Vybz Kartel is the most talented DJ and currently the hottest commodity to step out of Jamaica this year. His amazing lyrical flow teamed with a unique sound as displayed on some of this year's hottest riddims has set him above many dancehall artists. Vybz Kartel (real name Adidja Palmer), one of six siblings, grew up in the Portmore district Waterford in the parish St Catherine. He attended Calabar High School in Kingston but was expelled. He wanted to finish his school and continued his education at a Technical College. Due to his Uncle being a DJ, Adidja was exposed to a wide range of music from a young age. He would listen to amongst others Country & Western, Sam Cooke and Ninjaman. His cites his own musical heroes as Bounty Killer, Charlie Chaplin, Papa San, Buju Banton, Will Smith and KRS-1. All, he says, have helped him to create his own brand of dancehall. Vybz Kartel started his journey towards a career in music when most would be playing marbles in the playground. At the tender age of 10, Vybz began writing his own lyrics, which he went on to show at a weekly talent show called Gong in Kingston. Gong followed the concept of the famous Apollo theatre, New York. Unfortunately Adidja was continuously gonged off! Again at 12 years old, he went on to record his debut single "Fat Women". Alvin Reid produced the song on the One Heart label. Adidja used the name Adi Banton, using the surname of one of his heroes Buju Banton. The song failed to get recognized but Adidja was unfazed and determined to continue his struggle of making it within the music business. In 1996 Adidja along with his friends Mr Lee and Escobar formed a group and called it Vybz Cartel. They took their name from a movie about a gangster called Pablo Escobar and his drug cartel. Unfortunately cracks began to appear in the group due to internal frictions. The group soon split leaving Adidja again to continue alone. Adidja chose to keep the name of the group changing the C to K in Kartel and hence the new artist we know as VYBZ KARTEL was born. In 1998, Vybz Kartel appeared at the Champions In Action stage show, held in his hometown Portmore. He gave an outstanding performance showing many his raw talent as a DJ in the making. Finally the right doors started to open and welcome him in. It was at this show that Bounty Killer noticed the young artist with a lot of potential. Rohan Butler, Vybz's manager, introduced him to the Warlord and a mutual respect was immediately forged. He started to pen lyrics for Bounty Killer including such hits as High Grade Forever, Warlord Rule The World, Gal Clown. With the help of Bounty Killer, Vybz was ready to really start making a name for himself. His notable collaboration from earlier this year (2001) with Wayne Marshall on "New Millennium" (Mad Ants) and "Why You Doing It?" (Krazy) that suddenly and most deservedly catapulted him to stardom in the dancehall. Vybz Kartel started to create a huge buzz around himself late last year when he was named DJ of the year at Stone Love's 30th Anniversary dance. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.
Vybz Kartel (born Adidja Palmer, Jan. 7, 1976) is a Jamaican dancehall deejay.
He was born at Kingston's Victoria Jubilee Hospital, and was one of six children. Originally from Waterhouse, Kingston, he was raised in the Waterford district in the community Portmore, Jamaica. Adidja attended Calabar High School in Kingston but was expelled as a teenager. Determined to continue his education, he completed his studies at a tutorial technical school.
He was exposed to a wide variety of music from a tender age by two uncles who were themselves aspiring musicians. Every weekend he was treated to new musical offerings, on his uncle's old component set, ranging from Sam Cooke to country and western ballads to Ninja Man, who became one of his musical heroes.
At 10 his favorites included artists as diverse as Ninja Man, Papa San, Charlie Chaplin, Will Smith and KRS-1, all of whose lyrics he would study word-for-word, performing them later for friends.
He decided he wanted to be a deejay and began writing his own lyrics when he was 11. Eager to flaunt his skills, Adidja and his friends frequented the weekly Gong Talent Show at the Coney Amusement Park on the outskirts of Kingston. To their chagrin, they were always gonged off when they got a chance to perform.
Undeterred by his weekly failure to impress the talent show audience, Adidja decided to hone his skills and concentrate on winning over his own community of Waterford until he was ready for bigger things. With that goal in mind, on weekends he would practise on neighborhood sound systems Soul Signal and Electric Force.
In 1993, Adidja recorded his first single, "Love Fat Woman," for Alvin Reid's One Heart Label under the name Adi Banton, a name he chose in tribute to a role model, Buju Banton. He recorded several more tracks for local producers, perfecting his craft.
