So what’s up with the demeaning ‘music’?

“Tun up” has become the new buzz line. The ‘song’, if it can be called that, by Baby Cham featuring his wife, ‘O’ (what kind of name is that?) must have surpassed even their wildest expectations.

My head aches (I guess I could say my head ‘tun up’) from it being blasted at every turn (not tun, mind you!). Even advertisements are blasting the mock offs, while I’m like: “Really lady?! Your parents must be so proud!”

What kind of song is this! Is this music? Is this the Caribbean’s culture? Is this what we have come to as a people?
Songs like this portray women as sex objects and enslave their minds so that even though they should be embarrassed by the ‘lyrics’ they perform to them thinking that they look ‘cool’ or that society loves their provocative moves, when indeed they are harming their self-respect and esteem. I’m not saying don’t have fun, I’m just saying we all should know our limits; set ourselves boundaries and embrace them.

Men are frowned on for these songs–artistes like Sizzla, Movado, Vybz Kartel–but it’s not just dancehall. Rap artistes have their negative vibes too and some seem to enjoy calling women derogatory names. Sadly, some men listening to these songs will think it’s cool and normal to address women like that. They will go out on the streets and take their newly learnt vocabulary with them. Now let’s do the math… Newly Learnt Vocabulary + Drugs, Alcohol – Self Respect = Police Story.

Then there are the songs that exhibit the ‘fake joys’ of marijuana and excessive alcohol – it makes me sad to see people with power try to rotten the generations after them.

There are also female artistes perpetuating the ‘dutty’ lyrics, like Brick and Lace, Lady Saw, ‘O’ and quite possibly ‘P’, ‘Q’, ‘R’, ‘S’ and ‘T’; women encouraging the degradation of women? What next?

Thankfully, there is the next generation of Beres Hammond, Gregory Isaacs and Bob Marley, in the uplifting music of men like Tarrus Riley, First Born, Damien ‘Junior Gong’ Marley and others. On the flip side there’s Etana, Tanya Stephens who has cleaned up her act and Alaine.

Guyana is in an era of social change and there is sexist turmoil too as we develop ourselves as a young nation. Do we really want to add to that by importing and using wholesale all the demeaning music available out there? Seriously?
Call me old fashioned but I believe the youths are being drawn to the ignorant things blasting through speakers or displayed in music videos, replicating them and calling it culture.

Culture makes up who we are as a people. Main question: should we embrace and promote demeaning music as our developing culture? Will the kids get too mad if we censor it a little? Is certain music degrading and does it encourage men to disrespect women? Or is it harmless and just another fad?

Help me out – log on to www.stabroeknews.com and click The Scene tab to make a comment. (Jairo Rodrigues)