Whats up with these leading dancehall artists running up on political platforms in Trinidad yet staying away from them completely at home in Jamaica? To my memory, in the recently concluded general elections in Jamaica no popular artists publicly endorsed any of the parties platforms. It seemed to be the thing to do in Trinidad recently though.
First it was Sizzla for the Peoples National Movement (PNM) at their youth rally then Beenie Man for the opposition UNC/A at their general rally.
Hmm. A case of “nobody in Jamaica naw know seh wi a do dis… ah mean.. is jus a food mi a eat” or “political involvement yes… just not in Jamaica”? I don’t get it.
Coming from the father of confusion himself, Beenie Man, its hard to come away any more enlightened based on his statements and actions since at the last Sumfest he thus inveigled the crowd:
“All who bun dutty JLP and dutty PNP put up oonu hand.”
The implication there that neither party is good. He’s since come full circle recently in the midst of his recent tax woes though. This time to utter that his problems at the hands of the Governments tax arm was due to his supposed PNP affiliation.
What’s on the mind of Beenie these days?
Confusing fellow he is. I don’t imagine the Beenie Man fan club membership being @ an all time high right now.
This is all a clear shift from back in the day when pop culture and politics had a much more amorous relationship. Check out this youtube search to see some of the biggest names from 1986 dancehall on a PNP platform. Now contrast that with 20 years later where u get some little known (well, little known prior to this performance anyway) comedJ (comedy-dj) giving jokes.
Yah. Not the same is it? Its still quite funny though.
The question with regards to our political situation is, why has this become so? Is it that the artists are afraid of some supposed public backlash? How do artists really view politics, public face aside? Conversely how do the parties view the potential role of these icons in politics? Could it be that the parties don’t want to be associated with them or see their potential value as being significant enough to warrant using them? I mean dude above performed for free and got perhaps the same or a similar response that a popular artist would provide in the direct context of the event (positive vibes). This in opposition (no pun) to a celeb whom they’d probably have to pay.
So perhaps it is that these parties only see dancehall artists as hype men to be used ‘in the moment’ and given the utlity of a big named artist with a price tag as opposed to a no named funny man (LMAO no pun), they went with the cheaper option.
As i noted, that’s the direct context. In the bigger scheme of things, one must question whether or not artists aren’t an untapped gold-mine with regards to raising the profile of political involvement among those of us who need it most (and by extension the parties need the most as well) - the youth.
Looking for the most prominent examples of this though - the Rock the Vote campaign, one isn’t too optimistic at all. That has been heralded as a failure.
I guess I just have more questions than answers at this stage.
