I’m starting yet another column with a confession: I’m an avid Lil Rick fan. I have been for many years and I have said so before. When I heard his latest release for Crop Over 2014 I was moved to again state my admiration.
You see, his offering Can’t Kill My Vibe, I believe, is a fine example of the calypsonian/poet capturing the essence of what is a major challenge for far too many people in modern Barbados. Yes, some would say that the matter about which he writes and sings has been with us for as long as man has been around, but it seems that modern technology has propelled our ability to hurt each other in previously unimagined ways.
When I first heard the song, even though the “vibe” was compelling, I did not so much as move a hair, and those who know me know I don’t have much of that. Instead I listened and smiled, then listened again and smiled some more – then listened again.
All I?could say was: “Rick’s just good!!”
The tune might be different and the speed significantly higher than the original Rick, but in every sense of the word it was classic Lil Rick. I know we live in a society where we have cultivated the art of liking a song not based on its own merit, but on who is singing it or who wrote it – or whether its melody conforms to what we believe a particular genre of music should sound like, but I encourage everyone to take a listen.
In fact, I recommend it to church folk, particularly those who sit in church every Sunday and judge everyone else. You know the type, those who rather than being born-again Christians were born Christian – those who have never done anything wrong in their entire lives.
I’m sure I don’t have to recommend it to young people, because its “wuk-up” value is strong. But every now and then ease up on the waistline shots and listen to the lyrics. They are powerful.
And you can hear the passion in his voice. I?have no doubt Rick sings what he knows, what he has experienced. I’m sure that he, like so many of us, has been judged and found guilty by those to whom we really ought only to say:?“He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone . . . .”
So the next time you feel overwhelmed by the hurtful chatter of others, remember these lines: “So let the heathen rage and the enemies rise; still can’t kill my vibe. You can’t dictate nutting or programme me; this is my frigging life. Run off yuh mout , talk wuh yuh want; tell those lies, still can’t kill my vibe.”
And if that piece does not work for you, try this one: “You can got a big house on up pon de hill side; Wickedest ride or de prettiest wife; Even if you broke and barely getting by, haters still in yuh life. So yuh must be careful what bad mind see; everybody dem see dem big mout speak; everything dem speak informers leak. But none a dem can’t kill my energy. You can’t dictate nutting or programme me; this is my frigging life.”
What the heck, here’s the whole song:
CAN’T KILL MY VIBE
Don’t let the hypocrites get you down
Don’t let the dutty bad mind get you down
Push up yuh chest and lift up your shoulder
Take your head out of the ground
It don’t matter who yuh be in a life
Everybody ain’t gine like you
Show them love and give dem yuh last
Somebody still gine fight yuh
All in yuh face dem ah laff and grin
But behind yuh back criticize yuh
Pon dead weight and friends dat hate dem
Intentions is to blight yuh
So let the heathen rage and the enemies rise
Still can’t kill my vibe
You can’t dictate nutting or programme me
This is my frigging life
Run off yuh mout , talk wuh yuh want
Tell those lies, still can’t kill my vibe
You can’t dictate nutting or programme me
This is my frigging life.
Bun out bad mind , fake friends and dem associates
All in we business so inappropriate
Living pon we name but we stepping up we game
If a dutty fake friend get cut off so be it
Bad mind mek friend turn enemy
Enemy mek wunnabe diss family
That’s why right now we don’t trust nuhbody
And I don’t give a damn if you don’t like me
It don’t matter wat yuh be in ah life
Everybody ain’t gine like you
Show them love and give dem yuh last
Somebody still gine fight yuh
All in yuh face dem ah laff and grin
But behind yuh back dem criticize yuh
Bum dead weight and friends dat hate dem
Intentions is to blight yuh
So let the heathen rage and the enemies rise
Still can’t kill my vibe
You can’t dictate nutthing or programme me
This is my frigging life
Run off yuh mout and talk wuh yuh want
Tell those lies, still can’t kill my vibe
You can’t dictate nutting or programme me
This is my frigging life.
You can got a big house on up pon de hill side
Wickedest ride or de prettiest wife
Even if you broke and barely getting by
Haters still yuh life
So yuh must be careful what bad mind see
Everybody dem see dem big mout speak
Everything dem speak informers leak
But none a dem can’t kill my energy
Cause it don’t matter what yuh be in ah life
Everybody ain’t gine like yuh
Show them love and give dem yuh last
Somebody still gine fight yuh
All in yuh face dem ah laff and grin
But behind yuh back criticize yuh
Bum dead weight and friends dat hate dem
Them intentions is to blight yuh
So let the heathen rage and the enemies rise
Still can’t kill my vibe
You can’t dictate nutting or programme me
This is my frigging life
Run off yuh mout and talk wuh yuh want
Tell those lies, still can’t kill my vibe
You can’t dictate nutting or programme me
This is my frigging life.
Don’t let the hypocrites get you down
Don’t let the dutty bad mind get you down
Don’t let the hypocrites get you down
Don’t let the dutty bad mind get you down
Don’t let the hypocrites get you down
Don’t let the dutty bad mind get you down
Push up yuh chest and lift up your shoulder
Take your head out of the ground
So let the heathen rage and the enemies rise
Still can’t kill my vibe
You can’t dictate nothing or programme me
This is my frigging life
Run off yuh mout and talk wuh yuh want
Tell those lies, still can’t kill my vibe
You can’t dictate noting or programme me
This is my frigging life.
