Usain Bolt Names His Favorite Vybz Kartel Song
Usain Bolt—retired sprinter turned Dancehall producer—has once again hailed Vybz Kartel as the ‘GOAT’ in Dancehall, this time naming his favorite song from the incarcerated deejay’s catalog.
The eight-time Olympic gold-medallist popped up in a recent interview with German podcast Cosmo, where he spoke about his work as a music producer, and shared his own personal soundtrack of musical influences.
When the conversation turned to Kartel, Bolt revealed that his favorite track from the Worl’ Boss was Start Well.
“The first time I met him [Kartel] I actually told him that listen, this will be the best song you ever sing—no matter what you sing to me,” Bolt said.
Released in 2003, Start Well appeared on Kartel’s debut album Up 2 Di Time. It was produced by Don Corleon.
“Vybz Kartel, the way he puts his songs together—how creative he is with words, and just how his mind works as an artist…the level that he sings at is just unbelievable. I feel like he’s way above a lot of people in Dancehall music, and I think if you ask any artist in dancehall music they will say Vybz Kartel ‘cause he’s really good at music,” Bolt declared.
Bolt has never shied away from giving Vybz Kartel his flowers. In fact, during the latter part of 2021, he postulated that the deejay’s physical absence from the music scene led to Dancehall ‘losing its respect’ on the world stage.
In the meantime, the retired sprint legend, who has been dabbling in music himself, shared his two cents on the talent and legacy of reggae and lovers rock legend Beres Hammond.
“Beres Hammond is pretty good,” he said. “His voice…Beres Hammond is like—I’ve met him through the years and I’ve seen him perform, like he was always my favourite, but the other day I got to hang out with him and we were talking and we were playing some of his music and he started singing and his voice is beautiful, I swear!”
“Like I’ve heard him sing on stage on mic, but I’ve never heard him singing two hits for me. So, hearing his voice was just oh my God, this is beautiful. So for me, it just made me even more of a fan,” he said during the interview.
Naturally, the undisputed King of Reggae Bob Marley was also brought up in the discussion. Bolt admitted that he never truly got to appreciate Bob’s exceptional talent until he saw how foreigners reacted to his music when he was just a teenager.
“When I went to Hungary when I was 14, I went to a concert and this is where I knew that Bob Marley was outstanding. I went to the concert and there was this white man on stage. They were singing all of Bob Marley’s songs but the whole crowd was singing every word. That was kinda when I understood that yo, Bob Marley was kinda hype. Cause you know he’s great in Jamaica, but actually going outside and seeing the level he was at was just massive to me,” he recalled.
Even while lauding some of these local greats, the freshly minted producer admitted that Jamaicans romanticize American genres, and try to incorporate those sounds on tracks.
“Well Jamaica is based on Hip Hop. That’s what we follow. That’s the other genre we really follow and listen to everywhere we go ‘cause in Dancehall, Hip Hop always plays so that’s the main genre we follow, and it’s just because I guess it’s America. We idolize America so we kinda just follow in that footstep,” he stated.
Bolt is reportedly working on his second album, after the first one Country Yutes, with friend and manager NJ, peaked at No. 6 on the Billboard Reggae Albums chart.