Vybz Kartel blasts police in new letter from jail

Vybz Kartel has penned a new letter from prison, alleging police of conspiring to keep him behind bars.

by Jodee Brown

Having been incarcerated for nearly 17 months on murder and conspiracy charges,Adidja ‘Vybz Kartel’ Palmer has unleashed his fury on Jamaican police forces in a new letter from prison, alleging they have done everything imaginable to keep him behind bars.

The five-page handwritten letter, publicized via Kartel’s official Twitter page on Wednesday, outlines accusations by the embattled deejay that police have concocted lies, threats and evidence in order to smear his reputation prevent him from achieving bail.

Titled, This is Adidja Palmer stating the facts, the controversial entertainer holds nothing back.

“In 2011, I was charged for murder by way of a statement which indicated that I had ordered Lenburgh McDonald to murder Barrington ‘Bossie’ Burton. Weeks later, said witness gave a statement to the Public Defender saying that he was physically assaulted and threatened by the police to say that I was involved in ‘Bossie’ Burton’s death. Days later, he gave another statement to the Public Defender saying that since he recanted the first statement, he has been getting death threats via calls to his phone.”

“Days after my first murder charge, I was charged with another murder (Clive ‘Lizard’ Williams). In this case, the police (by way of a Senior Superintendent who was later charged with “attempting to pervert the course of justice” in a separate incident) campaigned every Monday morning on a certain TV station claiming they had DNA evidence, which came back 7 months later as negative. They also led the public to believe that they had video tape of me and my co-accused murdering Williams. I would like to add that the police made a lot of damaging remarks against me. A most notable one would be “since his arrest, the community is a safer place.”

Kartel also reacted to a police report that claimed law enforcement officials found three cellphones in a search of his jail cell on Jan. 22. As a result of this report, which the deejay insists was a lie, he was denied bail in the Clive ‘Lizard’ Williams case just days later.

“On Saturday, February 16th, 2013, my lawyer Ms. Valrie Neita Robertson showed me a document produced in a bail hearing by the prosecutor signed by a high-ranking member of the J.C.F which states that three cell phones were found in my cell during a search on January 22nd, 2013. My bail was denied based mainly on this blatant lie by the Jamaican police,” he said.

“I would very much like the public and the world at large to read this letter impartially and unbiased and I am demanding that INDECOM, human rights organizations and the powers that be investigate the events that took place on the mornings of November 4th, 2011 and January 22nd, 2013. I have been in custody since the 30th September 2011.”

“P.S. I have written to INDECOM twice, one letter was delivered by my common law wife in early February and one by attorney-at-law Miguel Lorne on or about February 20th, both in 2013, and whilst the true record of the search as it relates to “what was found where” is at the Horizon Remand Centre, I doubt I will get the same equitable outcome at the Gun Court Remand Centre because only their fellow officers (police) work there.”\

“Everything as it relates to my case is a fabrication, everything is fabricated. Don’t know whose corn I may have stepped on in the past but it is now coming back to haunt me.”

Vybz Kartel was granted bail in the Barrington ‘Bossie’ Burton case in December 2011 as well as his conspiracy case pertaining to the Clive ‘Lizard’ Williams case last November. However, he cannot post bail due to the fact he remains incarcerated on the murder charge he faces in the Williams case.

The deejay is scheduled to return to court on May 27 to begin the Williams trial, which has been postponed twice since its initial start date of Nov. 5, 2012.

Q & A: VICE producers talk Noisey Jamaica, Reincarnated and Snoop’s new path

Snoop Lion (left) and English journalist/director, Andy Capper (right) have been active in promoting Dancehall and Reggae through their upcoming film, ‘Reincarnated,’ an all-Reggae album with the same name and the ‘Noisey Jamaica’ Dancehall series.

ByJodee Brown

One year ago, the music world saw a decorated rap legend begin his transition from a ‘Dogg’ into a ‘Lion.’ This year, VICE Mediahas produced a resulting movie and Dancehall documentary they believe possess the eyes of a tiger amongst their entertainment contemporaries.

