Whatever the reason, on his most recent albums Kartel has dramatically switched up (or, rather, down) his flow, increasingly backgrounding his rapping in favor of a ponderous, Auto-Tune-damaged tenor moaning over deflated, synth-heavy arrangements, coming on like Mavado's ' On the Rock' for a post*-808s & Heartbreak* era. But at some point in the second half of the decade, Kartel may have begun to feel burdened by his own success, his regular status as Jamaica's number-one DJ also making him more vulnerable to demands that he represent the community rather than just its gun-wielding, girl-grabbing, ganja-imbibing contingent.
What happened to Vybz Kartel? In the early years of the previous decade the Jamaican DJ possessed a nimble versatility that well matched dancehall's musical promiscuity, switching between slippery, smoke-damaged double-time raps and hypnotic sing-song choruses with an agility that for a time seemed unmatched.
