Dancehall music and the Jamaican Youth: The blame game.

We cannot deny the lewdness of Dancehall music and that most of the lyrics being broadcasted are mostly about sex and violence. With that material being constantly fed to the Jamaican youth, it is not shocking that it will have adverse effects on their behavior. 

According to Esther Tyson (2009),” Dancehall is a culture which impacts dress, fashion and body language; it influences attitude. Dancehall dress leaves little of the women’s bodies to the imagination. It is this mindset that is now affecting so many of our young people in school”.

The content of DANCEHALL music has not changed over the years, when listening to dancehall music of the 70’s and 80’s it was mostly about sex and ‘badmanism’, remember Super Cat, Shabba Ranks, Lady Saw? 

 These ‘educated adults’ who are now demonizing dancehall music, didn’t they listen to dancehall music in their days? If not, why was that? If dancehall music THEN didn’t affect them, how come? It's because parents at the time were more strict and ensured that outside factors did not greatly affect the upbringing they saw fit for their child. Ask the question, what has happened to parenting of yesteryear which had a strict approach on the growing of the youth?

I have no problem admitting that dancehall music has negative effects on the Jamaican youths, my problem lies where society places the blame solely on the music. While it does have negative effects, it is unjust to place all blame on it. Where are the parents? Who is it that’s raising our youth, the music or parents? Who is more responsible for our youths?

 As I said before, dancehall music has NOT changed, dancehall of the 70’s and 80’s was about Sex, Sex and more sex, and it still is now, where were the complaints THEN?

Help JA Children's march: A success

“PROTECT OUR…CHILDREN! SAVE OUR…CHILDREN!” were the words which echoed throughout New Kingston on May 1^st, the beginning of Child’s month.  After the shocking revelation some of the abuse faced by the Jamaican children, it sparked some quick action by Brandon Allwood and his team (Candiese Leveridge, Jaevion Nelson, K. Dominic McKenzie, Lonique Chin and Ricardo Brooks) in forming the advocacy group Help JA Children which is aimed at raising awareness about child abuse and helping Jamaica’s children. The first plan of ‘Help JA Children’ was to have a march and rally to shatter the silence and make their voices heard.

The march started at the Bustamante Children’s hospital where persons who took a keen interest in the cause, gathered to ‘shatter the silence’ about child abuse. The march went on to the Emancipation Park where persons assembled outside to make themselves seen and their voices heard by passersby.  “Stop child abuse! Protect our Children! Love our Children!” were the chants which resonated through the city. The rally continued on inside the park where Claudette Pious lead advocate of Children First (A non-governmental organization) ,Carolyn Gomes from the Human Rights organization, Dr Pauline Mullings chairperson of the National Child's Month Committee, Greg Smith from the OCR (Office of the Children’s Registry), Marcia Wilson from NPTAJ (National Parent-Teacher Association of Jamaica) and also representatives from Jamaicans for  Justice, CISOCA (The Centre for Investigation of Sexual Offenses & Child Abuse) and the UN all loaned their voices in spreading awareness of child abuse. 

There was also a performance from 'Children's First' which highlighted two cases of child abuse. Sexual abuse (Father molesting his daughter) and Physical abuse (Mother beating her son)

 Members of the entertainment fraternity were also in attendance and helped in urging supporters to break the silence, persons such as Voicemail, Denyque, Raine Seville, Ity & Fancy cat, Ishawna, Empress. Former Miss. Jamaica world/universe Yendi Phillips, reigning Miss. Jamaica Danielle Crosskill along with the 2012 Miss. Jamaica contestants all played a part in the march to help save the Jamaican Children.

As stated by the ‘Help JA Children’ organization, “This is only the beginning”. The aim of the march was to raise awareness in the fight against child abuse. It’s only the start of plans which are already in the works to help protect our children. Here is a part of the speech from Chief advocate of ‘Help JA Children’, Brandon Allwood where he spoke about child abuse and some of the plans of organization. 

The children are our future and if we sit back and do nothing while they are being abused, there will be no future or a future not worth looking forward to. Children have a right to be safe and protected from abuse, neglect, exploitation and discrimination. They have a right to be children. It is the duty of society to ensure that each and every child is protected from harm, play your part in helping a child, if you know of a child who is being abused or you SUSPECT is being abused, call 1-888-PROTECT and report the matter. Do your part in saving a child’s life. Help JA’s Children, Shatter the silence. 

Scenes from the Help JA Children's march & Rally  

 

For more pictures from the 'Help JA Children' march and rally ---> CLICK HERE

Where to go this week

Not a lot to do this week, but…. Like last week, here’s what’s happening.

Monday

Mojito Mondays @ Susies

Tuesday 

We all should make the effort to help raise awareness about the ongoing problem in Jamaica, Child abuse. I’m urging you all to take part in the ‘Help JA Children’ march on May 1^st. Come out in your numbers at the Bustamante Children’s hospital @ 12pm sharp!

In the night, Beat Da Clock @ Fiction.

