RocYouFM: 411 on dancehall artist: Vybz Kartel

Adidja Azim Palmer (born 7 January 1976)^[1]^[2]^[3] better known as Vybz Kartel, is

a Jamaican dancehall artist, songwriter and businessman. His singles include "Clarks", "Romping Shop", and "Pon De Floor".

Biography[edit]

Adidja Palmer began his career as a teenager in 1993 with his first recording "Love Fat Woman", released on Alvin Reid's label "One Heart", using the moniker "Adi Banton", a homage to Buju Banton.^[4] Palmer was later part of the three-member group "Vybez Kartel", keeping the slightly altered name after group split up, and became a protege of Bounty Killer, for whom he claims to have written nearly 30 songs, including "Gal Clown".^[5]

Vybz Kartel rose to prominence in 2003 after a string of hits in Jamaica. The year culminated in a pre-planned on-stage clash with Ninjaman at the annual dancehall festival Sting in Kartel's hometown of Portmore. The clash turned violent when Kartel's crewmembers, as well as Kartel himself, threw punches and assaulted Ninjaman onstage.^[6] While Kartel's manager initially blamed Ninjaman for the fracas,^[6] Kartel himself quickly apologised to Ninjaman and Sting organizers for the fracas.^[7] Four days after the incident, the two artists appeared before the press to announce a settlement of their differences and to end any animosity.^[8]

He established his own label Adidjahiem/Notnice Records with his business partner and producer Ainsley "Notnice" Morris.^[9] In 2010, he released his album Pon Di Gaza 2.0 on Adidjahiem/Notnice Records in collaboration with Tads Record Inc.^[10] In Spring 2011, Vybz Kartel released an album entitled 'Kingston Story' with Brooklyn hip hop/electro producerDre Skull.^[11]

Kartel has worked on collaborations and remixes with hip hop and R&B musicians Jay-Z, Rihanna, Missy Elliott, Busta Rhymes, M.I.A, Pharrell, Kardinal Offishall, Akon, Jim Jones, Lil Wayne and Eminem.

In 2009 his song featuring female Jamaican Deejay 'Spice', "Ramping Shop", debuted on the Billboard Top 100 Singles charts,^[12] and "Dollar Sign" being in regular rotation on urban radio stations in the US.^[13] His 2010 single "Clarks" was one of his biggest international successes, remaining in the top 3 Reggae Singles gaining the most radio plays in North America for 40 weeks.^[14] "Clarks" was also featured on the TV series So You Think You Can Dance Canada,^[15] and on a CNN segment on dancehall dance.^[16] MTV's Vice Guide to Dancehall featured Kartel at his weekly dance party, Street Vybz Thursday.^[17]

After splitting with Bounty Killer-led Alliance in 2006, Kartel founded the Portmore Empire, a group of dancehall DJ's and singers from his Portmore neighborhood that he signed to his newly founded Adidjahiem/Notnice Records. Members of the group as of 2011 were: Popcaan, Gaza Slim, Shawn Storm, Sheba, Gaza Indu, Tommy Lee, Singing Maxwell, Singa Blinga, Lenny Mattic. Former members include Lisa Hype,^[18] Gaza Kim,^[19] Black Ryno,^[20] Jah Vinci, Dosa Medicine and Merital Family.^[21]

Feud with Mavado[edit]

Towards the end of 2006, Vybz Kartel left The Alliance. Tensions arose following Kartel's continued association with Bounty Killer's longtime enemy, Beenie Man, including Kartel attending Beenie Man's wedding to Bounty Killer's ex-girlfriend D'Angel.^[22] Due to Kartel's defection from The Alliance and his 'parring' (fraternising) with Beenie Man, a series of songs and counteraction songs ensued - the main proponents being Kartel and Mavado.

A very public feud between Vybz Kartel and former collaborator Mavado arose towards the end of 2006, stemming from Vybz' much publicized departure from the dancehall conglomerate group The Alliance. The feud resulted in numerous diss tracks released, in which each artist dissed the other and their associates over popular dancehall rhythms.^[23] In a police-overseen press conference in March 2007, both Mavado and Vybz Kartel publicly announced an end to hostilities and apologized to fans.^[24]

However, by the summer of 2008, tensions flared with a renewal of "diss tracks" from each artist, and a lyrical clash between the two at Sting 2008 left mixed views as to the "winner".^[25]^[26] Most of 2009 saw a continuation of the public feud, which dominated Jamaican media and, to a certain extent, Jamaican culture, with the two artists' factions, Gaza(Kartel) and Gully (Mavado), being adopted by Jamaican youth, in some cases leading to street violence.^[27]^[28]

