Vybz Kartel Swears Off Skin Bleaching: ‘Never Again’

Vybz Kartel refuses to skin bleach again.

The dancehall icon, who was released from prison in July 2024 after spending thirteen years behind bars, visited Hot 97 on Wednesday (April 9). Vybz openly embraced skin bleaching and even had a skin lightening brand but told the Hot 97 crew around the 9:45-minute mark below that he's embraced a "fully melanated" lifestyle.

"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 me that," Vybz explained. "My mind was telling me, ‘I am doing this to show my tattoos.' I've got a lot of tattoos."

He continued, "But looking back, it was just as a Black man, sometimes we have those issues but I would never bleach again though."

When asked to expand on "issues" that some Black people have regarding their features, Vybz pointed at Eurocentrism. "That Euroentric look...Black people have always wanted to look like that," he said. "I guess it has to do with slavery."

According to HotNewHipHop, Vybz shared similar thoughts in now-deleted Instagram posts in 2022, where he defended his skin bleaching. "99.99% of Black Women (1)cream their hair or (2)wear 'caucasian' wigs," he ranted at the time.