VICE host and Jamaican expat, Codine Williams and acclaimed British director, AndyCapper travelled to Jamaica with Snoop Dogg as they witnessed him transform from an intimidating gangster rapper into a peace-toting Reggae crooner. It was during that trip when they not only were introduced in-depth to the Rastafarian movement, but were intrigued by a Dancehall scene which has become equally misunderstood as it has been popular.

They are the producers of Noisey Jamaica, a 10-part series shot focusing on the artistes and fans that make Dancehall culture the controversial attraction it is today. They are also producers of Snoop Lion’s upcoming movie, Reincarnated, set to be unveiled in the U.S. and U.K. this March. Examiner.com sat down with the duo for an in-depth interview, where they talked about these highly-anticipated productions as well as Vybz Kartel’s aura, Tommy Lee Sparta’s demons and Snoop Lion’s new path.

Q. How did you guys come up with this ‘Noisey Jamaica’ concept?

Codine: When we were there in February with Snoop, we wanted to go to the sessions. The other members of my team got even more introduced to Dancehall music. We came back in the summer during Sumfest week to explore upcoming artistes, get to understand what inspires their music and find out where they came from. Dancehall music is all about struggle and all about what happens in these communities and unless you live in those communities, live in Jamaica, you don’t know what’s going on.

Q. The first episode was shot in the much talked about ‘Gaza’ in Portmore. What most surprised you about that visit?

Codine: “What surprised me was how much they loved Vybz and how enthusiastic they all were to talk about his impact on the community. They are optimistic that he will be set free every day. The fact that they idolize him so much to the point, that they go to the court house. That surprised me the most.”

Q. You met Kartel previously and found him to be a down-to-earth person. What do you think of his ongoing legal situation?

“It’s all about his image that’s being judged, not him the person. His voice is raising red flags in Jamaica, so they want him to shut up. One way to get him to shut up is to put him behind bars, which is not really working in my opinion because that’s only making it more intriguing and making people want to know more as to why is this man being denied bail. There’s other ways of keeping him in the country. Take away his passport, take away his travelling rights, but why take away his civil rights and have him behind bars and pushing it for two years?”

Q. Andy, You were exposed to a lot of the culture while shooting this show. What did you learn most about the Jamaican Dancehall scene?

Andy: How unmanufactured it all is. In The States, amongst the big artistes, it’s kind of hugely manufactured by record companies. It’s very hard not to feel phony. Here, you had people like Kartel and Popcaan who are superstars worldwide because they weren’t manufactured, but had that superstar quality about them.”

Q. What about Popcaan proves that ‘superstar quality’?

Andy: “He has kind of a new attitude…Seeing Popcaan doing vocals in the studio and seeing that group of kids he hangs out with, there’s kind of a star presence about him.”

Q. You guys also talked to Tommy Lee Sparta, who’s garnered a lot of heat for his ‘demon’ concepts. What did you gather when you met him?

Codine: From what I gather, He’s very shy so in order to step out of his normal persona, he has to step out of his arena and be somebody else; to get people to notice that I’m here and trying to make a mark on the world. It’s like Beyonce and her alter-ego Sasha Fierce. I think his music is an alter-ego of him as an everyday person and his alter-ego is to make everybody notice him.”

Andy: “I think the dark image he has owes a little something to people, the tattoos and everything; the old American idea of shock value, the rock and roll kind of thing”

Q. His image does make you think twice he’s doing some devilish things, doesn’t it, doesn’t it? Especially since he hardly sings uplifting songs.

Andy: I don’t know how you actually worship the devil in this day and age. I don’t know if it happens these days and I especially don’t think it happens in his life after meeting him. He’s a very soulful performer; he was singing a lot of stuff to us before the interview about struggle. He was definitely desperate to make it known to Jamaica that he wasn’t a devil worshipper, that it was just a couple of songs that were kind of an image to get people’s attention to it, to ruffle a few feathers.

Q. Speaking of personas, Snoop Lion made headlines his trip to Jamaica and documentary, Reincarnated. Talk a bit about the trip.

