Dear Editor,
Dancehall music is like that ‘secret weapon’ in cartoons, that if it ever fell into the wrong hands, it would destroy the world.
Although it’s free and open to all, some don’t know how to handle it. Everyone doesn’t have the same thought capacity and intelligence to use it correctly, and when there is not a proper balance you have the Dancehall we have today.
While I’m happy it has kept people employed and eating, once it was sold commercially, it was over. It’s like some creole restaurants that had the good food. Once they started to franchise/expand, it lost its original essence. Not to mention the lesser talented artistes who dumbed down the art to appeal to their fan bases, and the ‘hustle’ replaced actual talent.
It’s a culmination of things that are wrong. I am just happy I had the chance to witness it from the early ’90s onward, and have the intelligence to distinguish the difference.
Yours faithfully,
Orin Phillips
Executive Director
Youths for Guyana
