Mavado Sends Message Of Unity To Embattled Dancehall Deejay Tommy Lee Sparta
Like many Dancehall hitmakers before them, Mavado and Tommy Lee Sparta’s beef has boiled down to one word – unity. In a viral post circulating online, the No Time Fi Trace deejay sent an encouraging message to the embattled Sparta, currently in the early days of a three-year sentence. The move comes after Mavado’s eldest son Dantay Brooks was sentenced to life imprisonment for murder back in March, prompting the artist to lash out at the system’s ‘ghetto bias’.
Mavado took things a step further than his IG rant and new tracks Never Give Up and We Nah Listen, reaching out to his one time enemy with an upful message and a call for unity. “Bless up the youths dat fighting the struggle a brighter days. 🙏🏿 we might fight against each other at times but it’s just one ghetto and if we fight together then you will see the real power”, he wrote beneath a photo of the two.
Tommy Lee Sparta was involved in Popcaan and Mavado’s infamous 2016 beef that blew up after Poppy’s supposed response to Mavado’s Big League; “we nuh know bout league cah we name World Cup” on We Still A Win. Things descended into a months-long lyrical battle that at one point engulfed members of their individual camps.
Sparta entered the chat with a few gruff-voiced missiles for the So Special singjay including Kla Kam and No Chance. Meanwhile Mavado’s gritty diss track Timer fired off at both Tommy Lee and Popcaan as the feud picked up steam – “Dem a scam badness, dem a joker/ So fi dem crime haffi solve by MOCA”.
But with renewed calls for solidarity across the changing Dancehall space, egos and rivalries are increasingly vanishing. Back in March, Mavado’s son’s sentencing also sadly coincided with his mom’s passing, and his rival Gaza affiliate Popcaan stepped up with kind words and offered an olive branch. “Keep yo meds firm up same way singer, keep fighting the fight, condolences to you and your family, tough times for everybody, stay up!” he said.
Not surprisingly, Sparta has responded positively, praising the Gully Gad for his open support. The Blessings deejay who’s also quite vocal about ghetto youths being unfairly targeted wrote “@vybzkartel a yo bredda @mavadogully that mek yo me uncle @grunggaadzilla a me grandfather #musicbloodline respect me g gwan wull dem respect.”
Sparta’s legal woes began back in 2015, prompting a number of pensive hits such as Blessings, Ghetto Cry and Holding On. “The system have we as a criminal/ Them no waan see we rise,” he laments on Ghetto Cry, a familiar reality for Mavado who also came up from inner city obscurity.
Sparta cited corruption in the JCF for many of his troubles as did Mavado at the time of his teenaged son’s sentencing. “Corruption corruption corruption Jah know star!” It’s like my son was found guilty before trial, but I’m going to point out everything and the injustice one day at a time,” Mavado wrote on Instagram in March.
Whether he’s out to mend fences with the Gaza camp or has a newfound dedication to the ghetto plight, his Dancehall cohorts are here for the bold step towards ‘Progress’.
Bugle, I-Octane and Damage Musiq all sent emoji replies, while Sparta’s recent collaborator Teejay wrote “Real way David 👊🏽.” in the comments.
Bounty Killer, who turned his twenty year beef with Beenie Man into epic vibes for last year’s Verzuz Battle said, “This is the energy we pushing forward, salute yute.”