As a new decade dawns in 2020, a new era in Jamaican music has arrived with the rise of UTG, also known as Uptown Greatness. Over the previous 10 years, Vybz Kartel set the standard as dancehall’s undisputed World Boss, re-branding his Portmore ends as “Di Gaza” and sparking a cultural movement that bubbled up from the streets and shifted global pop culture. Now Likkle Vybz and Likkle Addi are taking the Gaza energy to another dimension, blessed to live a lifestyle made possible by their father’s success and their mother’s loving guidance. Building on that solid foundation, the teenage brothers are stepping up to carry the torch with their debut album ‘Skinny Jeans’ produced by Short Boss Music and distributed by Johnny Wonder.
Six years ago the youths who were then known as PG-13 declared that they had “Music inna we DNA / Music inna we genes.” As the offspring of dancehall’s most legendary lyricist, the brothers still love music, but now that they’ve grown up a bit, UTG is more interested in fresh street-wear than chromosomes.
“Wear weh you feel like wear,” says teenager Akeel Palmer aka Like Addi and his bigger brother Adidja Palmer Jr. aka Likkle Vybz. “Me a wear weh me feel like wear.” The video for UTG’s debut single “Skinny Jeans” has racked up over a million views to date as the duo emerges as hit-makers in their own right.
In much the same way that their father set street-wear trends with timeless tunes like “Clark's” and “Straight Jeans & Fitted,” UTG are staying up to the time
as they “floss top-class” in their “bank robber Clarks and skinny jeans” and “some bad T-shirt from Philipp Plein.” As the brothers proudly declare on the albums’s title track, you “can’t see me dirty, haffi see me clean.”
The ten-track project is packed with hits from top to bottom, including stand-out songs like “Paid In Full, which finds the young DJs boldly declaring the UTG agenda: “New generation dis, new school / You nuh know me, me no wan’ know you.” Always on the lookout for gold-digger fraud friends, UTG possess wisdom beyond their years. “Yeah me a de boss now / Talk loud,” they state. “Talk dark like dark cloud / Walk proud.”
Likkle Addi’s exciting solo cut “Dolla Sign” is a 2020 update of his father’s 2009 smash of the same name, while Likkle Vybz shines on “Couldn’t Careless.” Not content to coast along on the strength of their father’s cosign, the brothers have put in the work to achieve excellence. “Me a write song when me inna grade 3,” Likkle Addi reveals on “What U Gonna Do,” adding “Cool like Daddy when him inna AC.”
Perhaps the most anticipated tune on the album is “Magneto,” an electrifying selection that features Vybz Kartel spitting bars alongside his sons as they “pop champagne like Migos” and “fully make money every day a payday.”
Every ghetto youth’s dream is to elevate themselves in life and provide a better tomorrow for their children. In much the same way that Bob Marley elevated from Trenchtown and allowed his offspring a more prosperous lifestyle as well as the opportunity to pursue their musical ambitions, Adidja Palmer emerged from the the Waterford area of Portmore and can now look upon his sons with pride as they follow in his footsteps. With ‘Skinny Jeans’ UTG are writing a new chapter in dancehall history.
TRACK LISTING
1. “Paid Inna Full”
2. “Skinny Jeans” (Remix)
3. Likkle Addi “Dollar Sign”
4. Likkle Vybz “Couldn’t Careless”
5. Likkle Addi “Zara Man”
6. “Hear Dem”
7. Like Addi “What U Gonna Do”
8. “And She Promised” ft. Vybz Kartel
9. ”Use To It”
10. “Magneto” ft. Vybz Kartel
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