Jamaica’s Prime Minister, the Most Honorable Andrew Holness, has a message for the music industry in 2024: “Keep it positive.” Speaking with World Music Views minutes after the clock struck midnight on New Year’s Day 2024 at the UDC Fireworks held at the Downtown Kingston Waterfront, the Prime Minister said, “Keep it positive, keep the outlook positive. Music is such a powerful tool; when it’s melodic, people don’t reason, people don’t think about it. It just passes cerebral and gets to the heart; that’s why it’s so powerful.”
The island nation’s leader, popularly known as Bro Gad (a term derived from Daddy1’s song of the same name), first assumed the role as head of government in October 2011, having previously served as Minister of Social Welfare, Community Development, Housing, and Education. He emphasized that music is too powerful a tool not to be used for good.
“As Bob Marley said, ‘When it hits you, you feel no pain.’ If you have such a powerful tool, use it for good,” he remarked.
The emergence of trap dancehall has permeated online spaces and airwaves in Jamaica over the last five years. The sub-genre, which relates itself to salacious and degenerative social topics such as scamming and other anti-social street culture and behavior, dominates Spotify and YouTube in 2023, with Malie Donn’s V6 being the No. 1 song.
New trap artists are being incentivized by fans who stream by the millions and major record labels are offering international contracts for their trap hall YouTube and Apple Music hits. Top streaming artists Masicka, Byron Messia and Valiant whose lyrical content are often heinous expressions reflecting Jamaican street culture are all signed to the international labels Def Jam, Interscope and Sony Music U.K. respectively and have released international projects.
This is not the first time the Prime Minister has called for more consciousness in the Jamaican music scene.
Two years ago, when RCA Recording artist Skillibeng’s “Whap Whap” became the No. 1 song on YouTube in the island for two consecutive weeks, the Prime Minister emphasized that Jamaica should not be solely defined by contemporary dancehall trends, such as songs like “Whap Whap.”
Addressing the musical landscape during a Jamaica Labour Party meeting in St. Catherine, Holness expressed concern about the limited aspects that seem to define the nation.
“We are being defined by some very limited things. ‘Whap Whap’ and ‘Chap Chap’ and ‘Ensure’… All of those things have their place, but they can’t define us. We should not allow that to define us,” he stated at the time.
Brysco’s Code which was released in April 2022, spent four weeks at No. 1 in Jamaica on YouTube. The song alludes to the use of the supplement drink brand Ensure as a sex lubricant.
Four months prior to this statement, the Prime Minister had mentioned that his administration would not censor dancehall artists or their lyrical content. Instead, they opted for a more discreet approach, using gentle persuasion to address concerns about explicit or controversial content.
Holness, who was born in Spanish Town Jamaica, acknowledged public concerns about the distasteful content prevalent in much of the new music. In an interview on TVJ’s Entertainment Report, he recognized that while there is still talent in the industry, there are apprehensions about the direction of that talent and whether it contributes to social good.
“There are many people who feel that the message has been diluted, diverted, and that though there is still talent, the talent may not be directed towards social good,” Holness told Entertainment Report.
The Prime Minister’s New Year’s message of positivity comes ahead voters expecting him to call the local and general elections in 2024. Dancehall music has always been a key feature of political events in Jamaica with candidates during the August 2020 campaign using trap dancehall songs as the soundtrack to their electioneering to stir up public sentiment and voting behavior.
Vybz Karte, Protoje and Bounty Killer have all called out politician for using dancehall in the last election while at the same time criticizing the artists.
