Vybz Kartel (born Adidja Palmer, Jan. 7, 1976) is a Jamaican dancehall deej… Read Full Bio ↴Vybz Kartel (born Adidja Palmer, Jan. 7, 1976) is a Jamaican dancehall deejay.

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.

Sorry Babe
Vybz Kartel Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Anytime man, put on mi clothes
And step outta road
Me notice gyal a gwan mad
Dem say, mi look so cute
Under the AC inna di Benz with di Calabar flag
Worldian girl run come fi thing, longer than, the strap on top of her bag
Christian girl love Kartel
But she nah follow me, she a follow her God

But a nuh nothing that
Pure gyal come a Wyndham
A tell the hotel, send fi the big man
The line look longer than the road weh di car skid pon
Weh the bus dem park with van
One come from Germany, past England
Say, she come pay me, she walk with grand
Mi say no baby, no baby
Man a real yard man
Mi haffi cut

Sorry babe, hold me close
People say, but don't be told
Evil reign, to keep mi know
A Jah Jah control mi soul
Sorry babe, hold me close
People say, but don't be told
Evil reign, to keep mi know
A Jah Jah control mi soul

None a dem cyan go 'round the Gaza
Put down your compass, compass don' know how
Down to the round about, a have doubt, and a talk 'bout, "low di Gaza man now"
Smoking proud, a cumulus cloud
I feel so high, Vesuvius cloud
(It's a bird, it's a plane, no a Kartel that)
We love excite the curious crowd
Mi, high school teacher say
"When did you become brown?" (Hey miss!)
Everything deh downtown
Mi mix up cream fi get di compound
You mix preposition, adjective, conjunction, and di pronoun
P and H, fi get the "Fff" sound
Anyway miss, mi haffi cut

Sorry babe, hold me close
People say, but don't be told
Evil reign, to keep mi know
A Jah Jah control mi soul
Sorry babe, hold me close
People say, but don't be told

Evil reign, to keep mi know
A Jah Jah control mi soul

Overall Meaning

The lyrics of Vybz Kartel's song Sorry Babe convey a sense of his dynamic personality, as he boasts about being desirable to women, adept at fashion, proud of his Jamaican heritage, and in control of his own spiritual destiny. He begins by describing how women flock to him, even when he is just running errands dressed in his casual clothes. He notes that women of different backgrounds are attracted to him, some because of his looks and others because of his success. However, he acknowledges that even though many women may be interested in him, he is still drawn to his own spiritual beliefs and values, which come before his romantic pursuits.

In the chorus, he repeats the phrase "Sorry babe, hold me close" while emphasizing the importance of not being swayed by outside opinions, but instead, staying true to oneself and one's faith. He believes that his connection to Jah Jah (God) gives him the clarity and guidance needed to navigate through life's challenges.

Line by Line Meaning

Anytime man, put on mi clothes
Whenever I put on my clothes

And step outta road
And leave my house

Me notice gyal a gwan mad
I notice the girls going crazy

Dem say, mi look so cute
They say I look cute

Under the AC inna di Benz with di Calabar flag
With the AC on in my Benz with the Calabar flag

Worldian girl run come fi thing, longer than, the strap on top of her bag
Girls from all over the world come running to me for a thing, some with big bags

Christian girl love Kartel
Even Christian girls love me

But she nah follow me, she a follow her God
But they don't follow me, they follow their God

But a nuh nothing that
But it's not a big deal

Pure gyal come a Wyndham
Lots of girls come to Wyndham

A tell the hotel, send fi the big man
They tell the hotel to get the big man

The line look longer than the road weh di car skid pon
The line outside is longer than the road where the car skidded

Weh the bus dem park with van
Where the buses are parked with vans

One come from Germany, past England
One comes from Germany, passing England

Say, she come pay me, she walk with grand
Saying she comes to pay me and walks with grandeur

Mi say no baby, no baby
I say no, baby, no baby

Man a real yard man
I am a real Jamaican man

Mi haffi cut
I have to go

Sorry babe, hold me close
Sorry babe, hold me close

People say, but don't be told
People talk, but don't listen to them

Evil reign, to keep mi know
Evil still exists, I know this

A Jah Jah control mi soul
But Jah Jah controls my soul

None a dem cyan go 'round the Gaza
None of them can go around Gaza

Put down your compass, compass don' know how
Throw away your compass, it doesn't know the way

Down to the round about, a have doubt, and a talk 'bout, "low di Gaza man now"
Even at the roundabout, they doubt and talk about not letting Gaza men through

Smoking proud, a cumulus cloud
Smoking proudly, like a cumulus cloud

I feel so high, Vesuvius cloud
I feel so high, like Vesuvius cloud

(It's a bird, it's a plane, no a Kartel that)
(It's a bird, it's a plane, no, it's Kartel)

We love excite the curious crowd
We love exciting the curious crowd

Mi, high school teacher say
My high school teacher said

"When did you become brown?" (Hey miss!)
"When did you become brown?" (Hey miss!)

Everything deh downtown
Everything is downtown

Mi mix up cream fi get di compound
I mix up cream to get the compound

You mix preposition, adjective, conjunction, and di pronoun
You mix up prepositions, adjectives, conjunctions, and pronouns

P and H, fi get the "Fff" sound
P and H, to get the "Fff" sound

Anyway miss, mi haffi cut
Anyway, miss, I have to go

Sorry babe, hold me close
Sorry babe, hold me close