Watch: Rytikal Drops Visuals For New Single ‘Story’

New school Dancehall artist Rytikal has released new visuals for his single titled Story.  Finally delivering on a tease made to his Instagram page a few days ago, the 25-year-old EastSyde artist satisfied the curiosity of fans who had only a one-minute video montage with the caption: ‘The story coming soon’ to go on.

Story is as much a tale of triumph and embracing the good life, as it is a show of lyrical potency and cadence by the St. Thomas native, whose real name is Ryan McFarlane. Having only quite recently overcome some trouble of his own, Rytikal’s growth and humility are evident in his delivery – and are only adequately contested and complemented in the song by the stunning visuals delivered by Envult Limited in the three-minute-long video.

The video starts (and predominantly takes place) in a lonesome grass field, where Rytikal is eventually seen standing in front of a pile of old box television sets. As the instrumental and the harmonies set in, Rytikal sets the reflective tone of the song, reminding his fans that his success did not come overnight. “Far man a come from a nuh now man a dweet, hard work ‘memba when a studio floor man a sleep…” he sings as the old television sets behind him come to life, highlighting significant points throughout his career, one of which coincidentally involves an article from DancehallMag.

He then masterfully takes his fans on a journey, summarizing his hardships as a man with a talent and a dream, before luring them into a chorus that is melodiously perfect, catchy and true to this current stage of his career. He sings: “Now yuh see seh man a dweet like nutn, nuh feel like guh cool, jus’ deh ya a wonda when di streets goin’ open and a gwaan find di pieces fi fit in a e puzzle you know, you know…” The chorus further talks about the support system around him, and ends with him expressing love and gratitude “… because yuh done know how di story go…”

In the second verse, while completely changing his flow, Rytikal consistently delivered on his sentiments surrounding friendship, success, love and fame. He envisions himself in a time, with his love, referred to as ‘Amor’ in the song, being by his side, while he takes on shows that span days, all with his friends in tow as well.

The now 4-year EastSyde signee documents that despite his struggles and the pain he’s endured, he’s glad to have made it to the level he has now. As further testament to that, the video even features a cameo from the legendary Usain Bolt, who is seen chopping it up with Rytikal and company.

“All when mi run outa breath, mi still climb di steps” Rytikal begins the third verse as a testament to his persistence, before shortly after highlighting a headline that referenced his one-million-dollar bail in relation to his previous gun charges. Creating a striking juxtaposition, that headline was immediately followed by scenes of his supporters gathering in a venue, to celebrate his ultimate triumph, heralded by a raucous crowd yearning for him as he lights up a joint and heads to the stage. Once on, he continues singing, fully transformed and absorbed by the love he’s receiving, as Story eventually brings the curtains down on that show.

The song (­Story), for all its harmonies and realism, is unequivocally a lyrical and technical flex on Rytikal’s part, akin to Eminem’s rather difficult approach to writing and rhyming. And, if you find yourself, at least as it pertains to lyrical usage, being compared to Eminem, you’re in elite company. Take, for instance, Rytikal’s beginning rhyming scheme in Story. He starts off simply using an AABB rhyme scheme (rhyming “dweet” and “sleep”), before utilizing one of Shady’s more commonly deployed and difficult-to-use tactics – a multisyllabic rhyme, connecting words that have no business rhyming by breaking down or adding one or more of them together – and making it work.

He effortlessly pulls this off with the lines “… go fi mi goal mi neva fail fi achieve, ‘nuff shut di door but mi did a aim fi a key…” Here, Rytikal manages to rhyme ‘achieve’ with ‘a key’ by combining the two words (‘a’ and ‘key’). Extensively, the second verse is graciously littered with an Eminem-like cadence that is unquestionably Dancehall, despite the parallelism of rhyming techniques between one of Hip Hop’s GOATs and, if he continues, one of Dancehall’s rising ones.

Story, at the time of this writing, has amassed over 110,000 views and over a thousand comments – one of which expressed: “Rytikal a one of the greatest of our time. He needs the credit he deserves and earn.” Many of the other comments highlighted the rising star as being naturally talented, and as being destined for greatness. Given the overwhelming evidence, we are certainly compelled to agree.

Press play above.