Addi Banton to Worl’ Boss: Is Vybz Kartel dancehall’s Picasso? [VYBZ KARTEL’S HISTORY] Addi Banton to Worl’ Boss: Is Vybz Kartel dancehall’s Picasso? [VYBZ KARTEL’S HISTORY] 07 Jan, 2015 by Jamaica Take Out Print this article Font size -16+ Today, the man that dancehall fans worldwide know as Vybz Kartel a.k.a Addi the Teacha, will celebrate his 39th birthday. As we turn on this day to mark the fulcrum of events that led to his spectacular fall, we look at the life of an individual who, for years, has been tagged in equal terms with two short hand references: greatest deejay of his generation and violent low-life. black-vybz-kartel-Loop 1 Rewind 22 years, and there was the aspiring Addi Banton, who recorded his first singleLove Fat Woman at the tender age of 17. He would later join forces with two other artistes to form a group called The Vybz Kartel, but in typical Adidja Palmer fashion, he co-opted the name for himself after the group split. With the help of his manager, Rohan Butler, who arranged a meeting with Bounty Killer, Kartel eventually became a member of the Alliance, and began to write over 30 songs for ‘The Warlord’. The year 2003 was his breakout year, and he became a well-known figure with a war of words waged in the press with Ninjaman in the run up to Sting 2003. However, during the eventual clash, Kartel and his cronies beat up Ninjaman onstage. Four days later, the two held a press conference and Ninjaman appeared to forgive Kartel’s slight, and both moved on from the incident. bounty-killer-and-mavado Kartel used his new-found notoriety to rocket to the next level with the street anthems,Tekk and Picture This from his Up 2 Di Time album. Kartel won a 2004 UK MOBO award nomination which was later withdrawn amidst controversy over homophobic content of his lyrics. Kartel was on top of the world, however, his career hit a major speed bump in 2005, when he lost his US work permit and his earnings quickly dried up. Petty jealousies within the Alliance began to pop up as Mavado began to become a dominant force. Deejay Beenie Man’s continuous taunting of Bounty Killer over the loss of his former lover, D’Angel only added fuel to the roiling tensions. And when Kartel decided to attend Beenie Man’s wedding to D’Angel, the writing was on the wall. Kartel’s decision to leave ticked off Alliance members, none more so than the rising star Mavado who did not like Kartel dissing his ‘general’, Bounty Killer. The diss songs between Mavado and Vybz Kartel became the stuff of legend. The animosities spilled over in the street and a Gaza/Gully war broke out in the Mannings Hill Road area with a number of shootings. vybz-kartel ring The Police High Command stepped in and in a 2007 press conference, both Mavado and Vybz Kartel announced an end to the hostilities. However, a year later, it resumed with a rash of diss tracks from each artiste, as the PR machinery for a lyrical clash at Sting 2008. There was no clear winner at the clash but public opinion swung towards Kartel as the victor especially since he released Last Man Standing in a stroke of genius just a few hours after the clash ended. Hostilities continued until November when the Police High Command again stepped in to clamp down on events featuring the artistes. Chastened, the two decided to broker a truce, and they performed together at a historic Jamboree in West Kingston on December 7, 2009. On December 8, 2009, Kartel and Mavado met with Jamaican Prime Minister Bruce Golding. After the truce was brokered, the Gully-Gaza conflict continued with frequent clashes in the Jamaican school system between rival factions. But then Kartel began to raise his game with a steady stream of hits like Clarks, Life Sweet and Ramping Shop featuring Spice. Kartel’s Pon Di Gaza 2.0 was a commercial and critical success. vybz-kartel-kingston In 2010, Kartel’s behaviour became more bizarre, and his reliance on acts such as bleaching for shock value intrigued and repulsed his growing legion of fans. He developed a reputation for missing stage show engagements in the Caribbean. There were also whispers of conflicts within his own Portmore Empire organisation, and over the next two years, there were run-ins with Blak Ryno, Jah Vinci, Lisa Hyper, producer Ainsley ‘Notnice’ Morris and Meritol, all of whom left or were expelled. In April 2011, Corey Todd went public, claiming that Kartel tried to assassinate him and discontinued the successful production of Vybz Rum, which had carved out an impressive share of the local rum market. In October 2011, cops from the Flying Squad stormed a hotel in New Kingston and hauled him and a female companion out of a room. He was subsequently slapped with two murder charges — the July 2011 shooting death of Barrington ‘Bossie’ Bryan, a charge which was later dismissed, and the August 2011 murder of Clive ‘Lizard’ Williams — for whose death Vybz Kartel, Shawn ‘Storm’ Campbell, Kahira Jones and André St John were found guilty of by an 11-member panel of jurors in 2014. vybz-kartel-5 Kartel is now serving life imprisonment for the murder of Clive ‘Lizard’ Williams and will not be eligible for parole for 35 years. But Kartel has continued to record singles, and at the time of this article, he has several hit songs such as Do Di Maths, Mi Nu Trust People and Supervisor dominating the airwaves. Kartel’s soundbites, witty flick-offs and game-changing songs have entertained dancehall fans for over a decade. The artiste’s manifest feet of clay and flaws make him an even more popular figure, worshipped in the dysfunctional little island that is Jamaica. The deejay’s appeal to the Privy Council is pending and he continues to plead his innocence. But questions of his innocence aside, one thing remains sure, Kartel is one of those rare dancehall figures whose voice gains resonance and force as he grows older. He is really dancehall music’s Picasso, who was truly better than everyone else. Will he be able to rise from the abyss of incarceration? Only time will tell, but at least the public can still be entertained for years to come.
Posted on: Wed, 07 Jan 2015 21:30:32 +0000
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