VYBZ KARTEL Told Me To "Big Up Myself"

This weekend we had our first celebrity sighting.  But it was so much more than a sighting... it was a drawn-out hangout sessions with one of Jamaica's biggest dancehall artists, VYBZ KARTEL!  I was told that Jamaicans aren't really "star-struck," but I definitely am :)

But before we get into the details, let's revisit the whole weekend.  Friday night we made it out to the nightclub Quad with Jasmine's friends Andel and Kevin.  The two were quite the social butterflies, holding "Quad Membership" cards and having a "special" parking spot right outside in a blocked off area.  Quad was especially busy that night, and everyone was up for dancing!  We had an awesome spot right in front of the wall of speakers where we could literally feel the music blasting.  There were some awesome dancers, including one guy holding a smirnoff ice and enjoying it (go figure).  Of course, the night ended circa 3:30am with some pan chicken!

Me, Jazz, Ash @ Quad!

Saturday afternoon, Iris came over!  She is another Fulbright student (from Alaska!!) who is working in the University of the West Indies Lab to study a disease in amphibians that hasn't been explored yet in Jamaica.  Lots of fieldwork in the Blue Mountains, and she has promised to take us with her!  Holly and Jody took the 4 of us out for an afternoon of shopping!  We hit up a super cute and trendy store call Unik and then the Plaza, which was much like an outdoor mall.  We tried on our fair share of Jamaican-style dresses and some really tall shoes (meant to look pretty, not meant for walking).  We ended the evening with a delicious dinner at a Japanese place nearby called Cocoro at Mayfair Hotel... very cute indoor/outdoorsy place with a tropical feel.  Side note, I was told by Jody that I must stop using the phrase "tropical" here (i.e. cannot ask for tropical drinks, cannot wear tropical prints, and cannot describe restaurants as tropical) but I am going to ignore that.

We're getting closer to the highlight of the weekend, I promise... bear with me!  So Saturday night we decided to go out again, even though this was supposed to be our "low-key"/ "heavy work" weekend.  Oops.  So there is a series of parties (I think called the "W", I'm assuming related to the "W Hotels"?) every few weeks at different spots around the city.  This weekend, it was DIRECTLY next to our apartment on the rooftop of the Jamaican Petroleum Corp. building.  We could literally see the flashing lights from the balcony, let alone hear each song like it was playing in our living room.  How could we NOT go, right?  You can't blame us for being curious :)

The "W" sign fell down.

So we dressed up in our newly purchased trendy Jamaican outfits, put on heels, and attempted to walk down the street.  On the way, we met a new neighbor in our building, David!  He was very nice, works right by our apt, and was giving us advice about the neighborhood.  Anyways, we finally ended up at the party and it was FANCY!  Or as people call it here, very "uptown."  I felt like I was at some loungey party in NYC, with the lights and the numerous bars and the super-duper dressed up people!  So it was fun in that everyone was pretty-fied up and there was really good music, but I didn't like that no one was really dancing!  The funniest part is that people working at the event kept trying to take our picture, but we had to say no because we clearly are in Jamaica to do research, not end up on the cover of the newspaper.  At one point, Ashley just stated, "I'm sorry, we aren't allowed to be photographed for the news," and that just made everyone think we were even more famous.  So funny!

Anyways, Ashley ended up talking to a guy who was here from Canada.  We asked what he was doing in JA, and he said that worked in entertainment and was here because he just signed Jamaican superstar Vybz Karel for a performance contract!  So at this point, let's introduce Vybz (real name: Adijah Palmer.  I love the name Adijah, I think its so pretty, has quite the flow to it!).  I suggest watching the video for his current hit, Jeans and Fitted (disclaimer: dancehall can be quite vulgar.  Good thing I don't understand anything they say).  Pretty ridiculous video/man, huh?  Vybz is part of the "gaza" club of dancehall, who often gets in disputes with the "gully" club (featuring other superstar Mavado).  Anyways, this guy said he and his friends were heading to the club "The Building," which is Vybz' club and happened to also be where we were going, so he said he would introduce us!  So the whole group headed over together.  We were whisked through the side entrance, walked through behind the bar, and into the stairwell where none other than VYBZ KARTEL was there!

To be honest, I had no idea who Vybz was one month ago.  But avid dancehall-fan Jazzy was definitely in star-struck heaven :)  Anyways, VYBZ WAS SO COOL!  So down to Earth!  And quite the businessman!  He seemed to really enjoy hearing about our research projects in Jamaica, and was surprised (impressed?) that we actively chose to be in Jamaica versus another country.  We had very interesting discussions with him, like him giving us a list of places to visit in Jamaica, telling us he enjoyed to cook and that he would teach us to make fish and rice and peas, and comparing judaism to the rastafarian lifestyle.  Of course, he made us try his new rum "Street Vybz," which was quite strong.  Vybz was drinking Moet... and water?  No pictures of the water bottle, of course, to maintain the image!

Vybz is definitely fashinable... in his own unique and trendy way.  He was rocking pinstripe pants, huge sunglasses, and an Armani belt.  As I was taught, one may in fact say "Vybz Kartel outfit sell offfff!" meaning that it was amazing and utterly awesome.  I will use this phrase going forward, for sure.  Vybz also has a song about the shoes "Clarks" (see video) so Jazz asked if Clarks were popular in Jamaica because of his song or if they were already big.  He stated that Clarks were part of Jamaican culture and proceeded to point to everyone's shoes in the stairwell.  Lo and behold... they were all wearing Clarks!  Different colors and different styles (though one guy stuck out by wearing Gucci sandals), but definitely obvious that it was a culture of Clarks.  We also got our picture taken with Vybz by his photographer.  And the next thing we knew, we had hard copies to take with us.  This man sure knows how to please the fans!  He also really enjoyed taking pictures, and made sure to get a shot with everyone who came by.  And of course, he had to check that each one came out well :)  I loved the various poses he struck... such a celebrity superstar haha.

Our new best friend, VYBZ KARTEL!

As we headed out, Vybz gave us his phone number so that we could hang out again!  He promised to teach us to cook Jamaican food and we promised to make him breakfast one day after one of our late Jamaican nights out.  And as we left, he told us to "big up ourselves!" (roughly translates into props, you are awesome, i think).  And as usual, the night ended close to 5am with some pan chicken!  Sunday was sadly filled with only studying and working, but we made sure to take breaks to reflect on our silly Saturday night out!

Now we just need to meet 1) other dancehall superstar Mavado, 2) Olympian Usain Bolt, and 3) Prime Minister Bruce Golding.  Stay tuned, because I have a feeling it will happen...