Vybz Kartel is selector's choice

Monday, January 10, 2011

Deejay Vybz Kartel earned the selectors' choice for top 2010 artiste, based on the sheer quantity of his hits selected by the compilers of various dancehall mix-tapes.

The music of Kartel including hits Clarks, Straight Jeans, Touch a Button, Dumpa Truck and others, was three times more selected than any other artiste except rival Mavado which was twice as selected compared with other artistes, based on an Observer analysis of 15 dancehall 2010 mix-tapes.

It indicates the extent to which Kartel (but also Mavado) dominated the 2010 mix-tape market which is a key determinant for street popularity, following the demise of the record sales.

It meant that the average mix-tape in 2010 had six Kartel singles; four Mavado singles; two singles each for Elephant Man, Busy Signal and Beenie Man; and 1.5 singles for Aidonia.

The selectors mix-tapes analysed included those of DJ Vanesz, DJ Supa Duka & Amazing Grace, DJ Jahmawi, DJ Mr Mee Roy, DJ Piombo, DJ Level, DJ Geezy G and DJ Science.

Despite Kartel's street success, his litany of singles, or even his recent album compilation which included the monster street hit Clarks, he is not top-10 charting on iTunes, the largest internet music store. The problem however isn't unique to Kartel, as 2010 dancehall singles are rarely charting on iTunes but are available for download. The top-10 instead is dominated by foreign deejays or mid-2000 singles from local deejays Sean Paul, Shaggy and Damian Marley which continue to earn from their huge hits at that time.

In fact the most recent charting local dancehall radio hit was Rum and Red Bull by Beenie Man and Fambo. However, Beenie Man's eight singles released last month are not top-10 charting and neither are the hit local singles Straight Jeans (Russian/Kartel), Gully No Fear Them (Mavado), Stronger (Cham and Bounty Killer) or Messing with My Heart (Wayne Marshall).

Finally, the dominance of Kartel is such that when combining the song list on the 15 mix-tapes Kartel had 95 songs, Mavado 64, Elephant Man 31, Busy Signal 30, Beenie Man 30 and Aidonia 24.

— Steven Jackson

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Vybz Kartel is selector's choice