Vybz Kartel Gives First Post-Prison Interview, Talks TikTok and Recording Behind Bars

King of Dancehall Vybz Card was suddenly released from prison last month after 13 years… and as you can imagine, he was in for a culture shock!!!

TMZ Hip Hop caught up with the reggae music legend via Zoom live from his home in Jamaica, where he is currently recovering… on track to make his return on New Year’s Eve to kick off 2025!!!

Vybz tells us he hasn’t really been in the studio since his release from prison on August 1st… he’s been kicking back with his roots drink (🤮) and letting his solidified discography do the talking — and the results have been bangin’. His rep, KD McNair has been constantly busy balancing all the requests.

His social media numbers — TikTok, Instagram, Spotify monthly listeners — are in the millions… which is impressive considering these apps weren’t anything special when he was convicted in 2014, and TikTok didn’t even exist back then!!!

It looks like the Worl’ Boss still has PTSD… Vybz says he’s still hesitant to even use his phone in public to connect with fans for fear of the prison guards he no longer has to worry about. One day at a time, G.

Vybz tells us he wouldn’t wish prison on his worst enemy and was lucky to get out when he did, before his Graves’ disease became uncontrollable.

VK was convicted of murder in Jamaica and sentenced to 35 years, but he tells us that he never gave up the fight and kept appealing, which allowed him solitary confinement and the cunning to record songs from his cell!!!

Artists like Tory Lanez kept up the tradition of releasing music while incarcerated, and Vybz says he had to guerrilla his resources internally… he used mattress foam as a pop filter for his microphone and kept in close contact with his engineers, who were the real MVPs.

They finally learned how to drown out the prison guards’ background chatter after a little practice!!!