Roots Archives Forum

You are right Tingjunkie. Being 'only human' is not a valid excuse. It is the human part of us that is upful and the animal part that drags us down. We need to act like humans, not animals.

But I am not for a minute pretending not to be a little too in touch with my animal self for my own comfort at times!

Getting back to the question.

LUCIANO is a true example of a rightous Rasta man. He dont drink, dont smoke cigarette, he respects women and he dont cuss no bad words. I met him and had first hand experience of his humbleness over the hour or so I was there. Add to that he is a real gentleman. A true ambassador for the the cause. FACT.

A little story, Stout Style International is a Boston sound ran by Skim (a nice guy too). I heard that Luciano refused to call out his sound name in a dubplate as the word "Stout" promotes alcahol. Strange, but true I am told.

...illusion give ease from our sufferation...could we live without them ? ...just think that jamaica, the land where reggae and its message originated, is the land with the highest criminality rate in the world... did u see all the slackness shown in those dancehall queen contest ?? that's an evidence...

@tingjunkie

To say that a person is only human is not a cop out. It is a fact. Too often musicians / artists and the like are treated as if they were gods, instead of human beings. To acknowledge human frailties is not the same thing as endorsing them.

As for hypocrisy, there is more than enough of that going around to start pointing fingers at others. I don't see the value in condemning them or being more disappointed in them then I would any other people. Who knows how any one of would behave if we were in the same situation--faced with the same pressures and temptations?

I rather the Artist sing of Righteousness, whether he practices what he preaches or not, It is important for the youth to hear these lyrics, and it could change some of them, in other words, I could care less about what the artist does in his/hers personal time, as long as the music is good.

matty, i was thinking something like that.The music is a proyection of the soul of the artist.The message reach us all.Is wrong to be looking the personal live of any singer to make judgments.

guns and pussy don't make you a bad person

people have an easy time being critical of artists who carry guns,but how many reggae artists have been murdered! self defense is a human right and it's none of our business if an artist wants to protect themself and the people surrounding them.

i don't see anything wrong with writing songs about sex, your parents had sex, are they hypocrites for trying to teach you to be a good person while you were growing up?

@ picaraza

You wrote, "To acknowledge human frailties is not the same thing as endorsing them." I agree, however I look at the situation in a different way. Because we are imperfect we are bound to make mistakes from time to time. BUT, a song is a premeditated thing. It's not like an artist is forced to come up with lyrics immediately and without being able to revise them. An artist has time to sit down and ask himself if what he is saying is positive... if he is putting love and kindness into the world, or hate and violence. I can forgive people when they make mistakes on the fly. When they have time to think their actions through and they still do the wrong thing, that's different.

I wouldn't underestimate how influential reggae artists are in Jamaica (and now across the world). They may be "regular people" with a gift, but they are not blind. They know very well that they can have a huge impact on the world, and many of them choose not to live up to the responsibility.

@ stass1

About the self defense thing... Yes artists have been murdered, and Jamaica is a rough place, but ask yourself, why is it that certain artists (such as Luciano and others) don't have to carry guns? Perhaps the artists who claim self-defense aren't so innocent after all? Perhaps they attract violence to themselves through their choices?

As for sex... I agree that there is nothing wrong with sex, in fact I love it too. I have no problem with love songs, or even artists like Yellowman who use sex as humor in their songs. What I have a problem with is when artists objectify women, or spit slackness just to be shocking or lewd... when they just boast about their prowess without any humor about it. Surely we can agree there is a big difference between the two categories? One is funny or even sweet, the other is just dirty and juvenile.

But as I said before, it bothers me most when I hear a (supposedly) rasta artist do a explicit punanny tune, rather than a guy like Elephant Man. At least he doesn't suffer from split personalities, or claim to put himself on a moral pedestal.

i don't know who does or doesn't own weapons to be honest,i would imagine some do but choose to hide it,and some don't but claim to for publicity. it doesn't make a difference to me though because i wouldn't judge somebody on that choice
I'm sure alot of artists attract trouble to themselves, but unless i know an artist personally i don't think it's my call who falls under that category as there is no way to know,being successful in a poor country alone attracts trouble but wouldn't go against what anybody stands for, some things like drugs and prostitution would, but again, i don't know which artists do or don't involve themselves in such things

definitely some sex songs are in bad taste and could turn people off for obvious reasons, but i don't think they're immoral unless they're violent(like sizzla's song "first thing" which is one of the worst songs in reggae)

Wow, it seems "we got so much things to say right now"...
It so good when people are able to exchange thoughts, expressing different POV's, it is good for all of us.

When I wrote this topic, I was thinking in tracks like "Mystic Man" from the great P.Tosh, "I am mystic man, don't drink champaigne" and stuff like that, I mean, wow, those are really serious lyrics, I know we are only humans, but lately, it I'm finding really hard to listen "those" artists that do not practise what they preach, mainly because I know there were (and there are) artists that do live up to whay they preach like Tosh or The Messenger Luciano.

So it's hard for me to make up my mind, I used to think that what is important is the message and not the messenger as someone said, but when the message is so personal and when we know there are people like Luciano that do practice what they preach, It is hard for me to decide.

Blessed