Dancehall artiste Scantana said his latest freestyle ‘Sir Come Vent’ was something he did to show off his lyrical prowess.

According to Scantana, while there is a move towards mumble rap in the hip-hop genre, he believes lyricism is still important.

“I understand that the cadence of hip-hop has changed with the new era and I’m all for the evolution of music, however I wanted to showcase what spitting was and still is about when it’s done with intent,” Scantana said.

Sir Come Vent is my way around the views that rap is not about bars anymore, its about style and a sound. That’s great and it works for that vibe but you still have listeners that want to hear bars,” he added.

Despite being known primarily as a dancehall act, Scantana points out that he started off in hip-hop, adding that hip -hop and dancehall are intricately connected.

Scantana further shared that being able to freestyle and drop bars is a critical part of hip-hop and dancehall’s culture that he doesn’t want to get lost in current populism.

“And another thing I also want to make clear is that a freestyle is not a freestyle unless it’s done spontaneously, off the top of the head,” Scantana said.

“But you also have what’s called written freestyles, those are bars that don’t have a home they don’t have an abiding city meaning they don’t belong to any specific song. They just arbitrary verses that you put out there to show prowess. You know, I mean, and that’s definitely what this was about, to show my lyrical prowess. It wasn’t really about being able to write a song or put together a song,” he added.

‘Sir Come Vent’ which dropped on July 15 is a fun, catchy, edgy freestyle that displays a high level of lyrical prowess and storytelling combined with punchline after punchline.

“… your pandemic, I’m motivated covid overrated 

I’m on the go the road I chose I paved it

I’m so Jamaican so I’m prone to make it 

Either mi get or mi mek it or mi tek it 

It’s no debating”

~Scantana (Sir Come Vent Freestyle)