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Dancehall artist Vybz Kartel, born Adidja Azim Palmer, just got out of prison after having served a 13-year sentence of 35-to-life. In an interview on the Juan Ep Is Life podcast that came out on 28 August 2024, the Jamaican artist told the world that two Apple devices and some headphones are all it took for him to devise his mixtape First Week Out.
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Vybz Kartel spoke to hosts Cipha Sounds and Peter Rosenberg about what he did as soon as he got out of prison, i.e. spend time with his fiancee, and how he's been leading a healthier lifestyle. He also shed light on dealing with Graves' Disease. He then told the hosts that he'd begun recording whilst incarcerated within the first year of being there, with only a handful of resources.
“It wasn’t really that hard because, you know, technology made it easier. You know, I used to record on the iPhone 6, yeah, because it has an amazing – not the 6, the 5-plus or the 5-s, something like that – but it has an amazing sound quality. So Fever, all those songs, we recorded on that little iPhone.”
Vybz Kartel used his mattress to work on his music
Some of his most impressive work came during this period, and Cipha Sounds probed to know more. "We’re not trying to snitch on you, we’re just so curious, we’re fans,” he said. Vybz Kartel then revealed that to maximize the quality of sound, he would equip his mattress.
“I would have to Deejay directly into the iPhone. I would have the phone, like, 3 feet from my face and I would wrap the mattress around my head and record. It was crazy.”
He then said that he'd use an iPad to add some instrumental elements and would then send the final product to an engineer to enhance it.
Fever is arguably one of Vybz Kartel's biggest songs to come out during his time away. The track was a part of his 2016 album, King of Dancehall, and is one of his most-streamed songs to date. But pulling off such a thing in prison was risky, Kartel said, and he'd have to constantly be on the lookout for correctional officers.
“Most of the time we had to record, like, at night, but sometimes it had to be, like, at 12 p.m. when most of the officers would be, like, on lunch break… I would still have to be watching. So, I’d be like ‘fee-veeeerrrr’ and then I had to get up and look, naah mean, so it was crazy. It was line by line.”
The interview further played host to Kartel, revealing what's next for him. The deejay is planning his comeback show, the Freedom Street Concert, which will be in Kingston, Jamaica.
Vybz Kartel was imprisoned for the murder of Clive Williams. However, his remains were never found. Regardless, the deejay was arrested in 2011, convicted in 2014, and appealed the ruling not long after. As per the court ruling, Kartel was let go as he could not complete a longer sentence, given his illness.
