| By: Charles H.E. Campbell |
Sunday, May 13, 2007 |
The recent firing of the bigoted shock-jock Don Imus, and the cancellation of his simulcast radio/tv programme on CBS and MSNBC for his blatantly racist remarks have precipitated another round of public discussion - mostly among black Americans.
On one side, led by people of stature in that community like Oprah Winfrey and Rev Al Sharpton, sections of the public are demanding of the rap industry a review of some of the language used and images promoted in rap music. Specifically, the terms 'niggas', 'hoes' and 'bitches' are particularly offensive to the average black American, yet rap artistes often use these terms to describe one another.
Another issue is the exploitative, explicit exposure and portrayal of women in rap lyrics and videos - as one commentator puts it, "for the first time in the long history of mankind, an entire genre of music promotes the denigration and destruction of dignity and the very race that creates the music".
The discussions sometimes referred to alternatively as the Imus Effect or Factor, depending on the direction of the particular debate, usually have on the opponents' side leaders (read: apologists) of the rap industry like Russell Simmons and Spike Lee (who infamously said, it's alright for black people to call themselves niggas!). Maybe if America didn't presently have a credible black presidential candidate, Imus would still be in his job and a Mormon would be ushered into the White House. At least, however, the discussion is taking place in a civilised atmosphere and even seems to be going somewhere (the empress predicts it will soon blow away like a nine-day wonder).
Instructively, some proponents have suggested the targeted boycott of large corporations who market rap music or use it and its stars to market their products. In the North American marketplace, this could be a very effective strategy, since the business environment is so structured. Somehow though, I do not think it would work in the Jamaican context because our marketplace is skewed towards live performances as opposed to records sales.
In the drive to apply pressure for change, a number of commentaries in the media caught my attention over the last fortnight. Recently, CNN broadcast an exposé of these negative themes and images in rap and dancehall music. The programme concentrated some focus on the predominant promotion of misogyny by dancehall artistes.
From time to time, this issue has been raised by our own public commentators, among others. For example, in a letter to the editor on Wednesday, May 2, David Dacosta writes from Toronto, Ontario, "in the light of the recent Don Imus controversy in America, and hip hop lyrics being blamed for those said remarks, it has reminded me of the steady increase in the use of the dreaded n-word in dancehall music. Over the last five years or so, I have heard some of the biggest names in dancehall incorporate this hate-filled word in their lyrics."
He goes on to decry as outrageous the "notion that blacks can somehow erase the sting of this word's history by using it as a term of endearment", and suggests that "we have no need to copy individuals from other countries especially when what is being imitated is poisonous". Then on Friday, May 4, Basil Walters quoted Minister Aloun Assamba as saying, "one of the areas of challenge to the safety and security of the Jamaican family is to be found within the entertainment fraternity". "I am referring to.the blight and lewd, illicit so-called lyrics that some uncreative miscreants are seeking to pass off as entertainment". "sometimes I feel like we are a voice crying in the wilderness".
This is because, locally, these discussions go nowhere, remaining largely as the minister herself is quoted as saying "as consultation with practitioners in the entertainment sector". Unfortunately, it does not filter down to the average citizen, much less impact the artiste and as to the dancehall fans, they are totally oblivious to the debate.
In an attempt to provoke reflection in her school district of Torrance, California, on the fundamental question "with what is your child living?", in 1959 Dorothy Law Nolte (PhD) composed a poem of allegories called Children Learn What they Live. Although the poem has been fine-tuned over the years, the universal truth to the collection of phrases remains constant. It juxtaposes the ideal with the temporal, as in, "if children live with criticism, they learn to condemn", conversely, "if children live with tolerance, encouragement and praise, they learn to be patient, confident and appreciative".
Another example: "If children live with hostility, fear, pity and jealousy, they learn to fight, to be apprehensive, to feel sorry for themselves and to feel envy." On the other hand, "If they live with acceptance, approval, fairness, kindness and consideration, they learn to love, to like themselves, they learn justice and respect."
Crucially, if children live with security, they learn to have faith in themselves and in those about them. Given then, that education raises one's cultural level, it is not far-fetched to assume that as products of their social environment, the approach of our artistes to these issues are in some part, influenced by poor education and deficient socialisation.
I learnt a profound statistic from Dr Samms-Vaughn speaking on News Talk 93's Breakfast Club.
She stated that a recent survey revealed that by the time they are six years old, 30% of our children living in the inner cities of Kingston and St Andrew had witnessed a death by violent means. This goes a far way in rationalising Mavado's mantra "my father was a gangster in the streets", from the track Dying on the Pitch Point riddim.
In order to be objective, any comprehensive analysis of the evolution of our music and in looking at its social backdrop, must make comparisons with different eras. For instance, ska was highly influenced by jazz phrases and the big band orchestras of the 50s. The level of sophistication attained, however, was due in great part to what was inculcated at Alpha Boys School and Home, which did much more than simply train some musicians. Those nuns also imparted other critical social skills, so much so, that ska and reggae became the driving force behind a social revolution in Jamaica which began in the 1960s and continued through the 1970s.
Today there is now no such parallel institution intensively honing the aptitude and skills of the underprivileged. Now the art form could essentially be termed intuitive art (lacking formal training). For inspiration therefore, there is an overdependence on daily occurrences in their social environment, which nuh pretty.
An even more controversial subconscious, kinetic connection might be that between the continuous firing of guns in the ghetto and the staccato sounds of dancehall. Another is the dancehall norm of playing tracks for less than 30 seconds. Is this a manifestation of concentration-deficiency due to a lack of formal training normally received through years of continuous education? Let's even examine the structure of our lyrics.
Nowadays, deejays and lyricists seem to believe that a well-constructed song is one where every consecutive line rhymes with the one before, (just like nursery rhymes!) even though oftentimes it really doesn't make much sense - words used out of context, etc. A recent repartee between Vybz Kartel and Spragga Benz began with Kartel describing himself as a "p.y pathologist". Spragga's witty retort was "dat mean seh yuh deal wid dead p.y".
Given the above background, the recently announced Cultural Industries Council could be catalytic in the transformation of the entertainment product if it sufficiently lives up to its mandate, especially in the areas of training and product development. The proposed cultural industries labour market survey and development fund are long overdue and sorely needed to better inform public policy and provide reasonable dedicated equity financing to the sector.
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