Words by Eddie STATS Houghton, photo by Peter Dean Rickards
Given the recent fuss and flap-up around Vybz Kartel and his new LP Kingston Story (A sitch I take partial responsibility for) we thought it would be worth a look back at old Vybz, to see just how far he’s come since he first stepped out of Bounty Killer’s shadow, a skinny dark-skinned youth in baggy jeans and throwback. This jam “New Millenium” with Wayne Marshall (for producer Don Corleon, who gave Vybz some of his first breaks as a solo artist) stands out to me as one of the first that I could really play in a club and get a forward from the crowd. The club was called Parlay and that would have been ca. 2003. Vybz had grabbed New York’s attention the summer before when he grabbed the mic at Elephant Man’s release party at BK’s in midtown and the crowd blew up. But he made that name with battle lyrics and “New Millenium” might’ve been the first 45 (“Breast Specialist” with Beenie Man was another) that demonstrated how he could turn those taunts into an addictive singsong that worked in the dance. Then there’s the video. A “medd-ley” (meds, get it?) that incorporates lots of weed-smoke, police spaceships rendered in early 2000s 3D and a Chinese New Years dragon at the end. Those were simpler times.