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.
Can't Call This a Love Song
Vybz Kartel Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Mi never know a suh yo shady mi nah lie
Wa yo tell mi last night hurt up mi brain
So mi jump in a mi car and mi drive go a stand pipe
Mi never know yo have da medication deh
Fi tell mi seh yuh a go run away somewhere
Seh yuh a go bring mi children
Seh yuh a go meck another man grow dem cho
()
Yuh say, yuh say, yuh crush out mi heart
That's why mi call yo fi bring yo to class now
Look how far wi a come from
Mi cyaa call this yah love song
Yuh say, yuh say, yuh crush out mi heart
That's why mi call yo fi bring yo to class now
Look how far wi a come from
Mi cyaa call this yah love song
(2)
Big up yo self and gwaan do yo thing girl
Mi never know a suh yo hate mi
Mi nah lie
Member seh mi tell yo seh yo cyaa si mi start cry
But if mi never seh mi hurt is a fast lie
Mi give yuh everything mi could a give yuh
And the likkle seh yo seh mi no do nothing fi yo
Mi mind tell mi fi left yo
But mi heart cyaa dweet caw mi love yo cho
(Repeat)
(Repeat 1)
(Repeat)
The song "Can't Call This a Love Song" by Vybz Kartel is a powerful expression of the artist's feelings towards an unreliable partner. In the first verse, the singer acknowledges that he didn't realize how untrustworthy his partner was until she hurt him deeply by threatening to take away their children and walk away from their relationship. He explains that he didn't know she had the heart to do this, and that he was so hurt that he had to drive away to clear his mind.
The second verse continues to express the singer's hurt and betrayal, as he acknowledges that he gave her everything he could, and suffered in silence when she hurt him emotionally. Despite his better judgment, he cannot bring himself to leave her because he loves her too much. Throughout the entire song, the singer repeats the refrain, "Mi cyaa call this yah love song," which means that he cannot classify their relationship as a love song because there is too much pain and distrust between them.
Overall, "Can't Call This a Love Song" is a powerful and emotional expression of a complicated relationship that is full of both love and betrayal. The lyrics and the melody work together to create a powerful sense of hurt and longing that will resonate with anyone who has ever been through a similarly complicated relationship.
Line by Line Meaning
Big up yo self everything good baby
Greetings and self-encouragement
Mi never know a suh yo shady mi nah lie
I was unaware of how deceptive you were
Wa yo tell mi last night hurt up mi brain
What you said last night really bothered me
So mi jump in a mi car and mi drive go a stand pipe
I impulsively got in my car and drove to the nearest water station
Mi never know yo have da medication deh
I didn't know you had that medicine
Fi tell mi seh yuh a go run away somewhere
You want to inform me that you are planning to run away
Seh yuh a go bring mi children
You said you would bring my children with you
Seh yuh a go meck another man grow dem cho
You plan to have another man raise them
Yuh say, yuh say, yuh crush out mi heart
You claim to have broken my heart
That's why mi call yo fi bring yo to class now
That's why I wanted to confront you about it
Look how far wi a come from
We have come a long way
Mi cyaa call this yah love song
I cannot refer to this song as a love song
Big up yo self and gwaan do yo thing girl
Encouragement and support, urging to continue doing what she's doing
Mi never know a suh yo hate mi
I didn't realize that you harbored such resentment towards me
Member seh mi tell yo seh yo cyaa si mi start cry
I remember telling you that you'll never see me cry
But if mi never seh mi hurt is a fast lie
If I said I wasn't hurt, it would be a blatant lie
Mi give yuh everything mi could a give yuh
I gave you my all
And the likkle seh yo seh mi no do nothing fi yo
The small things you complained that I didn't do for you
Mi mind tell mi fi left yo
My mind is telling me to leave you
But mi heart cyaa dweet caw mi love yo cho
But my heart can't handle it because I love you so much
Writer(s): Adidja Azim Palmer, Simon Fraser Howden
Contributed by Joseph H. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@pinetart7048
Love this song. Thanks for singing it Addi. What a great experience for my ears.
@1160bergen
Adidja Azim Palmer your voice has touched me emotionally with this song. You are what an artist is truly supposed to be
@KimBlaQue
real shit
@burn253
this what is called ,dominating a genre
@steffornthomas6571
Whoever is here and still holding it out big up same way
@TheArchevil
In music Kartel tells no lie, big ups to the bozz who still mek reall music
@dreclr71
Later will be greater... after the darkness comes the light. True love is deeper than being nice with a fake smile. Stay firm
@platinumwire
the greatest dancehall artist ever big up you self beyond the bars
@romariolawrence2429
kartel dancehall can never be the same with uu behind bars.....uu bring the thing to a different level gaza fi lyphe
@malikamahoney
forever a classic!!! love the world boss ❤