Kartel

Artistes are now fuming following a Blackberry broadcast message sent out by deejay Vybz Kartel yesterday where he called the names of artistes who he believed also wore hair extensions.

After he had tongues wagging with his new hairstyle and later attempted to convince the public that it was his real hair, deejay Vybz Kartel yesterday sent out a BlackBerry broadcast message which now contradicts his original statement about his shoulder-length braids.

In the broadcast message, the artiste suggested that the recent negative talks about his new hairstyle stem from the 'badmind' of his success as a musician. He also alluded that he is being unfairly targeted as other artistes have worn extensions and they have not come under the scrutiny that he has been subjected to.

The broadcast message read: 'First off I'd like to say that all the fuss about my hair, as with every other thing that I do has nothing to do with anything except plain old badmind. Because when I was involved in the Ninja Man incident a few years ago, I had in extensions then, why didn't the hullabaloo commence then? Because I wasn't on top so the hating wasn't necessary. When I did "Never Love Another Girl" video in 2005, my hair was permed, why didn't the inquisition commence? Because I wasn't on top so the hating wasn't necessary ... What I'm saying is that when you're on top, people find all kinds of faults and flaws to point out in their quest to tear you down but guess what, I couldn't care less what people say or think about Kartel ... P.S. Mavado, Elephant Man, Machel Montano (whose hair is done by the same girl who did mine) T.O.K. etc have all had extensions put in. Talk bout that."

broadcast message

T.O.K. members, however, have not taken too kindly to Kartel's allusions and Bay-C has since sent out a Blackberry broadcast message of his own. It read: 'To all who seem to be confused, T.O.K. has never worn extensions. To each his own, it's not for me to judge. Having said that, make it clear ... mi a Rasta! Lion of the tribe of Judah! Don't confuse the mane of a lion with the tail of a horse! Bombrush dem!'

Although the broadcast message received by The WEEKEND STAR made no reference to I-Octane, an email from the artiste's manager, Ray Alexander, showed him to be included among the above-mentioned names.

I-Octane's camp also issued a release last night in direct response to Kartel's broadcast message.

"I can't control what another artiste chooses to say," said I-Octane in a release sent to The WEEKEND STAR. "But I've been growing my locks for several years now and the people at Jus Natural in Portmore can vouch for that."

He went on to say that he won't allow anyone to shift his focus from music and he won't spend time thinking or even talking about this issue.

The photographs of Vybz Kartel's hairstyle - a headshot of him in an orange shirt and another in which he suggestively poses on a bed in yellow and blue gear - have also managed to set off a frenzy of comments on popular overseas-based website mediatakeout.com. Several of the comments were riddled with expletives and expressed the disgust of the viewers with his skin bleaching practices with some even making daring suggestions about the Portmore Empire boss' sexuality.

Hasani Walters, STAR Writer