AN OPEN LETTER: THE VIEW OF THE CLASH FROM THE MANAGEMENT OF MAVADO

In any fight/confrontation/battle what decides the winner is the knockout blow, which in the Mavado vs Vybz Kartel battle was clearly delivered by Mavado. As the so-called best lyricist in Dancehall, Kartel could not manage, in all of 12 minutes, to find that knockout blow. Mavado, at times reeling on the ropes, managed to withstand the onslaught, regain his composure and knock Kartel the fuck out, like the true champion he is. Just like the famous Ali vs Foreman Rumble in the Jungle, Mavado (Ali) was on the ropes for a good part of the fight but as the fight progressed he came out swinging and knocked out Kartel (Foreman.)

Kartel, who made more than a passing resemblance to ex-DSP Reneto Adams, actually did a great job of killing himself in the clash, because he made a huge slip of his tongue (pun intended) when he said he nyams punanny! Check out the clip on Youtube for evidence.

All Kartel did was to counteract Mavado’s songs, which he had already listened to. When faced with Mavado’s freestyling, which he had no chance to study, he was visibly stunned and had no answer but to talk about Mavado and his band had run, despite clearly hearing the band still playing as he scrambled for something to say.

Kartel appeared on CVM’s Onstage recently and said the crowd would decide. When Ninjaman entered the stage and asked the crowd several times who won, the crowd resoundingly gave it to Mavado. This despite the fact that Kartel was said to have spent over a million dollars on tickets to try and pad the crowd with his fans. In the end they all switched on him and chanted Mavado. It would seem that the claims that whoever runs is the loser were not the view of the huge crowd at Jamworld because they gave it to Mavado.

Ninja, rubbing salt into his wounds, freestyled about Mavado having already killed Kartel; Kartel, the wounded animal, could not return to the stage to try and kill Ninja - isn’t that running? Kartel’s camp, in a desperate attempt at damage control, is bitching about Mavado ran - is that the best they can come up with? When you kill something, why stay on the crime scene? What more did Kartel want to reach him? The whole of Sting was booing his every word by then and had clearly given the victory to Mavado. They had counted Kartel out- in a boxing match when the referee counts to 10 and you can’t get back up, your chance has gone. Kartel should have spent that time on stage trying to conjure a lyrcis denying he used to watch his Mother pee-pee!

Sure Mavado got booed, Kartel had many many fans in there too, that is to be expected, but the most resounding boos, the ones that eventually sounded his lyrical death, were aimed at Kartel. Many expected this to be a walkover for Kartel (a DJ) against Mavado (a Singjay) so all the claims about Kartel being an unbeatable lyricist were proved laughable. A great songwriter yes, lyricist/clash DJ, certainly not - his self-inflicted wound about nyamming punnany more than proves that. They say Kartel was at a disadvantage by being on Mavado’s band, but wasn’t the clash in Kartel’s own yard? Have you heard Mavado or any of his supporters complaining about that? Did it seem to bother Mavado that he would go into Kartel’s yard to face him in a clash? Apparently not. And take it from me, Kartel was very aware that this was going to be the case prior to Sting, but just as David decided to go to Portmore and slew Goliath, so Kartel decided to work on Anger Management.

Kartel should now concentrate on writing songs, prove us wrong that without Mavado shining a spotlight on him he cannot fulfill his potential. He is a phenomenal DJ but has been in the game more than twice as long as Mavado and is yet to achieve half of what the Gangster has. Several Billboard chart appearances, Rollingstone magazine’s endorsement as the most important Reggae artist since Bob Marley, Jay Z getting on his record, a MOBO award, the list goes on. Add that to the adversity Mavado and all of us have overcome in these last 3 years we are simply miles ahead of Adi.

Kartel, with no US Visa, no manager, no record deal, needs to sit down and reconsider his career. He needs proper management, proper representation. Having Claude Mills, a for-hire hack who looked at me at Sumfest earlier this year and said “I want to be like you,” cannot manage Kartel and his plethora of problems. We all started somewhere, but to try and cut your teeth on someone like Vybz Kartel’s career can only damage the artist. Kartel has a history of switching - from his first manager Butler to Bounty Killer to countless in between, so its just a matter of time before Mills is out of the picture. The sooner the better for Kartel.

As Mavado’s management we faced a lot of criticism for allowing this clash to go ahead, but we are never scared of a challenge and were more than confident in the ability and power of Mavado, and ultimately have been proven right. The kid is a living legend, already an icon. The self-proclaimed “Teacher” was taught a harsh lesson at Sting, lets hope he learns from that.

SOURCE: todaworld