Kartel Initially Wanted to Be a Singer: “I Always Wanted to Be a Singer, But I Was Terrible at It”: Interview

Vybz Kartel made a name for himself in Dancehall as one of the genre’s top deejays, but he initially wanted to be a singer.

While recently in the Bahamas, Kartel shared that he switched to deejaying because he wasn’t good at singing.

“I always wanted to be a singer, but I was terrible at it… I really wanted to be like a singer, singer, but I was terrible at it, so I just took lyricism more seriously as a young artiste. Then we formed our group, and I became one of the deejays in the group, but I’ve always loved singing,” Kartel said.

He went on to share that before becoming a solo artiste, Vybz Kartel was initially the name of his group. According to the Fever deejay, the name was inspired by a documentary about Colombian drug cartels.

“… I just liked the name cartel, so I added the Vybz to it because instead of distributing drugs, we distribute di vibes. And initially, it was three of us, so that’s why the cartel is on it,” Kartel said.

He explained that eventually, the other members moved on, but he kept the name for his stage name. During his interview on The Rundown, Kartel also talked on his musical influences as a young artiste.

He said that listening to diverse music, such as Reggae, Hip Hop, and Country, taught him how to express himself through his own music. Acknowledging the legendary artistes that came before him, Kartel said that Buju Banton is his favourite deejay and shared that Tupac Shakur is his favourite rapper of all time.

Watch Watch Kartel’s interview below.