Ebro, who is the main host of the Ebro in the Morning radio show based in New York City, interviewed the World Boss, also globally known as Vybz Kartel, and covered crucial points of Vybz Kartel, his image and his extensive career. During the enlightening conversation, Ebro asked the “Fever” artist if he’d ever reflected on his decision to bleach his skin in the past.
Although Kartel made it crystal-clear that he is “fully melanated” now and that he would “never bleach again,” the musical mogul did state that looking back on his times of skin-bleaching, it did have something to do with his fleeting self-love. At the time, dancehall icon thought he was only lightening his complexion to show his tattoos, but as he had gotten older he realized that the choice to alter the color of his skin derived from self-love.
Ebro: “Have you ever had a chance to look at what you was going through and why you wanted to do that?”
Vybz Kartel: “I mean, in hindsight, it definitely had to do with self-love. But, on the other hand, while I was doing it, my mind wasn’t telling that. My mind was telling me, ‘Oh, I’m doing this to show my tattoos because I got a lot of tattoos’ blah, blah, blah. But, looking back as a Black man, sometimes you have those issues. I would never bleach again though.”
Kartel made the connection that skin-bleaching is one of the many issues that the Black community struggle with such as Black women desiring straighter hair. The “Euro-centric” look is something that Blacks always put on a pedestal, says Kartel.
Vybz Kartel: “We, as Black people, we all have those issues. Even with Black women, their hair. If Laura [co-host of Ebro in the Morning] cut her hair, she could sell it to a Black woman right now. We have that issue. Black people have always wanted to look like that, I guess it has something to do with slavery.”
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