Crime and dancehall music
In recent times, crimes have been on the rise and let’s just say dancehall music has not been making it any better. Jamaicans want crime and violence to stop, yet the next minute it is popularised and glamourized in dancehall songs. Dancehall music nowadays is strictly about guns, money and girls. Taking a closer look at the artistes who sing these songs we know why. These artistes originate from rural or inner cities or what one would call ‘ghetto areas.’
These artistes sing about what they know, experience and grow up in. Jamaica is paying more attention to violent music, now more than ever. In an interview with an upcoming artiste, namely Jahshii, who is from Grants Pen, Kingston, a known inner-city area says “me sing what me grow and see”. From his songs “Organized Crime” and “Gunman What You Plan To Do” it can clearly be seen that these songs promote criminality.
Jahshii is of the view that he cannot stop crime and neither can the police. “Police are corrupted and corruption cause crime… human beings are corrupted”, says Jahshii. He believes that whenever he is trouble he will only turn to the police for protection. Police officers are the ones with connections. Additionally, Jahshii says he will not hesitate to kill his friend if his friend threatens to kill him. From statements like these you can tell that Jahshii was involved in a gun lifestyle or is still involved.
On to a more popularised song called “Gunman Shift” sung by Skeng, another inner-city artiste. The song describes, in detail, the process of a criminal act where he goes on a mission to kill someone. Gunman Shift has been making its rounds on social media in the form of challenging people to learn the lyrics to sing it just as fast as the artiste.
Javon Smith, 24-years-old, who lives in the urban area of Kingston, thinks ‘all these songs about guns and violence are bad influence on the youth.’ ‘They will sing about wanting a change and wanting peace but in another song they encourage badness”, said Smith. Smith thinks all of this is stemming from Vybz Kartel and all the gun lyrics and artistes that followed him.
Smith further stated the younger artistes are the ones under the influence of Vybz Kartel or other artistes like Alkaline and Popcaan that have been in the industry for some time. “There are artistes who sing conscious music like Nation Boss and Yaksta”, said Smith. He believes with crime dancehall songs there will always be gunmen becoming upcoming artistes singing about guns.