Andy: The first ten days, we took Snoop to a bunch of places that really inspired him for the songs he wrote in the studio. We took him to Alpha Boys School, credited for the development of ska and Reggae. That really affected him, seeing all those kids and where they came from, he could relate. We wanted to compare Snoop’s life to things that were instrumental in Jamaica in creating Reggae.

We also took him to Tivoli Gardens, The community came out to see him and he was deeply touched by that. He’d never seen poverty like that before. When he came away from that, he was saying ‘I’ve got to make songs that were positive, sing about things that should be and the values that people should follow.’”

Q. And what about the much talked visit to the Nyabinghi temple?

Andy: It was a five hour ceremony where they were taught him about Rasta, they taught him the principles behind it and at the end, because the Nyabinghis were surprised that Snoop came to see them, they gave him a new name, they blessed him and he was so taken aback by that, that these people let him into their sacred place. He learned the core values of love, unity, and anti-Babylon. Those messages, he would try hard as hard as he could to put them in his new songs, new album (Reincarnated).

Q. There’s been much talk about the legitimacy of Snoop’s transformation from ‘Dogg’ to ‘Lion.’ What do you make of this scepticism?

Andy: You can’t just turn from an internationally-known gangster rapper overnight into a high priest at a Rasta temple. You can do it gradually. Maybe people in Jamaica will see a picture of Snoop next to another gangster rapper and will go, ‘look look, he’s still a gangster.’ I can tell you that he’s not.

Codine: He has grown up and realized, ‘I need to send another message out there,’ and he chose Rastafari as well as Reggae music. They inspired him.

Q. But there are some who say there is a financial incentive to what Snoop is doing, in part because he’s trying to sell a new album.

Andy: If Snoop wanted to make money on his new album, he would just do a straight gangster record, because that’s what people know him for. He’d sing songs about girls, drugs, guns and be making lots of money. This is a risk for him; he didn’t do this as a safe bet to exploit people. He’s doing this because he wants to be positive. When you see the movie and when people see how sincere he is when he talks about it, you’ll see it.

Side Notes: There are in talks to bring the Reincarnated film to Jamaica for a screening in the near future, though details have yet to be finalized.

Luciano blasts young musicians for making degrading content

Luciano has long been an outspoken member of the Reggae community as he hopes Jamaica’s founding genre will return to its former glories.

by Jodee Brown

The self-professed ‘Messenger of Reggae,’Luciano has a big issue with the current state of Jamaican music, taking aim at younger artistes for what he calls the demise of positive lyrical content within Reggae/Dancehall music.

Speaking with Bermudan newspaper, The Royal Gazette earlier this week, the veteran singer chastised emerging acts for pushing messages of degradation to the public, disrespecting women and their culture in the process.

“These youth nowadays would sing any garbage. They don’t weigh their words and that’s not right,” Luciano said. “When yuh listen to Dennis Brown and Bob Marley, yuh don’t hear these great pioneers cursing and demoralizing women.”

He says this is only part of the ongoing downfall with Jamaican society, proclaiming there is a precipitous decline in morality and standards.

“I can remember watching the movies of yesterday where you could sit and watch with your children because there was no swearing…these movies nowadays have a lot of swear words and it’s disgusting and demoralizing.” he said. “It’s not right because it’s breaking down the moral standard of our community and family. The very fabric of humanity is at threat right now and it’s the same with the music.”

There is hope for Reggae music’s future given the emergence of new artistes such asChronixx and Hempress Sativa while more established young acts like Romain Virgo, Christopher Martin took flight in 2012.

As a result, Luciano remains hopeful that a brighter tomorrow looms for the local music industry.

“There are many great youths so there’s hope and never give up hope,” he said. “What you see happening here is like a little freak storm that will soon pass away.”

Meanwhile, the singer, known for classics like Sweep Over My Soul and It’s Me Again Jah will be releasing his 20th album, Deliverance later this year. The album will be unveiled via the U.K.-based Mad Professor label.

“I sing on some of the foundation rhythms and pay homage and respect to some of the great pioneers that have paved the way for I and I.” he said. “I have a ministry with the music and that’s what we are about. I love what I’m doing and have really grown into this position that I have and I give thanks because when I was younger I never knew which direction to take.”