From behind bars, Kartel created Billboard hits, earned a Silver and Gold record, and generated billions of streams.
The “Menace to Society” deejay, Vybz Kartel, has kept his brand alive for the past 20 years, including 13 years spent behind bars, by leveraging social media and consistently releasing hit songs. While his gangster image and lyrics have often connected him to the underworld, since his release on July 31, he has made a conscious effort to distance himself from a life of crime. He now warns the youth to stay out of trouble, emphasizing, “You can get back the money, but you can’t get back the time.”
The 48-year-old superstar declared that he has no interest in being a crime boss: “Anuh want to be a crime boss, remember a Portmore we come from, Waterford, so we been grow rough inuh, so it nuh have nuttn fi do with crime boss, its just that things go haywire and with the help of God and the help of me lawyer, Isat Buchanan and him team we set things straight, no man we nah run fi be nuh crime boss, member we smart and know weh crime boss end up inuh, that was never our goal,” he told Anthony Miller of Entertainment Report.
Money has been a central topic in the dancehall star’s public conversations. This is understandable, as Vybz Kartel revealed to WMV that it cost him £670,000 or J$134,107,880.25 to cover legal fees, affidavits, applications, experts, airfare, and accommodations to fight his murder case in the U.K.’s Privy Council. Kartel’s legal team, which included renowned counsels from both England and Jamaica, confirmed that the Jamaican government was obligated to cover these expenses. This obligation came after His Majesty King Charles issued a decree mandating that the Jamaican government cover all expenses associated with the Privy Council appeal. The decree stated, “The Respondents (The King of Jamaica) should pay the Appellants’ costs,” and further clarified that “the amount of those costs should be assessed if not agreed.”
During the time he was away, Kartel dominated the street parties, the radio and weekly YouTube charts in Jamaican. He had new releases and collaborations with the likes of Stefflon Don, Jesse Royal, Jada Kingdom, Spice, Shenseea and many more. Between 2018 and 2021, Kartel was the most streamed artist in Jamaica and in 2016 Rolling Stones reported the he released more than 50 songs, thats at least one song per week. Officials denied allowing Kartel to record music while he was serving 35 years, but now Kartel admits to hiding and recording his hits in the Jamaican prison.
“Weh me fi do Anthony Miller, mi couldn’t bake, me a nuh baker,” he said laughing and reflecting on a skit by a TikTok comedian who did a spoof of how he recorded music while in prison.
Three weeks before his release, the “Romping Shop” deejay purchased a new pearl white BMW X6 in anticipation of his freedom. “Even the big SUV you see park out deh so, me buy that bout three month ago, a inna prison me stay and buy it, thats how sure me know me a huh come a road,” he said hopefully.
Kartel also posted images of inside a new home a couple of weeks ago on Instagram. During an interview with Miller, he quipped that his first stage show in December will be so expensive that patrons should prepare to “sell their house and organs” to afford the tickets. He mentioned he is already discussing bookings for Trinidad, Grenada, Barbados, and the Bahamas. “Yeah me a take calls, because me love money,” he said.
Jokes aside, how did Kartel’s brand generate so much money to fight his multi-million dollar case while he was locked in prison? While Other artists, like Buju Banton, who was also incarcerated in the U.S., have complained that music is not making any money.
Dancehall artist Ninjaman is in the same prison as Vybz Kartel serving a life sentence for murder.
However, Kartel is among a group of International artist like like Tupac, Young Thug, Gucci Mane, Shyne, Lil Boosie to release music while in prison but he is the only one to release eight albums with fresh topics while behind bars with several of them landing on the Billboard Reggae chart.
The Portmore native is first artist in Jamaica’s history to be certified Gold in the U.S. by the Recording Industry Association of America for surpassing 500,000 units in sales while being incarcerated. He achieved this milestone with the song “Fever,” released independently via TJ Records on September 1, 2016.
Fever is his most successful track from his most successful album, “King of the Dancehall” released June 12, 2016 by Adidjahiem Records/TJ Records/Zojak World Wide. It peaked at No. 30 on the US Billboard Independent Albums Chart and No. 7 on the Billboard Heat Seekers Chart two years after his life imprisonment sentence. The song is also certified Silver in the U.K. by the BPI for selling 200,000 unit equivalents in streams and sales. Combining these achievements, the single has earned at least US$600,000 in the U.S. and £250,000 in the U.K. based on the iTunes price per track equivalent units.
