A Pimper’s Paradise: Pimping Guyanese tragedies

Nov 22, 2020 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

Kaieteur News – The Guardian newspaper of the UK last week ranked the 30 best songs of Bob Marley. Music is culture and unless you have a class background in the culture you were born into, you will hardly agree with the expert’s review of music and literature.
The most shocking review of the best songs in pop culture that you will encounter is from the Rolling Stone magazine. It ranked the top 500 pop songs in history and on reading it, you have to and must conclude that the reviewer was either drunk when he did his compilation or is a cultural bigot.
A majority of the songs are from White rock groups with the Beatles and Rolling Stones garnering about 30 songs between them. Some silly hard rock tunes that prisoners would gladly choose solitary confinement than listening to fifteen minutes of such songs are in the compilation. ABBA has one entry. I think only one of Burt Bacharach’s hits was recognized, surely calling into question the editor’s competence to have such a list published. Bob Marley has two. Black America is insultingly under-mentioned.
In the Guardian’s assessment of Marley’s genius, there are some odd selections. Number one is, “No woman, No Cry,” which rightfully belongs at the top. I would put “Redemption Song” at spot 2 but that was given allotment 4. Much to my surprise, two of Marley’s superb social/philosophical/political compositions were not given recognition – “Rat Race” and “A Pimper’s Paradise.” When I listen to “A Pimper’s Paradise,” I always recall what a psychologically twisted society Guyana is.
This is a country overflowing with shameless people who are pimping the depressing tragedies of this land thus Marley’s tune is compellingly relevant. You want to see a pimper’s paradise in Guyana, just do a little bit of research on the destruction and disaster that faced Guyana during five months of election rigging. There will be some famous names missing. It is doubtful that Guyana could have survived the world’s acceptance of the March 5 rigged election in this country. It is doubtful that CARICOM as an integration process could have survived if some parts of CARICOM accepted the fraud and some sections denounced it.
The death of Guyana and CARICOM were real possibilities had the rigging succeeded. Because of this colossal trauma, it was natural to expect the open embrace of the rule of law, free and fair elections and civilized politics by a majority of organizations in Guyana. It didn’t happen. Then after the pantomime came to an end, Guyana saw a pimper’s paradise.
About 50 Guyanese organizations that suffered psychologically driven silence during five months of electoral illegalities and political immoralities emerged from the coffin of hypocrisy. They began to express concern about the survival of the Caribbean with the announcement that Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, will visit Guyana.
Another organization right here that lived in obscurity for years suddenly came to life after two young cousins were murdered in what appeared on the surface to be a racially motivated crime but subsequent events called into question whether it wasn’t drug-related. Sections of the independent media were silly enough to accept the pimping of this Guyanese tragedy by this hypocritical organization.
Some of the organizations that publicly voiced condemnation of Pompeo’s visit also chimed in. Two deaths were more important than the death of the entire country. Since the electoral fraud was thwarted by the courts, and Dr. Irfaan Ali was sworn in as president, the pimping process is on full display. Here are the lyrics of Marley’s interesting song.
“…She loves to party, have a good time
She looks so hearty, feeling fine
She loves to smoke, sometime shiftin’ coke
She’ll be laughin’ when there ain’t no joke
A pimper’s paradise, that’s all she was now
A pimper’s paradise, that’s all she was
A pimper’s paradise, that’s all she was now
Pimper’s paradise, that’s all she was
Every need got an ego to feed
Every need got an ego to feed
She loves to model up in the latest fashion
She’s in the scramble and she moves with passion
She’s getting high trying to fly the sky
Now she is bluesing when there ain’t no blues
A pimper’s paradise, that’s all she was now
A pimper’s paradise, that’s all she was
A pimper’s paradise, that’s all she was now
A pimper’s paradise, that’s all she was
A pimper’s paradise, I’m sorry for the victim now
Oh, now soon their heads, soon their heads
Soon their very heads will bow
Don’t lose track, don’t lose track of yourself, oh no
Don’t be just a stock, a stock on the shelf
Stock on the shelf
A pimper’s paradise that’s all she was now…”