Vybz Kartel Says He’s Proud Of Skillibeng After Billboard Hot 100 Accomplishment
Vybz Kartel gave Skillibeng the biggest ‘forward’ of the evening on Friday, after producer Johnny Wonder uploaded a photograph of himself showing off the Billboard Hot 100 plaque marking the debuting and peaking of the St. Thomas native’s Crocodile Teeth remix with Nicki Minaj.
Although the remix debuted and peaked at the bottom of the Hot 100 chart, Johnny Wonder was sassy in his Instagram post, having snatched a spot on the coveted chart, which by virtue of being considered globally as objective evidence of an artist’s potential, has effectively validated Skilli’s work in penning and voicing the extraordinary track.
“Billboard Bitches!!!!” Johnny Wonder captioned the photograph.
In response, Vybz Kartel, who seemed to be in a very mellow mood yesterday, expressed how proud he was of the Hot artist, not just for his work ethic, but for the fact that despite the stardom, he has remained a humble and unpretentious young man.
“Me proud a Skillibeng yow! Man humble n na fumble!” Kartel wrote in his congratulatory message aimed at the Morant Bay High School old boy.
The Gaza boss then turned to Johnny Wonder, and gave him his accolades for being a bastion in the Dancehall industry. “Bless up uncle Johnny #dancehallpioneer dem deaf or dem have #ironear,” Kartel wrote.
Congrats also came from music selector Tony Matterhorn, producer Seanizzle and deejay/songwriter Don Mafia, and a host of other music minds.
Crocodile Teeth was among three songs Minaj had remixed and placed on her new mixtape, a re-release of her 2009 mixtape Beam Me Up Scotty.
In addition to the Hot 100, the Crocodile Teeth Remix had also peaked at number 182 on the Billboard Global 200 charts, where it spent just one week.
At the time of the remix’s release Johnny Wonder, had told The Gleaner newspaper in an interview that Crocodile Teeth had “already blown up before they (Nicki’s team) wanted to go on it”.
Skillibeng’s original Crocodile Teeth, which was considered a diss track aimed at fellow artist, Intence, was released in October 2020. Since its release, it has cumulatively racked up more than 30 million views on YouTube, with the remix with Minaj accumulating 5.4 million views.
It comes as no surprise that Kartel would show honor to Skilli and point out the youngster’s humility, as the 25-year-old has always hailed him as an inspiration in his various interviews.
In one interview in January with the BBC 1Xtra’s Seani B, Skilli, when asked “how hard it was to stay grounded and humble”, declared that it was effortless for him, as he has always presented his authentic self from day one with no pretext or pretenses.
“What me show to dem, dat’s me. Nothing a go really change. Mi neva put on a show at no time,” Skillibeng had said.
Speaking of the Worl’ Boss, Skilli had continued: “Vybz Kartel, in terms of his music means a lot to me. And I mean him go as far as fi inspire mi fi do music; his music go as far as fi inspire mi fi do music. And dat mean a lot to me. So big up to Kartel, big up to his music because at the end a di day, Kartel music show wi she raw talent is God-given and not everybody can be able fi do weh we do. Is just a natural ting”.
In October 2020, Skilli had told Onstage host Winford Williams in an interview that one of his lifelong dreams was to collaborate with Kartel, and that the Emergency artist had been very accommodating.
“As a yute, wha mid really want outta music still, was can collaborate with my favourite artiste and be a part of the star life and big up to Kartel fi meck mi feel dah star way enuh from music. Because without him mi wouldn’t really too follow music certain way enuh. Because Kartel style a music is where Skillibeng era music build from,” he had explained.
Skillibeng had also expressed concern that there were other artists who had extrapolated from Kartel’s style, yet had failed to credit the Portmore native.
“A it man. Him haffi get credit man. Dem naw gi him di full credit becaw at di end a di day, why a man nuh wann gi him full credit, a becaw dem nuh capable of hat we doin. A nuh everybaddy strong enough fi build a style, guh back to the drawing board, to Dancehall and test it and it work… and Vybz Kartel teach we dat…,” Skilli had said.