Riverton City Dump Fire 1

written by owen, published 2012-Feb-20, comment

nukes portmore

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Re: The Shebadarization of Kartel

written by owen, published 2011-May-19, comment

This is a response to The Shebadarization of Kartel by constructedthoughts. I will start addressing some points from his article then I will go off on a mad rant which has nothing to do with his article but more about Jamaica society in general. Anyway here goes;

Whether or not the commenter; Jack Andrews is a Kartel supporter does not make his point any less correct. Elephant man had his hair in a twist from ages ago, even had it "coloured" and it did not bring forth the Armageddon.

Shebada is a highly "respected"-ish and well paid actor that portrays a broad section of Jamaica's culture. Using his stage name in a derogatory manner only highlights your disconnection from that part of Jamaica's culture and likewise the people who he represents.

Pundits tend to draw for the "I'm not very familiar with dancehall but..." card which is fine but only paints a picture of ignorance rather than constructive opinion. Constructive opinion warrants an understanding of the subject matter. If you do not listen Dancehall then what do you listen to, how does Dancehall affect you if you manage to escape it death grip? If your entire argument comes from Dr. Hope’s 2006 book (PDF) then you need to read some more books.

Now your opinion is all well and good, I'm not sure if Kartel's latest attempt to bring forth the Armageddon will work. I thought sorely the bleaching fiasco and the daggering would have most have definately done it. But I guess the will of the Jamaican people is strong enough to resist one man's influence, even if we cannot resist the influence and oppression of our political parties and the "Gangs of Jamaica House".

I have said it before if Kartel has as much influence than you say he has then why don't we use him to stop the murders in our country and help our economy grow to the heights it truly deserves? Why not make him president? Why not him mayor of the Gaza? Of course none of these things will happen because the span of influence that Kartel has is only as much as the Jamaica people will allow him to have. The Jamaican people are not babies, sheep maybe, but not everybody lives on the same farm. We are all sheep, slaves to different masters. Despite what you may think the large majority of Jamaicans listen Dancehall music, sweep the roads early in the mornings and work for minimum wage so that they can buy hot clothes and hair extensions and eye liner and tight jeans. I am not going to look down on anybody because they cannot get a 9 to 5 job at a Jucci Beef. It is no longer acceptable to delegate the poor people of Jamaicans to a lower class of sheep. People who as you would say are "ghetto and loose and sketels". Is being uneducated or without a high school diploma make you any less Jamaican or any less capable of being a active part of Jamaican society?

Internet access and BB service is a luxury - not a birthright. They are many people in Jamaica society who can live well off for a whole week with nothing but the money you waste on these luxuries of the 21st century.

Of course anybody can sit on a high seat and critizise anything - its human nature. At this very moment I am sitting in mine, ranting like a mofo. I am sure some good will come from it, but criticism should come with a goal. Before you speak, know the goals: What problem is the work trying to solve? Is it that you want to rid Jamaica of everybody that wears tight pants? Drives around in 92 Toyota Corollas? Fags and Gays? Batty man? I have yet to understand what the final goal of all the attention that is aimed towards Kartel is suppose to produce. Train your child up it the way you want he/she to grow. Kartel is not a teacher, lol, he has just as much influence on your children and society as you do. But I guess most people would rather point fingers. Maybe Kartel is the problem with Dancehall? Or is Dancehall itself the problem?

Jamaica's motto is "out of many one people", though I'm not sure that still is the case because alongside the ghetto people, the uptown people, the tight pants people, the white people, there lives the passive aggressive people who live only to target the obvious of things without proposing any real solutions to any of the problems Jamaica faces today. OH NO SUICIDES HAVE GONE UP! LETS START A SUICIDE HOTLINE FOR OUR KIDDES. Per adults call in the dam line! Mass serial-love-triangle murder-suicide killings by Policemen. I told my mother that its only in the water in Manchester so she does not have to worry. I'm sure the NWC is looking into the issue. The truth is, the times are getting hard and harder for people and we need to band together and look after our neighbours and MAKE SURE THEY ARE ALRIGHT. And when I say neighbours I mean YOUR LITERAL NEIGHBOURS. Don't leave your yard and go preach to the hedonists in Half-way-tree when you sister is dating a married man or your father is not filing his tax returns while under paying his employees and over charging his customers so that he can afford his expensive S-Class Benz that he drives around by himself everyday. Jamaica is going to hell but not all of us are dammed, the young will rise again and when we look at them we will hate them for their youth. Why? Because a so it go, life is a bitch.

