‘History’ to unfold at Kartel’s concert - Hope expects all demographics will attend long-awaited show

'Everybody wants to be a part of history' is one of several explanations uttered by musical expert and dancehall professor Donna Hope, for the rush to purchase tickets for Vybz Kartel's Freedom Street concert slated for December 31.

Hope told THE STAR that alongside the fact that the renowned deejay has not graced a stage in 14 years, this moment will create a global phenomenon for him and his fans.

"He has a massive base of loyal fans all over the world who love [and] respect his music and have been awed by his lyrical prowess, and, as such, many of them are coming to be a part of this event. For many people, it's a historic event - Kartel's return from prison - the first major event he's gonna partake in and that makes it something people would want to see and to be a part of history," said Hope.

"For people like me who study popular/music cultures, Kartel remains an important figure in the way that music and the cultures around music showcases themselves. So many people want to see what will happen and how it will take place - lyrically what he will do and how he will position himself, the persons who will be sharing the stage with him. Persons want to be physically there for that. They want to say, 'I was there when history was made,'" she opined.

About 3 a.m. on August 31, just hours after DownSound Entertainment opened its website for ticket sales, the site crashed due to the overwhelming numbers. Hope noted that the online stampede to purchase tickets may also be from a place of the dominance and influence the Fever artiste has.

"No matter how you spin it, Vybz Kartel is a trendsetter. [Once] he touches something, it becomes a trend. He's like a popular culture figure, like people in film in Hollywood. They'll wear something fashionable and people want to model it. [Kartel] has the capacity to set fashion trends. Vybz Kartel has that magical touch, it's something you can't take away from him so he grabs a lot of attention," Hope said.

With the vast impact that the popular deejay has globally, Hope said fans of all social classes, age groups and ethnicities will be rolling out to this concert.

"Yes he's 'Gaza' [but] people from the 'Gully,' the trench and the ghettos/garrison see him as their artiste," she said. Hope noted that while some people who were longtime, die-hard Vybz Kartel fans are now in their educated roles and sophisticated jobs, most of them were enamoured by his lyrical prowess when they were in high school.

"So you have people in their 40's 20's and 50's from uptown, downtown [and] outta town who want to come and celebrate with 'their artiste,'" she said. Hope also expects to see an excessive inflow of tourists that the concert will attract around that time of year, more than the original number of people who usually return home or visit Jamaica to spend Christmas holidays.

Some persons have been creating GoFundMe accounts in order to purchase tickets. But Hope said despite some of the prices being a little comparable to those of previous shows including for Buju Banton, Chris Brown and Burna Boy, Freedom Street's ticket prices are "quite in line" for the tiers in which they applied.