Vybz Kartel Gives 1st Post-Prison Interview, Talks TikTok, Recording Behind Bars

Dancehall kingpin Vybz Kartel was suddenly released from prison last month after 13 years ... and just as you can imagine, he was avalanched with tons of culture shock!!!

TMZ Hip Hop caught up with the reggae music legend on Zoom live from his home in Jamaica, where he's currently nursing himself back to health ... en route to making his comeback appearance on New Year's Eve to bring in 2025!!!

Vybz tells us he actually hasn't been in the studio following his prison release on August 1 ... he's been chilling with his roots drink (🤮) and letting his solidified discography do the talking for him -- and the results have been booming. His reps, KD McNair and attorney Isat Buchanan have been steady busy balancing all the requests.

His social media numbers -- TikTok, Instagram, Spotify monthly listeners -- are in the millions ... plenty mind-blowing considering those apps weren't much when he got convicted back in 2014, with TikTok not even a thing back then!!!

It sounds like the Worl' Boss still has PTSD ... Vybz says he's still experiencing hesitancy even using his phone out in the open to connect with the fans in fear of the prison guards he doesn't have to worry about anymore. One day at a time, G.

Vybz tells us he wouldn't wish prison on his worst enemy and was lucky to get out when he did before his Graves Disease condition became unmanageable.

VK was convicted of murder in Jamaica and sentenced to 35 years, but tells us he never gave up the fight and kept appealing, which allowed him solitary confinement and the craftiness to record music from his cell!!!

Artists such as Tory Lanez have been keeping the tradition of releasing music while locked up, and Vybz says he had to guerilla his resources on the inside ... he used foam from the mattress as a pop filter for his microphone and kept in close contact with his engineers who were the real MVP.

They eventually learned how to muffle out the background conversations of the prison guards after a bit of practice!!!