Anyway don't condemn people because they dress a certain way or work in Burger King or are rocking a old school BB 8300, all of us do not have the same opportunities and some of us are just dam lazy, especially the dam big grown ass man dem that wipe car wind-sheilds at intersections - annoying bastards.

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Is Kartel the Bob Marley of our generation?

written by owen, published 2011-Mar-15, comment

Adidja Palmer (born January 7, 1976), better known as Vybz Kartel, is a Jamaican dancehall artist, songwriter and businessman. He is commonly known in Jamaica as both the Teacher and Gaza (the nickname of his home town).

I don't know. There are varying views on this hot topic, I made sure not to read Annie Paul's article before writing my own. Who is to know what the future will bring? Who is to know what future generations will look back at today and say.

Really, in the present economy and the recent interviews and his lecture up at UWI, Kartel is EVERYWHERE in the news. Either he is today's Bob Marley or he is a really crazy devil worshipping Dancehall artist. He has some good points though, people do hate what they do not understand and fear what they cannot conquer.

As I mentioned in my last article Dancehall is about controversy. Controversy in Jamaica drives EVERYTHING. Concious people only talk about concious things and concious events, rarely is topic deemed important if it is not taboo. Maybe it is just human nature.

With the The Manatt Dudus Enquiry soap opera on the tv everyday, this maybe the best time to be controversial because that commission of inquiry is not going anywhere but in the pockets of the lawyers involved. if this is how boring regular court room activities are I pray I do not end up on the witness seat. Dorothy is either a strong black woman or a good liar.

Anyway back on topic.

Is Kartel a roll model for Jamaica's youth? In his view parents should raise their children and not leave it up to Dancehall music. Many a interview have tried to "corner" him into accepting the fact that his is a social leader. The topic of who is a social leader is tricky. Even I don't know who in Jamaica is a social leader - everybody doing them own thing. Pasters carry licensed fire arms, politians rarely live in the constituencies which they represent, Business people drive over expensive cars like drug dealers, Politicans all have dual citizenship in case Jamaica goes to hell they can fly away and send their kids to be educated in America. It all appears to be a bad batch of goat soap and double standards. It is a complex topic. In most cases I would like to believe that everybody is roll model or a social leader but I would not allow my kids (if I had them) to look up to Bruce Golding as a role model or Kartel or any Politian or even Bob Marley but then who? Who do you think is worthy of such a position? And even if there is such a person - what guaranties are there that you child will follow them?

There is no doubt that Kartel is intelligent even more so that I am is certain respects. I doubt I could have survived an interview on certain topics in Jamaica culture - I stay far away from discussing religion because there is no right answer to any questions involving some ones faith and people who try to forward their own personal beliefs are usually self-righteous-bastards.

Conclusion

If I could release some tracks I too would be singing dancehall and making the money and driving the cars that he is driving. Is that not measure of a man? The kinda car you drive? The size of your bank account? The area in which you live? The cellphone you have? The color of your skin? The letters you have behind your name? The texture of your hair? These and many other things are what truly plagues our people as a nation. As they say there are 3 kinda of people in this world: the rich, the poor and the in between.

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy. - Martin Luther King Jr.

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Dancehall, Bleaching and Di Gal Dem

written by owen, published 2011-Feb-15, comment

I was going to leave this topic alone because I thought that it would not last as long as it has. I seem to have lost touch with the gritty underbelly and attention span of the common man. Now as many of my fellow, more serious writers have pointed out, Vybz Kartel is on the scene (again!) and he is eroding the very fabric of Jamaican culture with his Cake Soap. Truth be told "Bleaching" has been around since the beginning of time, since Toots and the Maytals "Monkey Man", and Mr Lexx was singing Monkeys Out. Now “Cool like mi wash mi face wid the cake soap” has become the tag line for what seems to be countless discussions about Proactive, Foundation and the now infamous Cake Soap. It all started with the song: Straight Jeans And Fitted back in the summer of June 2010. I definitely thought the song was going to become exceptionally popular, (I even made it one of my songs of the year) but I could never have guessed how.

Now on to the bleaching topic;

Back in the 90s, bleaching in dancehall music was mostly focused on women since back then the obsession was about being a browning. As I have mentioned before dancehall is a mish-mash of things happening in the country at various point in time. In dancehall there is never one thing going on, it is a constantly changing medium. If it is corrupting our youth is a matter of opinion and more so "perspective", because in this day and age nothing corrupts our youth more than failing high school math and not getting a good job so that the major banks in Jamaica can rape them with service fees. Improving customer service tastes good if you cook it with some butter.

