Death of Dancehall?

     Since the day that Kartel has been locked up till now, people have been screaming at the top of their voices saying "Free Kartel", "Free up di teacha!" etc. etc. Now I for one don't know whether or not he was in fact guilty of the crime or not and I'm ready to hazard a guess the a majority of those petitioning for his release were privy to such details and thus they were blindly calling for a [un-confirmed at time of writing] criminals release.
Seeing that I'm an understanding person I am willing to vouch for the mentality of these people to a certain degree and accept the fact that there is a plausible explanation for their madness. What I came up with as suitable enough in this instance was that they wanted him out because since he has been away "Dancehall nuh nice again".

      So what this is basically saying is that unless Kartel is free to make his music Dancehall is a dead Genre of music. Right?
     But..... we have quite a few other great artistes nuh true??? Aidonia, Movado, Konshens to name a few.... aren't they also a part of the dancehall culture??? Don't they give us a good line-up of great songs to push dancehall? The problem I see here is everyone has taken Kartel and placed him on some sort of pedestal and begun idolizing him as some kind of God or Guru, pick your poison. Unable to live or thrive without his lyrics constantly sating their minds thirst. Tell me this then, suppose he NEVER gets out of prison? Suppose he's in there for life? What then? Do we not move on?

     This cannot solely be placed on those on the receiving end however [Dancehall fans], some of the blame has to be placed on the artistes currently making tracks. They themselves have also placed Kartel on some other worldly plane which they themselves have mentally blocked themselves from reaching. I mean seriously if you look at it you can understand what I'm saying here. Kartel is basically the only artiste willing to be the first to be openly controversial. Now although I don't really follow and/or condone everything he does and says, the fact that he's openly controversial is what gives him this certain flair. Once he drops a song speaking on any topic that was considered off limits everyone else takes this as a cue to jump on the bandwagon as well. This is where I feel that the shortcoming of dancehall artistes lie. They refuse to take that metaphorical leap.

     I think it's quite safe to say that I am probably the only person if not one in the vast minority who could literally care less whether Kartel goes free or not. I say this because I know for a fact that he is not the be all end all of Dancehall. People need to stop feasting on his word like its the final supper. Yes he gives dancehall a lot of life be he is NOT the embodiment of the art. Continuous dependency on him will only serve as fuel to the Death of Dancehall music as we know it and you are free to challenge that opinion anytime you wish.

While on the topic of Dancehalls demise, here's a post that I copied and had saved for sometime now and how the government has also served to add a bit of fuel to this fire:

Sani:
Well, it look like dancehall culture finally mash up. With the pending ban on all street dances and the full enforcement of the noise abatement act, it look a way. I'm so glad I got to experience the last of it when sound string up wid all 3 column and venue cork with thousands a people and we party till daylight. After almost 80 yrs, is this the right direction? Is like our government fight dancehall to the fullest. Look at Trinidad tho; them government fully support soca & carnival as part of their culture yet Jamaica lacks the discipline & unity to conjure a better way forward that works for all of us. God bless this sinking country. Everything a mash up. Are we going to sit by & watch it happen?

     With that little entry I can now say my little rant has concluded. See you next post.



Please remember to Share, Comment and Follow :)
You can also check me out on my twitter thing
Also Be sure to Like the Facebook Page \o\