If you were impressed with the creativity and originality of the video for Vybz Kartel’s latest single, Then You…And Me, then you’ll be happy to know that ‘di teacher’ himself was the one behind the entire concept.

The video released on Christmas day last year depicts an older couple going through the challenges of a relationship.

A 119 call at the beginning of the video, a bloody knife, and the sound of deep breathing alerted us that something terrible has happened, but what?

The suspense is heightened as we are then taken through a series of arguments and fights that the couple engage in seemingly over the simplest things. ‘Yuh go outta yuh way fi hurt mi, and mi go out mi way fi hurt yuh.”

Their fights culminate with the male, who after chasing the female in the house with a knife ended up stabbing himself,  ripping his heart out, and handing it to his wife. ‘Mi heart yuh wah rip out….. See ya’.

Originality and relatedness

The video is actually a film, eight minutes and fifty four seconds long. But time passes quickly as you are transfixed with the brilliant acting by Fate Butler who plays the wife in the relationship, and Paul Haughton who plays the husband.

Since its release fans and even non-fans of the incarcerated artiste have been praising the video for its originality and relatedness. And according to its producer and director, Jay Will, that’s exactly what Vybz Kartel wanted to achieve with this video.

The drama that unfolds in the video hits close to home for the Don’t Lie artiste, and his song is from his To Tanesha album.

“He wanted to do something epic. The idea he gave me was that he wanted to see an older couple, like his grandparents, aunts or uncles, a mature couple going through hard situations at home,” he told BUZZ.

Jay Will, who has also produced other film-type videos for Vybz Kartel— Fever, Western Union and I’ve Been In Love With You—said he was bent on creating an intriguing story around the instructions he received from Vybz Kartel.

“Whenever the camp reaches out to me, it’s always like a song that is very important to him [Vybz Kartel]. He gave me a story and I made a back story with motives and drama around it. The lyrics of the song is the driving force of me creating the story, and I wanted to tell this story,” he said.

He said the video was shot in just 12 hours, and the impressive acting we saw on screen was actually scriptless. The actors formed a chemistry on camera that made everything seems so natural.

There was a natural chemistry between the two lead actors

Hard finding the right actors

Jay Will said that the hardest part of creating this film was finding the right people that Vybz Kartel requested.

“I put out a casting on my Instagram, it was very hard to get older actors. A lot of people responded, but you know you find older folks not really into doing something like this,” he said.

“The male actor actually had the hardest role, he had to learn the lyrics of the song. When Haughton responded, he had a very distinguished gray beard , I was just like, ‘Yeah, a him this’,” he said.

However, finding a female fit for the role was a bit more difficult. “I didn’t find a female until two days before the shoot. She had to have the right mix between sultry, and also be older,”

“When I saw a picture of Fate Butler, I was like she looks so distinguished, and she has worked Little Theatre, and acted in Pantomime. And when I reached out to her, she was really kool,” he said.

Jay Will told BUZZ that after all the hard work, and passion that went into creating this film, he’s pleased with the reactions. “I’ve been reading the comments online and people really liked it. Some people said that it hit close to home and they can relate to it. Some people like the story telling side and also the fact that we used an older couple, overall people said it was really good,” he said.

Don’t be modest Jay Will, this video was way more than “good!”

BUZZ Fam, have you seen the video?