Gaza Run the World – the Review

Vybz Kartel finally released the much anticipated single Gaza Run the World. A few weeks ago, a short clip of the song was released and Kartel fans went crazy. No one knew the actual name of the song or any other details, so they had to settle for a 20 seconds long clip, until Friday March 15. Some people went as far as calling it Lyricist part III due to its similarity in flow and style to the 2 previous editions of the track entitled The Lyricist.

Perhaps the song should have been entitled Kartel Run the World, as with this song, specifically with this verse, he has proven yet again that he remains the greatest Dancehall artiste in history. There has been a lot of talk surrounding “who is the best?” “who is the hottest?” over the years, but ever so often Kartel releases another hit, with lyrics that remind us that we should never disrespect him again; this time is no different.

Gaza Run the World comprises of two verses, with Kartel doing only one, the first verse. Such is the depth and verbosity of this verse that it completely casts a shadow on his young protege, Sikka Rhymes who did a fairly decent job with the second verse.

Reading the lyrics only, does it no justice, as one would need to hear the song’s metaphors, word plays and double entendres on the beat, to fully appreciate its creativity.

Press play;

Jason’s Voice will attempt to unwrap the different elements in a few of the seemingly complex and/or unfamiliar references that you may have heard above.

“In and out the universe, 4 dimensional method that
4 dimension, Tesseract. Metamorphic metaphors
Kartel a force pon tympanic membrane.
The symphonies maintain the dopamine, the serotonin
Activating endorphin.”

Once again, Kartel is referencing his lyrical prowess to that of something extraterrestrial. Immediately following that he pays homage yet again to the late great Stan Lee, creator of MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe). A Tesseract is a Cosmic Cube that is used to house one of the 6 Infinity Stones, the Space Stone. In Avengers: Infinity War, Thanos was able to retrieve the Space Stone by destroying the Tesseract. Also, if you thought this was a mere happenstance for Kartel, you should know that this reference was deliberate. He also makes another MCU reference in this song that I will discuss later on.

Never afraid to step outside of the box, Kartel makes references that proves that he is well read and well versed. Remember his Family Guy reference in his song Scorched Earth? Kartel said “mi nuh fight cartoon war, Stewie kill Stan”.

In the next half of the quatrain (a four line stanza), kartel displays his verbosity when he refers to his metaphors as metamorphic and indicates that it is like a force on one’s eardrum (Tympanic Membrane). Lastly he expresses that the symphony of his lyrics maintains and contributes to a feeling of happiness, accomplishment and dominance. Kartel dug deep in his neurological knowledge base to pull off those references quite eloquently.

“suicider, Al-Qaeda type bike rider, so amazing,
bitten by spider. Jenner like Kylie, faded like Tyga
Very high, British flights, Weed affi strong, British flights
So mi cocky long, which is right”

Kartel goes off again with some very quick 3, 4 and even 5 syllable rhyming, all the while maintaining flow and staying on the beat. In the first line above, one can only assume he’s comparing his lyrics to the notorious Al-Quaeda Suicide Bombers – devastating. He then makes his next MCU reference in the succeeding line, when he states that he’s so amazing and was bitten by a spider. That’s a direct reference to the MCU movie, The Amazing Spiderman.

One of the most popular slangs in Dancehall and Jamaica currently is the word “Genna”. It’s short for the word ‘general’, which in colloquial terminology is used to denote someone who is popular, notorious, revered or at the top of their game. In the song, Kartel uses a double entendre to make reference to himself as a genna, but also using it as a reference to Kylie Jenner. He pulls this off neatly, especially because of the fact that a lot of people may pronounce Kylie’s surname as “Jenna”

You can’t always figure out what his exact intentions are with the use of a lot of his references and words, with the next line being no different. “Faded like Tyga…”, Kartel is obviously referring to himself being high (faded) in the first part of this entendre. What is unclear though, is whether or not this was a simple double entendre or a deliberate execution of the oft elusive triple entendre, let me explain.

For clarity, a double entendre is a word or phrase often used in music and poems that has a double meaning. So if the line was indeed a double entendre, the first meaning would be that Kartel is high. The second meaning would be a reference to rapper Tyga’s hit single – Faded. And finally, if this is indeed a triple entendre, he could be making a reference to Tiger Woods’ Golf career that has somewhat faded in the last decade or so.

He also makes reference to his intoxicated state of mind by comparing his high to a British Flight. Not to be outdone is the ever reliable male Dancehall artiste’s go-to, appendage size. Yet again he references “British Flight” in the same sentence (a cardinal sin in music, but Kartel can get away with unorthodox rhyming styles), to denote the length of said appendage being as long as a British flight from Jamaica – approximately 10 hours long.

Time and time again, Kartel displays his unequivocal talent, which for a lot of his fans can be quite frustrating, knowing that their favorite artiste is serving a life sentence for murder.

Please note that this is not a glorification of his misdeeds, but simply an acknowledgement of his prolific work.

Written by: Jason McPherson
Lyrics Source: https://genius.com/Vybz-kartel-and-sikka-rymes-gaza-run-the-world-lyrics

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