With his murder conviction overturned, the Jamaican star is back performing. He talks about his illness, regrets, and how he felt about dancehall going global while he was behind bars
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here’s a moment when I’m interviewing Vybz Kartel in the courtyard of the Four Seasons hotel in Tower Bridge, London, and the UK government emergency alert test rings on my phone. He is panicked by it and jumps up. “Me ready fi run you know!” he says, which has us both laughing.
It is a funny moment, but also a jolting one considering that it arrives in the middle of him discussing the lasting psychological effects of prison. Kartel, 49, real name Adidja Palmer, had been incarcerated across different institutions in Jamaica following his conviction for the 2011 murder of his associate Clive “Lizard” Williams. Following a lengthy appeal process, he was released in July last year after the ruling was overturned by the UK privy council (which is the final court of appeal for Jamaica due to the nation being a former British colony).
At the time of his arrest, Kartel was one of the biggest dancehall stars in Jamaica’s history. He emerged in 2003 with the album Up 2 Di Time, serving up provocation, badness and a rapid-fire rhythmic “toasting” vocal style that was both gravelly and versatile. Influenced by grittier DJs such as Ninjaman, it was a stylistic departure from the more mellifluous “singable” reggae sound of Bob Marley and Peter Tosh. A succession of hits, from the erotic duet Romping Shop with Spice in 2009 to the foot-stomping Clarks in 2010 and the vibrant Summer Time in 2011, aided Kartel’s crossover to the British and American charts.
