gangster for life

Promoters of the Linden Town Week here in Guyana are looking to bring dancehall artiste Mavado to headline a concert during the celebrations this month end. However there are some individuals who are against Mavado performing here because of his promotion of gun use in his music. They argue that this is not the type of music that should be promoted at this time in a nation still recovering from two massacres in which 23 people were cold bloodedly gunned down.

I totally agree with the above. Here’s a piece of a Mavado gem from Top Shotta Nah Miss:

Dem ah chatta dem ah qwaril
Yo mek mi rise di double barrel
For di christmas dem nuh talk bout nuh sorrel
Gangster nuh qwaril when we shoot we nuh chennel
Gunshot inna you forid
Boy gun dem ah war wid AK mi drive inna mi car wid heartless killers mi parr wid (yeah easy)
Wid mi gun mi ah squeeze
I am not alieyah just believe me…

My bias might have more to do with the fact that there’s a Mavado fan in my office who likes to blast the nonsense early in the morning when I’m now getting my first cup of coffee. The ignorance grates on the sensibilities yuh know…

Then there’s his shooting case before the court. Apparently the fella is trying to live up to his badboy music persona. But the self-proclaimed ‘gangsta fuh life’ was good for a laugh when I heard he got robbed. In Toronto of all places.

I guess there are folks who would say banning him like what St. Vincent did is not the solution, that he couldn’t possibly have an impact on Guyana’s crime situation. I beg to differ. A one night visit might not result in a crime surge but it validates an artiste who’s making millions promoting a gun culture. That we can do without.

I’m no sociologist so I wouldn’t go so far to say Jamaica’s crime situation, among the worst in the world, may have something to do with the ready promotion of a gun culture by some artistes. Music could influence both positive and negative behaviours, don’t need a PhD to know that, but you’ve got to wonder how the land of reggae is affected by this spawn. Here’s what one Jamaican journalist had to say about the issue:

“We prefer the fantasy of pretending that we are still dealing with Marley, while dodging the fact that we are dealing with Mavado, ‘the gangsta for life’ who recommends death to informers who would help us to put away brutal criminals, terrorists and rapists.”

 

Get the full article here. Like Guyanese reggae singer Natural Black said, we need more songs with feelings, more words with positive meanings.

I’m out.