Nothing in dancehall ever stays around too long, (and it never goes away forever) because as a people Jamaicans are dynamic, easily distracted and talented people (well most of us). We love our black women. I heard albums by musicians in America a full 3 years before the record labels decided to release it as a "new" album, such is not the case with dancehall, because it is much harder to stay relevant if all your music is 3 years old. And you have to face it, some people just are not relevant - AT ALL. Rnb I'm looking at you.

As I write I am trying to decide whether I should keep on the topic of bleaching, brownings or general dancehall music because anything that bobbles to the top of dancehall music is more than just "music". It is a means of documentation, a writing on the wall. Dancehall runs the range of social topics such as Crime, Volience, Homophobia, Vanity, Money, Spirituality, Promiscuity, Sexually, Infadelity, Money, The Police, The Government, Dreams and more issues than I can even think up to list or even Ian Boyne can cover in a 5000 word article. Truth be told, most of us would rather avoid anything to do with these issues because they are either too difficult to solve or we do not care as long as they are far from our gully side. Because of the sensitivity and helplessness of these issues what results is controversy. I was was on the bus and a 5 year old was trying to beat me in a staring contest and upon failing proceeded to give me "the finger". I was SHOCKED! I wondered where she learned that - must be the dancehall music.

Dancehall music goes hand in hand with controversy. I would go as far as to say that the best Dancehall music is the most controversial. Of course that last sentence is written purely to invoke thought on the part of the reader because in Jamaica - most people will ignore anything that is not staring them in the face or overcharging them. I have explained to people that at some level, Dancehall is a competition of controversy, you can see it in the dancing, the lyrics, the money, the parties - EVERYTHING. Staying controversial in dancehall is a tricky tight rope to walk. You have the uptown people on one side, the government and the police and the Broadcasting Commission on the other monitoring and regulating the industries, balancing the interests of consumers, the industries and the creative community in implementing public policy and law. It is a tricky game of cat and mouse.

Now what is the point of all this text and links? I am not sure really because people will always have personal bias towards certain things and all the advertisement on television will still have a browning wife, a strong black husband and 2 cute chinese-australian children with curly hair. The path to knowledge, wisdom and understanding is a long, expensive and dangerous road to travel. As I get older things may change or they may stay the same but one thing is for sure: Dancehall and Jamaican Music will always be around and will always be controversial. Naw watch no face. photo source

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January 2011 News Round Up

written by owen, published 2011-Jan-28, comment

Sometimes I read too much into things. I cannot tell if this is a good start to the year or not. (what)

This afternoon I was listening to the news on the radio and it was reported that the most wanted Dog Paw was captured in the presence of 2 females in Red Hills. The females were said to be graduates of a prominent university in Kingston. I guess it just goes to show that (having gone to a University)
university really doesn't teach you any life lessons and that Good Girls will always go for the Bad Boys. So it go.

The Gangs seems to be in turmoil. Lots of innocent people getting killed in the mix. I though(t) all the gunmen died in Tivoli during the Incursion and extradition of Dudus. I guess Dudus may in fact be just another one of the many unnamed gangsters waiting to made a person of interest.

Lawyers (are) charging $30,000 JMD per hour; its no wonder people have to demonstrate for "Justice" all the time. There is really no other way to attain it. Really I think they should block the road more often. Clearly only politicians can afford justice and SUVs to protect them in accidents. That dual citizenship lady must have been a hot girl in high school cause she has friends in high places. Accidents are bad overall and I mean, they are accidents but people keep driving and using their cellphones. If it is a female in the accident people assume she was sleeping, if it was a man then he was speeding on NOS. I guess stereotypes have a purpose. Condolances to all the families, I don't think this year will be under 300 deaths in car accidents.

I am really not going to say anything about Manatt, Phelps & Phillips except that everytime I hear it reference I hear rythme for Straight Jeans and Fitted in the back of my head. There is a live stream that you can watch online - not sure how exciting that would be but somebody will link it in the comments. These people need to have people watching over them at all times, why wait a whole year to investigate shit? They old, they probably done forgot how it went down.

Soon people will start striking for more pay again, even as the minimum wage gets a slight increase. there are bi easy ways to grow the economy, this will not be a come back year.

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