Vybz Kartel Declares Himself Dancehall’s Greatest Trendsetter Ever
Vybz Kartel is a man known for not downplaying or minimizing his musical achievements, so it was no surprise to many when digital music distribution company Zojak Worldwide, which distributes his music, released a note from the Worl’ Boss in which he blew his own trumpet about his unsurpassed contribution to dancehall culture.
The note comes three weeks ahead of the June 26 release of Kartel’s upcoming album dubbed, Of Dons and Divas , which was posted under a promotional photo of the album and captioned: “The Worlboss @vybzkartel speaks out!”
In the post, Kartel, who is proclaimed by many to be a lyrical genius, elaborated on his early beginnings when he exploded on the dancehall scene, to later amassing a cult-like followership, dubbed the Gaza Nation.
“No one has had an impact on dancehall locally or worldwide in the last 20 years like me. In the last 20 years, no one has had an impact on dancehall as Vybz Kartel,” he emphasized.
“I entered the games officially as best new artiste 2002 (by the then JFM) and three years later won deejay of the year, a title that I didn’t lose, until badmind stop the awards,” the incarcerated artiste added.
Kartel commented as well on his ability to “court attention at all costs” by setting fashion trends, which were followed by people in Jamaica and others in some of the most remote corners of the world. He also highlighted his business and marketing acumen, in which he outmaneuvered his dancehall peers by differentiating and distinguishing himself from them.
“My styles of music, topics that were previously considered taboo… like oral sex go-go dancers..etc…,my business savvy, my reality show, the fact that I affected the culture in such a way that even the old desert boot (Clarks) made a renaissance via my marketing power,” he stated.
Kartel has, in fact, been single-handedly responsible for Jamaican youth turning from copying the attire of American rappers, even making a simple white t-shirt a huge fashion statement on the island.
In 2010 the rosaries worn by Catholic priests became the hottest fashion trend in Jamaica after the Calabar Old Boy embedded a verse in one of his hit songs “ Straight Jeans and Fitted”, about his fashion and style, saying ‘Mi rosary chain a di purest’, and sported the adornment in the accompanying music video.
“Rosary sold out in Jamaica that even the Catholic Church has to write an article in the Sunday Gleaner’s magazine section, pointing out me that it’s not ‘rosary chain’…just rosary,” he said.
“And don’t even talk about image, from jersey and drag to tattoos and (hair) extensions,” he added in the lengthy post that coincided with the news that fast-rising deejay Intence is now experimenting with extensions.
“Before Kartel, how did dancehall artiste look compare to Vybz Kartel? Bro, no one has brought the level of excitement to the genre like I did. From the Spanish countries all the way to mother Africa its ‘worlboss worlboss’,” he added.
Proclaiming himself ‘king’, and using a slew of other adjectives to describe himself, Kartel said his accomplishments had made him a source of envy for the authorities in Jamaica who thought his influence had not only usurped their power, but was steadily eroding their authority, and as a consequence, he became a target for them.
“If Babylon didn’t envy my greatness I would have been had multi-platinum record sales and numerous Grammys, but even so, still selling gold from behind bars; still remaining the Alpha DJ, the king. World Boss, Pharaoah, Immortal Kartel, Teacha Chancellor, a me dat,” he declared.
“Even a lot of the new generation of artistes, have something about Vybz Kartel in their persona, lyrics style flow or image….a me a name Gaza. Oh, plus I gave the world Popcaan,” he stated.
Kartel was applauded by his fans and his sentiments were echoed by one follower harji.rai, who said the Portmore native rescued dancehall and freed Jamaican youth from the clutches of American Hip-Hop, which had been permeating the country’s airwaves at the time of Kartel’s meteoric emergence.
“Vybz Kartel saved Dancehall when Hip-Hip was about to take over… Big Big Respect,” he noted.
Kartel’s upcoming album, Of Dons & Divas, is to be distributed digitally by Zojak World Wide. The company is a full-service music publisher that enters into contractual relationships with songwriters, music composers, artists, indie labels, and producers for the commercial exploitation of music.
The entity services publishing and distribution to more than 200 digital service providers including big guns such as iTunes, Spotify, Tik Tok, Pandora, Tidal, Google, YouTube, and Amazon. Zojak also collects data from Clear Channel and pays royalties based on copyrighted compositions and/or audio assets.
The company, through a publishing agreement with YouTube, also fingerprints artiste’s music through in order to monetize, collect data, and collect on advertising for user-generated content.