Modify the message of dub music for the sake of our youths

Nov 23, 2009 Letters

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Dear Editor,
Music is one of the most common and often times, a misused media, through which messages are easily transferred from person to person. It may be used as a form of relaxation, expressing thoughts, whether negative or positive, or promoting an idea.
Today, music is playing a greater role in our lifestyles and culture, as persons, especially the youths, adopt their selves to the lyrical content of music, in particular dub music.
Dub, eventually, became a style in its own rights since it was the first type of Jamaican music, whose creative styles were based on records that already exists. It also ushered in a new era where the sound system became a very important factor in Jamaican music production.
As we seek to compare dub music of yesteryear to dub music of today, we’ll find that not only have the artistes changed, but the lyrical content in their music as well. Though musicians and other personnel in our local music industry have unanimously agreed that the youths are the main victims since they seek to identify themselves with the music, the public and the promoters are not doing enough in controlling what is being played on our air waves.
An example, showing the need for us to encourage artistes to modify the lyrical content in their music, could be viewed in the article, “Study finds Vybz Kartel tunes to be a bad influence on teenagers,” where the writer quotes Marcia Forbes, communication specialist and former permanent secretary in the Ministry of Energy and Mining in Jamaica, as saying, “One girl was delighted with herself because she met Kartel’s standard by having a tight ‘pum pum’ and not one that ‘placka like mud’, as he disparagingly described vaginas with lax walls/ insufficient muscle tone”.
The girl used Kartel’s lyrics to validate herself and her sexuality. She said that, “one boy explained that the dee jay’s ‘Tek Buddy’ song of some years ago was good because it gave power to men. To this boy, the song showed that men were taking back power from women who were usurping men’s roles,” Forbes said, reiterating that “teenagers really listen to Kartel”.
Even though the study was done in Jamaica, both Guyana and Jamaica share cultural similarities, so it wouldn’t be inappropriate to use that same study to identity with Guyana’s youths as young girls and boys continue to plague the bus parks after school hours, some of them waiting for hours to get into the bus with the loudest sound system and lewd lyrics, as this is considered being “in the crowd”.
Not all contemporary dub music is negative but it is the songs with the negative messages that most youths tend to gravitate towards than the cultural side of dub music, which tends to be more positive, and so, teenagers have adopted a new ‘moral code’ of how they relate with each other and the larger society.
But is it the youths to be blamed, when they are simply modeling what is being portrayed in front of them?
Entertainment shows, both on radio and television, play a significant role in publicizing such songs as privately sponsored shows with their own agendas and target audience in mind, look to promote a certain artiste or artistes for the lyrical content in their songs.
Jamaica is known for their music and their artistes, if not all of them, the majority is known the world over, and so it may be in the best interest for our promoters to sponsor shows, in which the main event would feature a foreign artiste, in this case, a Jamaican artiste, without, taking adequately into consideration the messages that are being expressed in most of their lyrics.
Youths are now identifying themselves as either being “Gully or Gaza” because Movado and Vybz Kartel, respectively, have taken this identity. And so, our local artistes are left behind in the dark because their lyrics “are not what the people want”.
It can be observed that several of our local artistes and even deejays, are adopting the Jamaican lifestyles in their speech, dress and even music and the artistes who are promoting the positive vibes are finding it rather difficult for recognition by their own. Even though other local artistes are sending a positive vibe, the local public is quick to make their criticisms whilst foreign artistes may make the same mistakes but instead of being criticised, they are overlooked.
In conclusion, even though the majority of the public may be foreign minded, the consequences for the lyrics they sing can have a long term effect, as children eventually grow up to be adults and later having a family of their own, will pass down the same messages that they have learnt, and so the cycle continues to spin.
But for those who are already caught up with the “in crowd”, it becomes harder for them to assess themselves and the environment because there are not too many persons who stand out against such lyrics, for them to model themselves after.
Our entertainment shows, both on radio and television, should be more consciously aware of the music they are playing since their target audience may not include the youths, the youths are listening.
Lisa Edwards

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