
There were fireworks and the crowd went wild. Shortly after he appeared on stage, he made it clear that he was unable to sing some of his more
explicit lyrics, but the crowd had no problem filling in the blanks.
He performed numerous hits such as Real BadMan, Last Man Standing, Bend Like Banana, Love Dem, Everywhere We Party, She Nah Let Go, Send Fi Mi Army, Fever Mile High Club and Virginity.
Following the last track, he transitioned into
Ramping Shop.
Within seconds of the first verse, he ushered in the Queen of Dancehall
Spice who took the performance to a new level at the Zulu Entertainment-produced show.
She was dressed in her signature blue from head to toe and accompanied by a group of acrobatic pole dancers who were unafraid to show off their skills.
The two performed their other duet, Back Way, before Spice commanded the stage with Jim Screechie and So Mi Like It.
Unfortunately for the fans, their performance came to an end just after 3:19 a.m. when the police shut it down.
It was clear that the people wanted more as some complained that the artistes, especially Kartel, had much more to perform from his extensive catalogue.
Their performance came after months of pushback, and cancellation rumours at one protest in The City by members of the religious community who believed the dancehall show should not been staged on
Easter Sunday.
They believe that Kartel, who was released from prison after a murder conviction, glorified gun violence and that his music sends the wrong message at a time when the country continues to grapple with gun violence.
However, several individuals in the crowd told the DAILY NATION they felt differently.
“Since he’s been out of prison, he has been pushing positivity,” said Shelly Mahy said.
She referenced his latest release God Is The Greatest.
She added: “Everybody has a history and everybody should be able to reinvent themselves.”
Ashley Harris made similar comments.
“We as Caribbean people like the vibes, the culture and the music.”
The crowd also enjoyed Tommy Lee Sparta, who performed Some Bwoy, Buss A Blank, Captain Sparta, Blessings and Ghetto Cry. Ayetian performed Balance, CARICOM,
and Anyweh. Teejay performed Pain, Hundred Million and Uptop Boss while Malie Don performed Suspect and Body Tea.
There were also performances by several other acts such as Lil Rick, Yung Bredda, Chief Diin, Lead pipe and Saddis and Jordan English which the crowd loved.
Several people also appeared to enjoy a lot of the food and drink options provided throughout the night.
However, some people in the crowd did not love the removal of the barrier that separated VIP from VVIP.
Hours into the show, some of the VVIP guests who paid top dollar for their space were concerned that “any and everybody” moved into their space.
Security at the venue, however, was tight and the patrons were searched extensively.
They were warned not to bring weapons or they would be removed. (TG)