On 8 December 2009, Kartel and Mavado met with Jamaican Prime Minister Bruce Golding in an attempt to end the feud, which had by that time fueled mob attacks in some of the inner-city neighborhoods of Kingston.^[29] The two had performed together on-stage the previous night in a sign of goodwill at the West Kingston Jamboree, a concert promoted by drug lord^[30] Christopher "Dudus" Coke.^[23] After the truce in December 2009, the two artists were scheduled to perform a unity concert March 2010 in Barbados, which was later cancelled by the prime minister of that country.^[31]

Business[edit]

In 2008, Vybz Kartel launched his own liquor line; Street Vybz Rum. He hosted a weekly dance party Street Vybz Thursday, at the Building, a Kingston nightclub he managed with Street Vybz Rum business partner, Corey Todd.^[32] The rum is officially distributed by Vybz Distillers Limited. The same year, he also released his own condom line, Daggering Condoms.^[33] Street Vybz Rum production was stopped in 2011 because of a disagreement between he and Corey Todd. However, the collaboration resumed in 2012 as the two settled their differences, and despite Kartel's ongoing incarceration.^[34] In 2011, he released his own shoe line, named Addi's, as well as his own line of "cake soap".^[35]^[36]^[37]

When his singles "Clarks", "Clarks 2 (Clarks Again)" and "Clarks 3 (Wear Weh Yuh Have)" featured the British shoe brand Clarks in 2010, its sales numbers and prices in Jamaica increased considerably.^[38]

Vybz Kartel has also hosted his own reality television show "Teacha's Pet" on CVM Jamaica broadcast channel, the first reality television show hosted by a dancehall artist in Jamaica. The premise of "Teacha's Pet" found 20 women living in a Kingston house vying for the artist's affection; the show's lascivious content elicited condemnation of its sponsor, telecommunications company LIME. The show came to a halt with the artist's arrest on murder charges in September 2011.^[39]

Whitening (Bleaching)[edit]

Kartel has come under controversy over perceived skin whitening, or "bleaching", leading him to claim to the use of "cake soap" to lighten his skin.^[40]^[41] The Blue Power Group, Jamaican manufacturer of the popular cake soap (or "blue soap"), has refuted claims it changes skin color.^[42] Kartel then stated the soap used to lighten his skin was his own Company brand, which he intends to release on the local market and to overseas clients .^[35]

Airwave Ban[edit]

In September 2011 the National Communications Network of Guyana banned Vybz Kartel from the airwaves—the first such action against a specific artist. His music contained "obscene lyrics" and brought "nothing positive" to the entertainment industry, said NCN spokesman Martin Goolsarran (Wednesday, Sept 21) after a week of internal debate. He said NCN was reviewing the lyrics of other musicians and could ban them as well. In fact the government had no problem with Kartel, its Tourism Ministry inviting him to an August music festival, angering the Tourism Ministry and Guyanese promoters when he failed to show up.^[43]

Murder charges[edit]

On 29 September 2011, Kartel was arrested by police. Jamaica's Major Investigation Taskforce (MIT) charged him with murder, conspiracy to murder and illegal possession of a firearm. The deceased was Barrington 'Bossie' Burton, a 27-year-old businessman and music promoter based in the St. Catherine suburb of Portmore. They first visited Kingston's Norbrook community where the DJ resides, then went to a property on Swallowfield Avenue in Kingston's Havendale area. That residence was the scene of a fire several weeks ago; a scorched computer hard-drive and several boxes were removed. They then drove to Portmore to a home purportedly owned by Kartel's mother, where a number of items were similarly confiscated. Kartel was detained for the weekend in relation to a partially burned, decomposing body found inside the Swallowfield Avenue home.^[44]

Kartel was granted bail for the Burton murder 23 March 2012 for JD$3,000,000, but currently remains in jail in connection on a second murder, of one Clive 'Lizzard' Williams.^[45] He was also charged, along with two others including Vanessa "Gaza Slim" Saddler, with perverting the course of justice, after Saddler allegedly claimed that Williams had robbed her to mislead the police into believing that he was still alive.^[46] His trial was originally scheduled for 21 January 2013, but had to be postponed due to a lack of jurors, and was rescheduled for July 11. ^[47] On July 24th a jury found Kartel Not Guilty and he was acquitted of the charge of murder of Barrington Burton, but still remains in custody until November when his trial for the murder of Clive Williams is set to take place.^[48]

While in prison in 2012 his book The Voice Of The Jamaican Ghetto: Incarcerated but not Silenced, co-written with business associate Michael Dawson, was published.^[49]