Vybz Kartel did not leave prison with a neat explanation for the 13 years he had just lived through. Some of that came later, after he had time to settle back into ordinary life and start recording again.
The Jamaican dancehall star connects that period directly to God & Time, his 14-track album released June 5. Speaking with PEOPLE after his Reggaeland UK appearance, Kartel described faith, maturity and a different view of his own past as part of the record.
The album arrived less than two years after Kartel, whose real name is Adidja Palmer, regained his freedom. The Privy Council quashed his murder conviction in March 2024, and Jamaica’s Court of Appeal ruled on July 31, 2024, that he and his co-defendants would not face a retrial.
Kartel still filled God & Time with dancehall records and major collaborations. But songs including the title track and “Watch Over Me” gave him somewhere to put the thoughts he says he was not ready to organize immediately after prison.
He Said the Thoughts Took Months to Come Together
Kartel described the first months after prison as less tidy than a victory-lap album might suggest. In a July Reggaeville interview, he said he had not yet “fully gathered” his thoughts and called the experience traumatic.
He gave himself time to reconnect with life outside before recording in Miami. The goal was not to retell every year in prison in order. Kartel said he wanted listeners to hear the mindset he had carried through incarceration.
The album title comes from a Jamaican expression tied to patience and divine timing. For Kartel, it fit a record built around faith, waiting and the long stretch before his release.
Faith Is Now Part of His Daily Routine
Religion had already become more prominent in Kartel’s life before God & Time. In an earlier GRAMMY.com interview, he said he began reading the Bible while incarcerated and gradually started praying regularly.
That routine has continued outside prison. Kartel told PEOPLE that he prays whenever the thought comes to him and described gratitude as the reason behind that habit.
The record does not abandon the other sides of his catalog. “Stay For The Night” features Wizkid, Spice appears on “Confessions,” Shenseea joins “Panic,” Skillibeng is on “Try Again,” and Mavado appears on “Hype Life.” Kartel and longtime collaborator TJ Records produced the project.
Some of His Older Lyrics No Longer Fit
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Kartel also told PEOPLE that prison changed what the Vybz Kartel character represents to him. Some older songs contain violent or “gangster” lyrics that he no longer enjoys performing, even though they remain part of his catalog.
He tied that change to maturity rather than regret for the entire past. His view now is that the music has to move as life moves, and there are older lines he would not perform because they do not match where he is today.
One older collaboration he still enjoys is “Romping Shop,” his 2009 record with Spice. Kartel singled it out while discussing his Reggaeland set, years before the two reunited on “Confessions.”
Graves’ Disease Has Not Taken Him Offstage
Kartel has also been managing Graves’ disease, an autoimmune thyroid condition that became part of the legal discussion before his release. He told PEOPLE that the condition has not kept him from sustaining long performances and joked that his team had to convince him to leave the Reggaeland stage.
Retirement does not appear to be close. Kartel said he intends to keep making music and developing younger artists, while his live schedule continues around the new album.
He is scheduled to perform with Mavado at London’s O2 Arena on September 9, followed by Freedom Street Europe in Malta later that week. Kartel is also listed for the Vybz Island Experience in the Bahamas in April 2027.