‘It Wasn’t Rytikal’s Gun,’ Source Claims As Dancehall Artist Seeks Bail On Friday

EastSyde’s rising Dancehall deejay Rytikal will return to court on Friday where his legal team will seek to secure bail for the artist.

Rytikal, whose real name is Ryan McFarlane, was arrested on January 28 and later charged after cops on patrol in the 8 Miles, Bull Bay community observed him acting in a manner that aroused their suspicion.  The 25-year-old was questioned, his car searched and a Taurus .380 pistol with 12 rounds of ammunition found.

“The lawyer put in the case to be heard this Friday. Rytikal is innocent of the charges, it is not his gun,” a source close to the EastSyde Records camp told DancehallMag today.

“The gun was in the car, Rytikal was doing video shoots at the time, and a whole heap of people forward inna the car during that time, so he will be pleading innocent to the charges,” the source added.

Fellow EastSyde Records artist Skillibeng yesterday called for Rytikal’s freedom in an Instagram Story post, as did recent collaborator Kranium on the day of his arrest.

Hello

Meanwhile, the singer yesterday released a new single, titled Hello, a figurative piece to express his conscious battles and disturbing premeditations which have been taunting him since he was a child.  Rytikal describes feeling trapped in his mind, which he likens to hell as he muses with sinister thoughts.

“So many demons inside weh haffi hide, if mi tell yuh seh mi share dem secret, dem will lie…. Trapped inside ah di darkness, voices telling me its okay, voices saying its over, voices telling me there is no way out,” he verses in the track.

But the deejay says he has learned how to conquer his fears as he gets older.

It was only last week that Rytikal decried the recent upsurge in violence in Jamaica. 

“I do really violent music and mi ah tell yu, mi feel a way with some of the things mi a hear more time, homeless people ah get chop up, old people ah get shot, the savagery of the violence really tun up…is like it a get worse bredda, is a new low the man dem ah carry it to,” he told DancehallMag while promoting his upcoming mixtape.

Rytikal, who is also known for the singles Cookie Jar and King Inna War, is the fourth deejay who has been charged with illegal possession of a firearm in the last four months.

Laden was convicted of an illegal possession of firearm charge and sentenced to four years imprisonment, while Tommy Lee Sparta returned to Court today to face his illegal possession of firearm charge.

Another deejay, Shokryme also pleaded guilty to a gun rap and will be sentenced soon.