mavado - u a mi lover

newish one from mavado + stephen

Dem Alone

BRAAAND NEW

what does it take

Mavado - So Special

I was admittedly not blown away by the new So Special video, what with the random 'in the club' scenes and the weak computer graphic sequences, but I was still bummed to hear that BET canceled its premiere on 106th and Park at the last second. If nothing else the video seemed to be a clear-cut bid to fit in smoothly with the jeezy/t-wayne/omarion-clone chart toppers of the moment. Looks like the reasons for the pull had nothing to do with homophobic lyrics or guntalk - just some scantily clad women and gratuitous alcohol shots.. Come on now BET, fair is fair.. I've seen some way more scandalous hiphop videos than this one in the after-school rotation. Hopefully this will just be a little speed-bump for the gully god, and will keep the hype up for a promising first-quarter release. (Your first chance to cop this track legitimately, almost a year after it started floating around youtube, a primo example of how screwed up/outdated the music retail model is, at least with respect to reggae..)

SURVEY - WHAT PATH WILL MAVADO TAKE IN HIS JOURNEY TO MAINSTREAM SUCCESS?
a) Sign w/ Puff and make exercise dvds, then vanish.
b) Sign w' Dame Dash, move to New York, and cease all output instantly.
c) Do a bunch of watered down rap collabos with miscellaneous hip-hoppers, who will inevitably draw for dubious patoi flows - tony yayo anyone?
d) None of the above.
e) All of the above, with new sneaker deals.

If this is getting you down, here are some old videos that got the lets-reshoot-this-and-make-it-commercially-viable treatment.. Wish I could find the BCAT version of ele's joint, all I can remember is they were standing on some school desks in actual water and it was pretty rad.

Elephant Man - Pon The River


Sean Paul - We'll Be Burning


And here is the proper gullyside one for Last Night:

Last Man Standing

Here are some interviews with Kartel and Mavado about their impressions of who won the Sting clash.. A whole heap of controversy over this one, with each side claiming there was some shadiness behind the concert setup, bias in print media etc.. Whatever the motivation was, it clearly doesn't help the Gully God's cause to have left the stage in the middle of the clash, even if he did run back in. Kartel was left with 'nuff ammo after: "Nike has a new sneaker coming out, called gully nike / Sure, he would have won if it was a running clash, but it was a singing clash" etc.


Interview footage via jamaicadancehallmusic.blogspot.com


A new Kartel song about the events at sting

Kartel + Mavado at Sting

I can't find anything but really crappy footage of the clash between Kartel and Mavado, but it's still worth a quick look. These dudes have been sparring for a few months now and managed to keep it lyrical while sharing the same stage at Sting.

Kartel was ready for the war in full army fatigues, and pulling a coffin onstage with 'barber boy' written on it was pretty heavy. It seems the crowd calls the clash for Mavado though.



Kartel vs Mavado on ustream (choppy clear footage, good audio)



Kartel vs Mavado on youtube (fluid poor footage rough audio)

Magazine

A little late on this but boy.. If you haven't heard this magazine business yet, you want to catch up. A hard exchange of bars from kartel and the gully god over the track, on some war thing again. And this riddim is tough.. slow, snapping drums over hypnotic synths, pure evilness!

Vybez Kartel - Send Fi Di Magazine

killer like kane so fi test mi you no able / drop like the tower of babel

Mavado - Can't Bad Wi Up

see what ya bloodclot mouth get ya inna / you a f** round dogs wha hungry and want dinner/ dem a fret, but not the fret pon guitar / you no see them get thinner

These tunes are out there in a couple different places, but I'm feeling silver star's medley a lot.. Magazine drops at around 36:40.

Silver Star 100708

SO SPECIAL