Staff writer – Kerran Monroe
The incarceration of dancehall heavyweight, Vybz Kartel last year, his fans have not missed him too much with new songs still being released almost every month from him. With songs being released as recently as June, some persons have become very skeptical. Especially with one of the most recent releases ‘Back to Life’ which was released in June of this year.
This song speaks of life in prison. In the song Kartel laments on the woes of prison life; from the part about not having access to your woman, to the small amount of time prisoners have outside of their cells. The skepticism has to do with where the post incarceration Vybz Kartel songs were recorded. Some persons believe that a lot of these songs were recorded behind bars. With this song, (Back to Life), the comments are that, it sounds too real, not to be true. It sounds like a song one has to experience to sing. In addition to that, for some people, the timing of this song is just too on point.
Vybz Kartel recording before prison. Courtesy facebook.com
As for the other songs that were released since Kartel’s incarceration, persons are just skeptical that he still has unreleased songs up to now. Where that skepticism is concerned, I do not share that view. Long before he was locked up, it was well known that Kartel records heavily; up to three or more tracks per day. Therefore, I do not think it is that far fetched that he still has unreleased songs up to now.
As for the song about prison life, it is not his first song about prison and life in prison is no secret, since prison is not a secret society, so it does not really take prison experience to write a song about prison experience.
A statement was released on behalf of the artist some weeks ago, assuring patrons that Kartel is not recording songs in jail, but it seems some people are just not convinced.