In 1996 he and two friends, Mr. Lee and a singer called Escobar, decided to form a group. One night, after watching a movie about Pablo Escobar and his infamous cartel, Adidja came up with a name for his trio: Vibes Cartel.
Vybz Kartel's new role as Killer's protege caught the attention of the public and led to a meteoric career rise, first as a ghost-writer for Bounty, Elephant Man and other members of the Scare Dem Crew, followed by collaborations with Bounty Killer, such as "Gal Clown" and "Girls Like Mine (Liquid Riddim)."
He came into his own with early hits like "Gun Clown," "Guns Like Mine (Trafalga Riddim)," "Badman (Panty Raid Riddim)," "Bus Mi Gun Like Nuttn," "Most High (Mexican Riddim)" and "War Organizer (Clappas Riddim)." He also had a string of successful collaborations with Wayne Marshall, including "New Millennium (Mad Antz Riddim)," "Why (Krazy Riddim)" and "Why Again (Good To Go Riddim)." This unprecedented debut led to Vybz Kartel being crowned 2002 Deejay of the Year at Stone Love's 30th anniversary, a feat unmatched by any new artist in dancehall.
Kartel has--aside from incredible rhymes and subtle, clever pop culture references--a unique lyrical flow all his own. It is to be noted that Kartel rarely does dance "chunes" along the lines of Elephant man or Beenie Man. Nevertheless, he has already had several high-profile collaborations with international hip-hop and pop stars, and is being touted as the next big thing in dancehall.
In terms of singles sold, he has had the second-best year on the 2003 reggae charts, outsold only by Elephant Man, and has released two albums this year for UK label Greensleeves. He was featured twice on the Def Jamaica project, and nominated for Source, VIBE and UK MOBO awards. His MOBO nominations, along with those of Beenie Man, Elephant Man and Sizzla, were subsequently withdrawn over concerns of homophobia, a common issue with dancehall reggae in general.
His video for "New Millennium/Why," with Wayne Marshall, though decidedly low-budget, has seen play on MTV. His underground following is so large that a bootleg version of, in his own words, "a very, very low budget film" made in 2001 has begun circulating. He has two albums, several mixtapes and a prolific library of singles.
In 2005, Vybz and Bountkiller fell out after Vybz preformed a song with Di Angel, Beenie's former girl, "Yuh Know Yuh Baby Father." Vybz walked out of the Alliance. Aidonia also left, because he took Vybz side, falling out with Busy Signal and making the song "Adid A Mi Daddy Who Wa Vex Wan Vex." It was said Vybz took side with Beenie by showing up at his wedding. Vybz said Beenie was his artist and would not and that's as far as it went. Afterwards, he and Movado which led to throwing of words through songs like "Movado di Failla," "Them Start War and Dead" and "Them a Pu@#* Pon di Battle." But this mis happas only made Mr.Palmer express his war side.
Vybz is the head of the territorial gangland in Portmore known as the Gaza and Mavado is the same for the Gully. Due to their feud a physical war arose between people in the two areas. Fans loyal to each artist have taken part as well. Their fan base in the youths has been seen, as entire schools claiming to be Gully or Gaza supporters have been known not just in Jamaica but in other Caribbean countries such as Trinidad to break out into physical war resulting in stabbings and street fights.
Following the 2009 Summit of the Americas the Jamaican government called a meetings between Vybz Kartel and Mavado calling on them to end the war. Since its conclusion both artists have turned away from war songs and focused on different topics, Kartel on women and Mavado on uplifting the people, although both still make songs of all types.
Following differences with record label Greensleeves, Vybz Kartel changed his name to Addi Di Teacha near the end of 2006. All new material he produces will be released under this name. Greensleeves will continue to release his older, unreleased material under the name Vybz Kartel.
He now owns the label Portmore Empire, founded in 2007, on which releases new deejays' music. To clear up why this was done he had an interview with Antony Miller. "If I had join Moffia House, I would be taking side which I said I would not do," he said.
He owns a rum called STREET VYBZ as well as a condom line called DAGGERING.
Recently, he collaborated with artists like D.I. aka Daniel and Di Angel--Beenie man's former wife. But that's another story...
In 2011 Kartel has recently come under fire for bleaching his skin, something that is frowned upon in Jamaican culture and even Kartel spoken against it in past songs. He has come under even more fire for his rumored involvement in devil worship with a satanic group known as the Illuminati, which is known to have other popular musicains such as Jay-Z, Kanye West, Rihanna. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.