Where are they now? Vybz Kartel and Mavado

Gaza’s Portmore Empire and Gully’s Alliance no longer exist in the way that they did during the height of the Gaza vs. Gully era. However culture still reigns supreme in and both Vybz Kartel and Mavado remain important figures. The escalation and popularity of the feud ended abruptly in January 2010, yet their influence in music, popular culture, business and politics have remained in ways not tied to the popularity of the feud, but within their own personalities, lives, and brands.

In 2014, Mavado overcame a slew of legal troubles to score one of the biggest achievements of his career, inking a deal with DJ Khaled’s We The Best Music Group.

Thanks to a deal between Cash Money Records and We The Best Music, Mavado is now a part of one of the most influential labels in American hip hop. Mavado continues to perform in Jamaica and internationally.

After the end of the feud, Vybz Kartel got embroiled in a skin bleaching controversy and put out his own line of condoms. In March 2013 following a 65-day trial

(the longest in Jamaica’s history) Kartel was sentenced to life in prison for the killing of a known associate. Kartel has since published a bestselling book, The Voice of the Ghetto, and continues to put out new music from behind bars. Following his sentencing, Kartel was placed at the Tower Street Adult Correctional Centre, a facility where the artist Jah

Cure recorded three albums during his imprisonment there in the early 2000s. According to Jesse Serwer at (2014) “Kartel’s conviction and sentencing clearly signal the end of an era for dancehall, a genre that has struggled to retain its international footing in recent years due in large part to the legal issues of, and controversies associated with, top artists like Kartel…It’s impossible to overstate Vybz Kartel’s impact

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