New ‘Worl Boss’ Podcast Series Promises An Unflinching Look at Vybz Kartel’s Life & Career: ‘Nothing Is Shied Away From’ 

Worl Boss is finally free — and now the Jamaican musical and cultural icon is getting the podcast treatment.

Worl Boss: The Vybz Kartel Story, an eight-part podcast series from SALT, Big Wave More Fire and Gulfstream Studios, is set to debut on Dec. 16, 2024. Created by Tahir Garcia and Sam Griesemer and executive produced by Nick Panama and Max Musina, the audio series will explore the life, career and influence of the dancehall icon.

“There’s so many incredible stories that exist within dancehall and reggae music and the culture here in Jamaica, and so many of them don’t get shared with the public. The only time you hear these stories is if you’re lucky,” Garcia, who also narrates the series, tells Billboard. “We took a step back, two or three years ago, and decided that we wanted this space to be able to tell the story properly. Obviously, podcasting has become this huge thing. But one thing that’s missing, especially in Jamaican culture, is this concept of [podcasts] being scripted. There’s so much more that can be brought to it with sound design and actually sitting down and editing interviews to tell the narrative in a way that captures everything and really preserved the essence of [Vybz Kartel’s] story.”

The new podcast series is told entirely by Jamaican voices and will exclusively feature interviews with important figures within Kartel’s circle, including the first female member of Kartel’s Portmore Empire crew Lisa Hyper, Kartel’s former DJ Creep Chromatic and famed musician Wayne Marshall. These key players will also be joined by Winford Williams — host of On Stage TV, the longest-runnning dancehall interview series — as well as essayist Carolyn Cooper, author and professor Donna Hope, and Milk and Jay Will, two important collaborators on Teacha’s Pet, Kartel’s reality show.

Earlier this summer (July 31), just over a week before Jamaica’s Independence Day (Aug. 6), Kartel regained his freedom after the Court of Appeal unanimously ruled that he and his co-accused — Shawn Campbell, Kahira Jones and Andre St. John — will not face a new trial for the 2011 murder of Clive “Lizard” Williams. Although he was originally sentenced to 35 years in prison after a historic 64-day trial back in 2014, Kartel (and his co-accused) have always denied their involvement in Williams’ death.

“We have a lot of assets and we spoke to people at the source, including his camp, people in and around his orbit, fans and musicians. We did a pretty extensive job covering all the bases,” says Panama. “We have a lot of voices that are going to be represented and using that as a way to help breakthrough and create the world around the story is part of how we’ll successfully bring this to market. We’ve got some really great partners in the audio space that we’ll be announcing soon, and I think they’ll help amplify this project even more.”

Known for hits such as “Fever” and his Spice-assisted “Romping Shop,” Vybz Kartel’s raunchy music and slick wordplay have soundtracked multiple generations of dancehall listeners, and Garcia promises the new series will be for everyone: from first-time listeners to lifelong fans. “If this is your first introduction [to Vybz Kartel], it’s supposed to be just as impactful as it would be to someone who’s listened to him forever.”

In addition to his music and efforts to support Jamaica, Kartel’s legal woes have also become a major part of his legacy — one that Worl Boss does not shy away from. “Everything gets addressed and talked about. We just don’t dwell on that. It’s a part of the journey, but it doesn’t define the character,” explains Garcia, who also tells Billboard that, “the hardest part was getting people who are close to [Kartel] to speak freely — especially while he was still incarcerated — because nobody wanted to do anything that could potentially incriminate [him or themselves]. Everyone was very, very cautious about agreeing to do it, and what put them at ease was us not focusing on the mess.”

Although there are currently no additional details about the podcast’s distribution, Panama stresses that the podcast series is just one part of the story they hope to tell. “The second [part] is a documentary series and feature film that are in development with arguably one of the biggest Jamaican directors, and UTA’s representing the project,” he reveals. “That will probably be more of a late 2024 thing, but the reason we did those together is because the story is so dynamic. Dancehall is such a small genre from a small country that has an enormously outsized impact globally. To have a revered yet controversial figure at the heart of that with Vybz [Kartel] is such a fascinating character and cultural study.”

Since his release, Kartel has remained outside partying and enjoying his freedom ahead of a massive “Freedom Street” concert at the National Stadium in Kingston, Jamaica, on Dec. 31 — his first performance in 13 years. Production and filming for Worl Boss began before Kartel regain his freedom, but now “there’s a third act to his story,” Panama muses. “He wasted no time walking out of prison and getting his entrepreneurial and music endeavors back up and running and continuing to build his mythology.”

From February’s box office-topping Bob Marley: One Love biopic to Worl Boss, Jamaica has remained at the forefront of global popular culture throughout 2024. For his part, Garcia hopes this new podcast series is the beginning of several projects chronicling and preserving Caribbean culture and music history. “That’s one of the things we spoke about very early on in this process, what does the next step within this space look like?” he says. “Once [Worl Boss] starts rolling out, hopefully it reshapes what people think is possible, and that’s going to be even more exciting.”