Background and career
Adidja Azim Palmer (born 7 January 1976), better known as Vybz Kartel, is a Jamaican dancehall artist. Among his various nicknames, he is referred to as Worl' Boss, Teacha and King of Dancehall. As summarized by Rolling Stone, he "attained folk-hero status in Jamaica with provocative lyrics, and a mischievous public persona", and "few have captivated [the dancehall] audience – or offended the sensibilities of its detractors – as consistently and thoroughly as Kartel." He has also been credited as an inspiration for the dancehall-infused work of a number of Western artists, including Drake, who has cited Kartel as being one of his "biggest inspirations". Kartel's singles include "Romping Shop" (2009), "Dancehall Hero" (2010), and "Summer Time" (2011). He has collaborated with a number of hip hop and R&B artists such as Major Lazer, Rihanna, Missy Elliott, Travis Scott and Alison Hinds. In 2014, Kartel was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of his associate Clive "Lizard" Williams. Kartel often released new music despite his imprisonment, having released over 50 new songs in 2016 alone. His conviction was quashed in March 2024 by the UK Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, who cited juror misconduct and declared that the Jamaican Court of Appeal had to decide if a retrial would take place. On 31 July 2024, Kartel was released from prison after the Court of Appeal declined to retry the Williams case.
Palmer started his career as a teenager in 1993 with his first recording "Love Fat Woman", which he released on Alvin Reid's label "One Heart" using the moniker "Adi Banton", an homage to Buju Banton. Palmer was later part of the three-member group "Vybz Kartel", keeping the name for himself after the group split up. While still a member of the group, he claims to have written nearly 30 songs, including "Gal Clown". He eventually became a protege of Bounty Killer. Kartel rose to prominence in 2003 after having a string of hit songs in Jamaica. The year culminated in a pre-planned on-stage clash with Ninjaman at the annual dancehall festival Sting, held in Kartel's hometown of Portmore. The clash turned violent when Kartel's crew members, as well as Kartel himself, threw punches and assaulted Ninjaman onstage. While Kartel's manager initially blamed Ninjaman, Kartel himself quickly apologised to Ninjaman and festival organizers for the fracas. Four days after the incident, the two artists appeared before the press to announce a settlement of their differences and to end any animosity. From the beginning through the midst of his ongoing career, Kartel released a number of albums through the UK-based label Greensleeves Records, such as Up 2 Di Time, More Up 2 Di Time, and J.M.T.. He established his own label, Adidjahiem/Notnice Records, with his business partner and producer Ainsley "Notnice" Morris. After splitting with Bounty Killer-led Alliance in 2006, Kartel joined the Portmore Empire, a group of dancehall DJs and singers from his Portmore neighbourhood that he signed to his newly founded Adidjahiem/Notnice Records. The members included Popcaan, Tommy Lee, Blak Ryno and Jah Vinci to name a few. In 2008, Corey Todd, an American businessman, signed Vybz Kartel to an endorsement deal for Vybz Rum. The relationship between Todd and Kartel developed into a business partnership. Together they launched Daggerin Condom and Street Vybz Rum. Todd then purchased Jamaica's most popular dancehall nightclub, Asylum, which became the home to their weekly event called Street Vybz Thursday. Street Vybz Rum production was stopped in 2011 because of a disagreement between Kartel and Todd. However, the collaboration resumed in 2012 as the two settled their differences, and despite Kartel's ongoing incarceration.
In 2004, Kartel's nomination for the UK MOBO Awards was withdrawn due to controversy surrounding the homophobic content of his lyrics. Six years later, he endorsed the Reggae Compassionate Act, a petition organized by the Peter Tatchell Foundation and LGBT advocacy groups to oppose homophobia in music. As described by Rolling Stone, Kartel is "credited with helping to erode Jamaica's long-held taboo against oral sex by singing about blow jobs". In September 2011, the National Communications Network of Guyana banned Vybz Kartel from the airwaves—the first such action against a specific artist in Guyana. NCN spokesman Martin Goolsarran said his music contained "obscene lyrics" and brought "nothing positive" to the entertainment industry, on 21 September after a week of internal debate. He said NCN was reviewing the lyrics of other musicians and could ban them as well.
A public feud between Kartel and former collaborator Mavado arose towards the end of 2006, stemming from Vybz's much-publicised 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. In a police-overseen press conference in March 2007, both Mavado and Vybz Kartel publicly announced an end to hostilities and apologized to fans. 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". 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. 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 neighbourhoods of Kingston. 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 Christopher "Dudus" Coke. After the truce in December 2009, the two artists were scheduled to perform an unity concert in March 2010 in Barbados, which was later cancelled by Barbadian Prime Minister David Thompson.
In 2009, his song featuring Jamaica's "Queen of Dancehall" Spice, "Romping Shop", debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles chart, and "Dollar Sign" was in regular rotation on urban radio stations in the US. His 2010 single "Clarks" was one of his biggest international successes, remaining in the top three reggae singles and gaining the most radio plays in North America for 40 weeks. "Clarks" was also featured on the TV series So You Think You Can Dance Canada, and on a CNN segment on dancehall dance. When his singles "Clarks", "Clarks 2 (Clarks Again)" and "Clarks 3 (Wear Weh Yuh Have)" were released in 2010, its sales numbers and prices in Jamaica increased considerably. In 2011, he released his own shoe line, named Addi's, as well as his own line of "cake soap", a type of soap primarily used for clothes. Cake soap is less commonly utilised for skincare, to treat skin conditions such as acne. However, Kartel's brand was intended for the purpose of skin lightening or bleaching. MTV's Vice Guide to Dancehall featured Kartel at his weekly dance party, Street Vybz Thursday. 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.
On 29 September 2011, Kartel was arrested by police for cannabis possession. Jamaica's Major Investigation Taskforce (MIT) later charged him with the murder of Jamaican businessman Barrington Burton, conspiracy and illegal possession of a firearm. 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. Though Kartel was granted bail for the Burton murder on 23 March 2012, for JMD$3,000,000, he remained in prison in connection with a second murder, of Clive 'Lizard' Williams, of Waterford, St Catherine. Kartel and his associates Vanessa "Gaza Slim" Saddler and Andre ‘Pim-Pim’ Henry were charged with perverting the course of justice after Saddler allegedly claimed that Williams had robbed her in order to mislead the police into believing that he was still alive. Kartel's trial was originally scheduled for 21 January 2013, but had to be postponed due to a lack of jurors, and was rescheduled for 11 July. On 24 July, a jury found Kartel not guilty of the charge of murder of Barrington Burton. However, Kartel remained in custody pending the second murder case. His trial for the murder of Clive Williams started on 18 November 2013, and on 13 March 2014, he was found guilty by an eleven-member jury (10-1) of the murder of 27-year-old Clive ‘Lizard’ Williams. The 65-day trial was one of the longest in Jamaica's history. On 3 April 2014, Kartel was sentenced to life imprisonment. Justice Lennox Campbell said he would be eligible for parole after serving 35 years.
