Bobby Shmurda and DJ Akademiks test each other’s Gaza credentials by naming their favorite Vybz Kartel songs.
The Brooklyn rapper and the hip hop podcaster are both big fans of Vybz Kartel and fans of dancehall music. DJ Akademiks even named the Gaza leader as his favorite artiste of all time across any genre. Bobby Shmurda also agreed that Kartel is one of the greatest of all time. Both the rapper and the podcaster are of Jamaican heritage through their parents, which also explains their love for dancehall music.
Bobby Shmurda appeared on DJ Akademiks’ Off The Record podcast, where they chop it up about music and the subject of their mutual interest in the Worl’Boss. AK shared a behind-the-scenes clip where he told the “Hot Ni**a” rapper that Drake is his favorite artist in Hip Hop, but when it comes to favorite artiste of all time, that title is reserved for Vybz Kartel, who is currently incarcerated.
“In hip hop, when people hear me talking about hip hop I say Drake is my favorite artiste, but my favorite artiste of all time, any genre, Vybz Kartel, easy,” AK said.
DJ Akademiks told Bobby Shmurda that the first time he really knew he was a fan of the rapper was when he saw him listening to Kartel music on his Instagram Live. That was a few weeks after Shmurda was released from prison in February last year. It’s already over a year since he walked out of the slammer as a free man and hopped on a private jet with Quavo and went home to spend some time with his family.
“When I first seen you, this is the only thing that I was like yo this gotta be my ni**a,” AK told Shmurda. “I see you bumping, it was on IG Live, I see you bumping Vybz Kartel.”
Right away, Bobby Shmurda challenged his Vybz Kartel music knowledge base by throwing him a question about his favorite Vybz song. While the two often struggle to find the name of the songs, that wasn’t the case for the lyrics, which came easy.
For gangster song, DJ Akademiks name Vybz Kartel’s classic “Pass Mi Gin,” produced by NotNice, while Shmurda named “Brooklyn Anthem,” which he struggled to remember the title but vividly recited his favorite lines from the track. They named Kartel’s “Love Dem” their favorite “gyal song” from the dancehall legend.
DJ Akademiks previously named Vybz Kartel the most influential artiste of all time in their respective genres, saying he is even more influential the Bob Marley. A statement some fans of Jamaican music disagreed with.
Vybz Kartel is currently serving a life sentence for a 2014 murder conviction for which he is now appealing through UK’s Privy Council.
