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.

Taxi
Vybz Kartel Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

You alone in a mi mind
From mi meet you the last time
You alone on mi mind
Mi baby, mi life line
Believe mi, mi naw lie
Mi glad seh mi meet you

In a the taxi

Buck a pretty gyal a watch
Shi a watch mi
Go fi seh something but her friend a watch mi
The friend don't cute but the next one hot
You she get she call it a proxy

Gi mi you number mi don't have none
Yow a yesterday mi use dem buy a lottery
Plus facebook done mi phone battery
And the screen crack haffi send it back a factory

When you say hi
Mi never go fi answer
But mi mother told me shi seh
Follow your heart girl
But lets take it slow
Mi glad seh mi meet you

(Repeat Verse 1)

Overall Meaning

The first verse of Vybz Kartel's "Taxi" speaks to the singular focus that the singer has on one particular person. He reveals that this person, who he addresses as "baby" and "life line," is constantly on his mind since the last time they met. He assures the person that he is not lying about his feelings towards them and expresses genuine joy about meeting them. The second verse is about a chance encounter that the singer has in a taxi. He notices a girl watching him and goes to speak to her, but is prevented from doing so by her friend. He notes that the second girl is not as attractive as the first one, but is seemingly the one who provided him with the other girl's contact details. He then laments his phone's state, the battery dead from being used for Facebook, and the screen broken, further indicating that his thoughts are preoccupied with someone who he would like to get in touch with.

This song combines elements of a love song and a lament. The first verse establishes a deep emotional attachment to the addressee, while the second verse speaks to the complications that can arise when trying to make a connection with someone due to outside factors like friends and technology. A few possible interpretations of the song are that the person from the first verse is the one who gives the singer a sense of purpose and joy, and that chance encounters with new people can be challenging, especially when one is infatuated with someone else.

Line by Line Meaning

You alone in a mi mind
I can't stop thinking about you

From mi meet you the last time
Since I last saw you

You alone on mi mind
I can't get you out of my head

Mi baby, mi life line
You mean everything to me

Believe mi, mi naw lie
I'm telling the truth

Mi glad seh mi meet you
I'm happy I met you

In a the taxi
While I was in a taxi

Buck a pretty gyal a watch
I saw a pretty girl looking at me

Shi a watch mi
She was watching me

Go fi seh something but her friend a watch mi
She was going to say something but her friend was also looking at me

The friend don't cute but the next one hot
The friend wasn't attractive, but the other girl was

You she get she call it a proxy
She used someone else's phone number to contact me

Gi mi you number mi don't have none
Can you give me your number? I don't have one

Yow a yesterday mi use dem buy a lottery
Yesterday I used up all my credit buying a lottery ticket

Plus facebook done mi phone battery
My battery died because of Facebook

And the screen crack haffi send it back a factory
The screen is cracked so I have to send it back to the factory

When you say hi
When you greet me

Mi never go fi answer
I didn't respond

But mi mother told me shi seh
My mother told me that

Follow your heart girl
I should follow my heart

But lets take it slow
But let's not rush into anything

Mi glad seh mi meet you
I'm happy I met you

(Repeat Verse 1)
Repetition of the first verse

Writer(s): Sly Dunbar, Armando Christian Perez, Lloyd Willis, John Taylor, Jose Garcia, Everton Bonner, William A Reyna, Jorge Gomez, Michael Calderon, Osmani Garcia

Contributed by Alex P. Suggest a correction in the comments below.

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