Right yah now mi haffi set tings straight:
I give thanks for life and the variety it brings. It's what makes life interesting. Every single day, life and creation amazes me. Today, I'm again amazed by the fact that the smallest people can be the biggest dorks, seen?
Gentleman's an artist many people know jack-all about. So, you heard his albums? Great. You caught the publicity? Good.
Do you know how Gentleman started out? Well, let me clear your clouded mind: check
this clip on YouTube, and I mean
EVERYBODY - LOOK AT THAT CLIP!
So, go on and critize - it's your right to. Just make sure you're on top of the facts before you do. If Gentleman doesn't sound like he's influenced by Buju there (and yes, he was only 18 years old when the video was shot (part of a documentary broadcast on German T.V.)), I guess I should really reevaluate my musical knowledge.
And I'll let you in on something else: Gentleman still ah gwaan so! In Cologne/Germany, where he was born and grown, bashment is as big as inna yaad. Fancy going to a bashment and Gentleman stepping up to di mic-stand, busting out the ruffest DJ-styles you've ever heard... THAT's how he do.
Gentleman's not a native English-speaker.
Gentleman grew up in a culture very foreign to that of Jamaica.
Gentleman is an able Roots-/Lovers-singer just as much as he can rock any bashment.
Gentleman has a nice, humble, really funny personality.
Gentleman never critized any one of you, even though it would be easy for him to lick some shots from which your image would never recover.
Gentleman has put a lot of effort and time into developing what he does now, judging by what he does, not by what people say.
So, love him or not (it doesn't matter the tinyest bit): Gentleman's level of musicianship, consciousness and creativity is hard to second.
Let this stand as just a glimpse of the half of the story never told.