Shawn Storm Says He Wasn’t Offended By ‘#FreeKartel’ Campaign

From Zebra to Ninjaman, Dancehall has seen its fair share of artists hitting the slammer, but the outcry for freedom has never been louder than that for Vybz Kartel. 

The Bail For Me artist had people at home and abroad chanting “free World Boss” for 13 years as he fought his way to an overturned murder conviction and freedom. The phrase became so popular that it evolved into a hashtag, and even a sure way selectors and artists could evoke forwards from patrons at events. 

All the while, a similar campaign for Kartel’s then-co-accused Shawn Storm was non-existent. So much so, that upon their release last month, fans and media were so laser-focused on Kartel exiting Kingston’s Tower Street Adult Correctional Centre, that they paid little mind to Storm, his figurative and literal shadow. 

While his fans have compensated for the oversight by declaring him the most loyal figure in dancehall, Storm says he wasn’t offended by the sole ‘Free Kartel’ movement.

“When people a seh Kartel, indirectly you a seh me, cause if Kartel walk, me haffi walk like weh happen…” he told The Fix this week. “Dem ting deh never get to me… From unno a talk bout Kartel, a me unno a talk bout. Kartel nuh sing inna how much song seh a me a him bredda inna certain way? But people a see it now, more than ever…and me love that.”

Things that do affect him, though, are the psychological remnants of prison life that he’s had to battle as a free man.

“Mi never like hear key a shake,” he revealed as one post-prison trigger. 

He added another, “Mi will deh yah a reason and a man a touch mi, mi will seh, ‘Bredda, nuh touch mi bredda, nuh touch mi’, cause jail, yuh nuh touch man. Yuh have the principle fi seh, ‘Waah gwaan…but yuh nuh (goes to shake hand)…”

The Vybz Party deejay said he explains these triggers to those around him, but can’t help but feel paranoid in public spaces when fans try to touch him. 

“You know, a so it go still,” he dismissed. “It gone still. Mi alright. Approach me but nuh touch me.”

Storm said his mental fortitude amplified while behind bars, explaining that he used the visual testimonies of other inmates to stay focused and sane.

“My time different from some people time because yuh have people go in deh and no come out,” he said. “Yuh have people go in deh, fit and up and the system, like, dwindle you down… Weh me did realise is listen, me just have it seh mi nuh deh yah so enuh.”

“Mi body might deh yah, but mi mind deh a road and mi nah mek dah system yah defeat me and feel like dem can mek mi come like some a dem youth yah and mad out a prison… So my mind was always deh a road pon mi youth and mi old lady and mi cya wait fi go back to dem. Mi just a gwaan kill some time a prison.”