“ This music stuff — what people say about me good or bad — I don’t take it personally. It’s business.”

During a concert in Miami, DJ Nuffy introduced the dancehall reggae artist Vybz Kartel. But Mr. Kartel wasn’t in the park. He was more than 800 kilometers away in Jamaica, because he had been denied a visa.

“And now for your feature presentation, the biggest thing in Jamaica,” DJ Nuffy roared, adding “him look like Michael Jackson.” The sly remark - referring both to the artist’s celebrity in the Caribbean diaspora and to his controversial practice of lightening his skin - drew laughter and mischievous cheers from the crowd . “Let’s welcome via satellite, live to you, Vybz. Vybz. Vybz.”

The crowd shouted “Kartel” in unison as his image filled the screen.

“Yo, Miami, you know what time now?” Mr. Kartel asked as the beat for his “Touch a Button ” started to play. Before long, the audience was spellbound.

Over the last few years Vybz Kartel (pronounced Vibes Cartel) has become the most talked about figure in dancehall, a genre that is to the roots reggae of Bob Marley as hip-hop is to rhythm and blues. More than any of his predecessors or his peers, Mr. Kartel understands that he is not just entertaining an audience but managing a global brand.

At a time when major-label interest in the genre is low, and most dancehall artists release a smattering of singles, he released a full album, “Kingston Story” on the Brooklyn digital label Mixpak Records. Although there will be no campaign to publicize the work, Mr. Kartel, 35, is highly skilled at creating controversy and leveraging the media exposure into new opportunities.

“Kartel has remixed the notion of what it means to be a dancehall star,” said the Jamaican novelist and essayist Colin Channer. “He’s a pop artist in the sense of somebody like Madonna or Lady Gaga, who are aware of how transforming their image makes them attractive to different segments of the public.”

When asked how he maintains his international notoriety while rarely leaving Jamaica, Mr. Kartel laughed and said, with his usual braggadocio, “We work with what we have, and we make miracles like Jesus.”

Mr. Kartel (born Adidja Palmer) is constantly making headlines with his X-rated lyrics, his leaked sex tapes, his well-documented arrests and for lightening his complexion in a culture with a long tradition of black pride.

“This music stuff - what people say about me good or bad - I don’t take it personally,” Mr. Kartel said later. “It’s business.”

Dre Skull, the producer of “Kingston Story,” said, “Kartel must have written three or four thousand songs, if you add it all up. The man is a master of his craft.”

Mr. Kartel recently announced that he would no longer record songs with violent lyrics in favor of “more cultural” fare but added that explicit sex remained fair game.

There is no doubt that Mr. Kar tel exerts a powerful influence over his listeners. His 2010 hit “Clarks ” about the British shoe brand - long a staple among dancehall fashionistas - received worldwide airplay, sparking a rush on Clarks retailers in Jamaica and elsewhere. In June the company announced a 19 percent increase in sales in the United States last year, pushing profits past ￡100 million (about $164 million) for the first time in its 186-year history.

“Those Clarks people, they are like me, they know how to capitalize on what’s happening,” Mr. Kartel said. “That’s why I decided to come with my own shoe line. ‘Cause I got a knack for making things move off the shelf.” Although his rum and condom lines have been discontinued, he said he’s developing new beverage and clothing brands.

Mr. Channer likens Mr. Kartel to Anansi, a character of Afro-Caribbean folklore. “Many cultures have a trickster figure . The trickster finds a way to get something when there seems to be nothing.”

Throughout the controversies, Mr. Kartel seems to be enjoying a laugh as well as a profit. “It’s fun for me to watch people hate me, and it’s flattering to watch people love me,” he said. “But 10 years from now the public is going to love somebody else. Vybz Kartel is going to become irrelevant, and I can accept that. That’s why a lot of artists are bitter, ‘cause
they can’t accept that. Get over it. Stop trying to be Kartel. You can’t. It’s all about making that money while I’m in the limelight.”


By ROB KENNER