Social commentary. Many of us have grown up loving the sultry sounds and clever lyrics of Dancehall from the late 70s and 80s. Artistes such as Yellowman, Cocoa Tea, Wayne Smith, Shabba Ranks, Buju Banton and many others ruled the roost in this genre and were respected for their creativity, smooth rhythms and showmanship.
Today Dancehall has fallen to unspeakable depths with the lyrics embracing some of the most vulgar thoughts and suggestions, leaving nothing to the imagination. Objectification of women seem the order of the day with frequent and morbid references to the Prince of Darkness. Whatever happened to playing and singing music out of love…out of a yearning to tell a story, share an idea or pass on an empowering message?
Tommy Lee Sparta. Photo courtesy www.hulkshare.com
It would seem the overwhelming interest today is to outdo the other Dancehall artiste with the nastiest most vile messages to gain cheap popularity among sex crazed audiences with an insatiable appetite for loud, demeaning and lewd lyrics that provoke sexual fantasy and eroticism. Our unsuspecting youth are vulnerable to the melodic sounds and hopelessly sucked in to the lyrics that over time characterize their behaviour.
How can the responsible parents among us tolerate this…how can we just stand by and allow these vile artistes bent on self destruction to influence our children with impunity? We must act and act now! See video below on where Dancehall has come…or rather, fallen! To view video trailer of CaribDirect’s latest media event click here.