The album has streamed over 100 million times on Spotify alone and is available on every streaming platform worldwide, which means Kartel and his business partners, with whom he releases music, collect royalties from every digital streaming platform without a label, paying only distributors.
Other releases during his time in prison include:
- “The Voice of the Jamaican Ghetto – Incarcerated But Not Silenced” Released: 7 July 2013 Label: Whirlwind
- “Kartel Forever: Trilogy” released: 15 October 2013 Label: Tad’s peaked at No. 11 its opening week on the Billboard Reggae Albums Chart.
- “Reggae Love Songs” released: 3 June 2014 Label: Tad’s peaked at No. 7 on the Billboard Reggae albums chart.
- “Viking (Vybz Is King)” released 13 January 2015 in partnership with TJ Records/Adidjahiem Records/21st Hapilos Digital Distribution labels peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard Reggae Albums Chart.
- “To Tanesha” released: 10 January 2020 via Short Boss Musik/Vybz Kartel Muzik peaked at No. 87 on the US Billboard Top Current Album Sales Chart for one week.
- “Of Dons & Divas” released 26 June 2020 also via Short Boss Muzik/Vybz Kartel Muzik peaked at No. 80 on the US Billboard Top Current Album Sales Chart. The album also peaked at No. 6 on the US Billboard Reggae chart.
- “Born Fi Dis (Prelude)” released: 6 August 2021 on the Aiko Pon Di Beat/Short Boss Musik/Vybz Kartel Muzik label peaked at No. 9 on the US Billboard Reggae albums chart. Kartel has also released 8 EPs during the same time.
“Member me stay a prison and sell Gold and Silver inuh and get artist of the Decade inuh, which dah decade a prison me deh,” Kartel he said.
Snoop Dogg spoke about not earning much from his billion Spotify streams, but that’s because Snoop does not own his highest-earning music on streaming platform so although the songs generate high income he will only collect his share of royalties and publishing. Snoop said, “My publisher hit me. I said, ‘Break that down. How much money is that?’ That sh*t wasn’t even $45,000.”
Kartel’s fortunes have been different as even while in prison, he kept ownership of his brand and intellectual property. He boasts on his new compilation album “First Week Out” that he will not sign to any label “me a me own brand.”
He made Spotify’s Billions Club recently and last year, Pon Di Gaza 2.0 was the tenth most streamed dancehall album worldwide. Kartel celebrated his Spotify milestones on his Instagram page, saying, “it was a good earning year.”
A billion streams generate at least $3 million USD, with Spotify making royalty payments once a month. However, this doesn’t mean Kartel receives the full amount, because every song, has various rights holders, such as producers or collaborators. The exact earnings Kartel receives as an artist and songwriter depend on his agreements with music distributors, collection societies, and publishers, according to Spotify.
Once the company pays rights-holders and distributors according to their stream-share, they pay artists and songwriters according to their individual agreements.
Vybz Kartel Radio YouTube Channel is the third most subscribed channel from Jamaica behind Shenseea and Sean Paul at No. 2 and 3, respectively, but he has the second most viewed channel with 1.63 billion views. YouTube considers several factors when paying out for music video views and artist who are signed to labels often get a better deal and earn higher rates on the platform than those who are unsigned or affiliated with an indie label.
While he has no song that has surpassed the billion mark, his overall view count is can generate a payout anywhere from 1 million to 2 million USD. The official YouTube page earns $20-$60k per month.
Elsewhere his FireVybz Grabba, for which he recorded a commercial soundtrack with his musical collaborator TJ, is available in the US and worldwide. Prior to being arrested in 2011, Kartel also had several entrepreneurial ventures including Street Vybz Rum and a cake soap line.
To the people who say he is guilty of killing Clive “Lizard” Williams, Kartel sent a message on ER to them, saying, “right now me too busy a make money fi worry bout fi dem opinion inuh.”
