Vybz Kartel
Vybz Kartel (real name Adidja Palmer) is a famous Jamaican dancehall deejay. The young Adidja was exposed to a wide variety of music from a tender age by two uncles who happened to be aspiring musicians themselves. Every weekend he would be 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 the age of 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 write down and study word-for-word, performing them later for the entertainment of friends. Deciding he wanted to be a deejay, he began writing his own lyrics at the age of 11.
Eager to show off his skills, Adidja and his friends often frequented the weekly Gong Talent Show at the now defunct Coney Amusement Park on the outskirts of Kingston, but to their chagrin were always gonged off whenever 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 his art on neighborhood sound systems Soul Signal and Electric Force. In 1993, the young Adidja, now in his early teens, 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 Buju Banton, another of his role models. He recorded several more tracks for local producers, perfecting his craft until 1996, when 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), then finally coming into his own with early hits such as 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, such as New Millennium (Mad Antz Riddim), Why (Krazy Riddim) and Why Again (Good To Go Riddim). This unprecedented and impressive debut led to Vybz Kartel being crowned Deejay Of The Year at Stone Love’s 30th Anniversary, 2002, a feat unmatched by any new artist in dancehall’s history.
Vybz Kartel’s future as a superstar and potential crossover success seems assured. Kartel not only has incredible rhymes and subtle yet clever pop culture references, he has a unique lyrical flow all his own. It is to be noted that Kartel rarley 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 reggae charts for 2003 (outsold only by Elephant Man) and has released two albums this year for UK label Greensleeves. He was also featured twice on the Def Jamaica project, and nominated for Source, VIBE and UK MOBO awards (although his MOBO nominations, along with those of Beenie Man, Elephant Man and Sizzla were 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 already been played on MTV, and his underground following is so large that a bootleg version of, in his own words “a very, very low budget film” that was made in 2001 has begun circulating. He has two albums, several mixtapes and a very prolific library of singles.
Sources
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vybz_Kartel
