Vybz Kartel says he’s living in Florida; avoiding areas of Jamaica he once frequented
KINGSTON, Jamaica — Jamaica’s dancehall superstar, Vybz Kartel, has stated that he’s now living in Florida in the United States.
He made the disclosure during an appearance on The Breakfast Club with hosts Charlamagne Tha God and DJ Envy Friday morning during a stop in New York.
“Of course not,” Kartel replied when asked by Charlamagne Tha God if Jamaica was a safe space for him.
“I live here [in the United States], I live in Florida,” he added when asked if he was living in Jamaica primarily.
When pushed on whether it was the Jamaican Government or the people who made him feel uneasy about staying in Jamaica, Kartel said “no”.
“I spent 13 years in prison, like seriously, that’s not a joke. I need to go out now and I’m working. Florida is good because it’s a hub, you can go to New York, you can go across the Atlantic, England, go west, you’re in LA. It’s a nice place to be geographically, where we can just move,” he said.
Kartel, real name Adidja Palmer, said he is not going back to those areas in Jamaica that he once frequented.
“I am just staying out of trouble. I don’t want to be in nothing negative, never. So we stay away from that,” he remarked.
Kartel was freed from prison on July 31 last year after 13 years behind bars for the murder of his friend Clive “Lizard” Williams.
His conviction was overturned by the United Kingdom Privy Council which cited misconduct on the part of the jury. That decision was upheld by Jamaica’s Court of Appeal.