Kenyan dancehall artist thought to be Vybz Kartel after 'Poor People Land' video

Upcoming dancehall artist Stevlims, real name Stephen Omondi, has opened up on his unlikely foray into the world of globally-renowned dancehall superstar Vybz Kartel. Omondi shot a video of Kartel's popular song "Poor People Land" 14 years ago.

When he released the socially conscious song over a decade ago, Kartel, affectionately known as 'Worl' Boss', was battling various legal challenges which culminated in his subsequent incarceration just a year later, sparking global outrage from fans.

That, and several other factors, may have affected Kartel's decision to shoot the music video for 'Poor People Land' prompting a little-known Kenyan to take up the challenge and shoot the video.

"At that time, I was working with GBS TV station," Stevlims says. "I was just idling at the edit suite, listening to this new song and I realised that it didn't have a music video. At that point, I stumbled onto an idea - shoot the song's video and use some of the footage from my news coverage to complete the whole video."

Stevlims says that, even in 2010, Kenya was still grappling with almost all the issues raised by Kartel in his smash hit - police brutality, joblessness, corruption, poor governance and youth angst.

"I asked a friend to shoot me since I couldn't shoot myself and still star in the video. I acted as Kartel and used some of my cut-aways from news projects to patch up the video in accordance to the lyrics," he says.

The father of two, who now is a freelance video producer and cinematographer, says that, at first, he never intended to make money from the video and despite the fact that his video has racked up over 7 million views, he has never made a coin from it.

"I did not monetise the video. I never made a coin from the video despite the millions of views. This is all due to copyright issues since the song is not mine," he says.

"But, thankfully, I managed to grow my YouTube channel and have continued to bring in thousands of subscribers everyday from all around the world."

Despite his videos massive popularity, Stevlims says that he has never received any communication from Vybz Kartel or his team and that, most of the time, he is forced to explain to fans that he's not the real Worl' Boss.

"I have tried reaching out to him but he's never responded. Of course, I'd love to meet him and attend his shows but he's been in jail for all these years so that has not been possible," he says.

"Also, I have been having a very hard time explaining to fans that I'm not the real Kartel. He used to be dark-skinned and then he bleached his skin and most people now think the dark man in the video is actually Kartel but it's really just me..."

Just like millions of fans all around the world, Stevlims also expressed his excitement at Kartel's recent release from jail, confident that the hugely-popular dancehall heavyweight will regain his crown once more.

"I'm sure he has several hits planned for his fans. He is the best dancehall artist ever and he is now ready to reclaim the top spot and remind everyone why he is the best," the super fan says.

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Vybz Kartel Kenya Citizen TV Citizen Digital Stevlims

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