Adidjah Palmer A.K.A Vybz Kartel was born in Kingston, Jamaica on January
7, 1976 in the downtown Kingston community named Waterhouse.
Vybz Kartel started his career as a teenager in 1993 with his first recording "Love Fat Woman", released on Alvin Reid's label "One
Heart", using the moniker "Adi
Banton", an homage to Buju Banton. Palmer was later part of the threemember group "Vybz Kartel", keeping the slightly altered name after group split up, and became a protege of Bounty Killer, for whom he has written nearly 30 songs for, including "Gal Clown".
Vybz Kartel rose to prominence in 2003 after a string of hits in Jamaica. The year culminated in a pre-planned on-stage clash with Ninjaman at the annual dancehall festival Sting in Kartel's hometown of
Portmore. The clash turned violent when
Kartel's crewmembers, as well as Kartel himself, threw punches and assaulted
Ninjaman onstage.
Kartel has worked on collaborations and remixes with hip hop and R&B musicians Jay-Z, Rihanna, Missy
Elliott, Busta Rhymes, M.I.A, Pharrell
Williams, Kardinal Offishall, Akon, Jim
Jones, Lil Wayne and Eminem.
In 2009 his song featuring female Jamaican deejay 'Spice', "Ramping Shop", debuted on the Billboard Top 100 Singles charts.
After splitting with Bounty Killer-led Alliance in 2006, A very public feud between Vybz
Kartel and former collaborator Mavado arose towards the end of 2006. Tensions flared with a slew 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, leading to violence in the streets and schools.
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 neighborhoods of Kingston.
In 2008, Vybz Kartel launched his own liquor line; Street Vybz Rum. He hosted a weekly dance party Street Vybz Thursday, at the Building, a Kingston nightclub he managed with Street Vybz Rum business partner. 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.
Kartel has come under scrutiny over perceived skin whitening, or "bleaching", leading him to claim the use of "cake soap" to lighten his skin. The Blue Power Group,
Jamaican manufacturer of the popular cake soap (or "blue soap"), has refuted claims it changes skin color. Kartel then stated the soap used to lighten his skin was his own
Company brand, which he intends to release on the local market and to overseas clients.
In September 2011 the National
Communications Network of Guyana banned Vybz Kartel from the airwaves—the first such action against a specific artist. His music contained
"obscene lyrics" and brought "nothing positive" to the entertainment industry, said
NCN spokesman Martin
