VYBZ KARTEL RULES THE YOUTH VIEW AWARDS (YVAs) WITH MULTI-WINS!

 (From left) Entertainers Tifa, Spice and Denyque share lens.—

EVEN from behind bars, Vybz Kartel is hailed by many as dancehall’s finest artist. On Saturday, the incarcerated entertainer validated those plaudits by copping four awards at the Youth View Awards.

His sons, Little Addi and Little Vybz, took home the awards for their father, much to the delight of the audience. The National Indoor Sports Centre erupted when the deejay won his first award for Favorite Male Local Artist of The Year. The screams were followed by chants of ‘Free World Boss’, in reference to the artist. Kartel

also won Favorite Dancehall Artist of the Year, Favorite Local Chart-topping Song, and Hottest Summer Song.

Vybz Kartel

Kartel was sentenced to 35 years in prison last April for the August 2011 murder of Clive ‘Lizard’ Williams.

Roots singer Chronixx and deejay Tifa won three and two awards, respectively. Chronixx and Protoje won Favorite Musical Collaboration for the single,

Who Knows.

Chronixx

The ‘Spurilina’ artist also walked away with awards for Celebrity Role Model and Favorite Cultural Artiste of the Year.

Tifa was voted Female Fashion Icon of The Year and Young, Hot and Hype Female of the year.

Also receiving awards were Kranium, Stone Love sound system, Konshens, Ding Dong, Shady Squad, Spice, Mavado, Kalado, Entertainment Report, Kevin Downswell, Alkaline, Rvssian, Bambino, Miss Kitty, and RD Studios.

There were entertaining performances from Tarrus Riley, Ding Dong, Chi Chi Ching, The YVA Nation, Jesse Royal, and Ikaya.

There was mixed reaction to Kranium’s performance.

When the singer did his hit song Lifestyle, the audience sang along. However, a section of the crowd got quiet when he performed the explicit Nobody Has to Know, accompanied by raunchy dancers.

–By Simone Morgan