Wednesday

Eats, Beats and Tweets @ UBTandR (Usain Bolt’s Tracks and Records)

Then

BNM @ Fiction

Thursday

Lipstick Thursdays @ Fiction

Friday

5Iv3 @ Topfloor (Quad)

Uber @ Club Privilege

Saturday

I’m not sure of any parties on Saturday, so, Fiction is the best place to be! \(^__^)/ 

Wishing you all a great week! :-) 

Party Review: Tailwind

Party Review: Tailwind

Date: April 21, 2012

Venue: Giscombe’s Gym rooftop

The recently held Tailwind, titled ‘Lock it down’ with reference to the thrilling soca season that we thought ended on April 15^th after Carnival’s road march, I must say, Tailwind officially LOCKED.IT .DOWN.

I say without a doubt that Tailwind was the BEST party for the Soca season alongside beach Jouvert. What started out as a regular soca party turned out to be an epic night that had patrons (me included) worried about possible photos that might have captured the bad behavior.  

The DJ kept the night on a high without the constant repetition of songs, which we have become accustomed to at Soca parties. Even in the early hours around 10:30 patrons were already drinking and dancing and having fun, sipping on Appleton and taking shots of coffee patron, an ominous sign of a great night to come. At around 1:30-2:00 when the party was expected to come to an end, it started raining. One would think that people would have been scurrying home, but no, the rain took the party to another level and turned Tailwind into a wild water party that made patrons let loose of their inhibitions.

I give Tailwind a 10/10 rating and it’s on my list as one of the best parties of 2012. The music and the vibe, everything was ON POINT!  If you missed Tailwind, you missed an absolutely GREAT party, I can’t say that enough. Soca+Rain= EPICNESS

Tailwind.... ssshhhhhhh!

RANDOMS FROM TAILWIND

* I think we all forgot where we were. (Only people who were there know what I mean) lol :-$

* I have never been so nervous going through any party pics… Skkanme had be holding ma heart in fear of what I might have seen. X__X

* ONE CAYLISS NIGHT! Lol … The next one is definitely not missing me! :-D

* When (8) Drop pon di grung n roll (8) started playing… who was that on the ground rolling? X_x *innocent face*

* I loved how the ‘Uptown’ people DASH OUT lol

*Let me not say ANYTHING MORE, What happened at Tailwind, should stay at tailwind! *Squares off the night*

*Flashback to Tailwind* … You know what, let me go read my bible and ask for forgiveness. Hallelujah! Praise the lord! Lol  

Look out for my REVIEW. 

Where to go this week

So here’s what’s happening this week if you’re looking to have some fun.

Tuesday

 Beat Da Clock @ Fiction. If you’re a fan of retro music, this is the place to be tonight. Ladies are free before 12.

Wednesday

Eats Beats & Tweets @ UBTandR (Usain Bolt’s Tracks & Records) – The vibe is usually great here. Eat, drink and listen to some of the hottest beats, while tweeting and watch your tweets go by on the big screen T.V. (This and every Wednesday) 

 After Eats Beats & Tweets, head on over to Fiction for BNM. 

Thursday

Nothing else happening other than Lipstick Thursdays @ Fiction (Ladies Night)

Friday 

5IV3 @ the Quad Nightclub (Top Floor) 

Saturday 

Only place to be this Saturday is ‘W’ @ the N.H.T car park in New Kingston. Admission for the ladies $1,000 and for the men it’s $2,000. It’s a drink Inclusive party.

From the previous W’s this year, I must say, this one is definitely worth attending. What’s going to be different? Two dance floors with 2 different Dj’s. 

Sunday

Find the closest church to you and HAVE FUN praising the lord and giving thanks. LoL 

Hope you have a great week! ;-) 

Smirnoff Exotic Fantasy

Start the Easter party season in fine style, make sure on April 1st you're at The Morgan's Harbour Hotel for Smirnoff's EXOTIC FANTASY! 

What's Your Fantasy?

Memorable moments from the Youth View Awards

The Youth View awards is one of Jamaica’s premiere award shows whose aim is to give a voice to teens and young adults in selecting who they consider the best in the entertainment industry at the moment. This vision has seen the continuity of the show over the years among the ‘Young Hot and Hype’ and cementing its place in the entertainment industry.  It has been a week since the recently held Youth View Awards and it must be said, that the thoughts still lingers. Follow me as I go through the memorable moments of the show.

Opening Performance:  It was a great start to the show with an opening performance by W.T.F (Wayne, Tifa and Fambo) Performing their smash hit ‘Swaggin’.

Winners of the Night: Tifa, Vybz Kartel and Popcaan scored big among the teens who allowed them to walk off with the majority of the night’s awards and I must say all were well deserved.

Disappointment of the night:  The crowd’s reaction to the result of the Male fashion icon category and their reaction during the announcement of the Female Fashion icon. Dexter Pottinger won the award for Male fashion icon of 2011 and went to collect his award amidst loud boos and cheers. I’m unsure as to why he was booed, because it was a well deserved win. Was it just a case of them thinking fellow nominees like Beenie Man or Ding Dong deserved it more? Hhmmm, but, the award went to the right person.  On the flipside, during the announcement of the nominees for the female fashion icon, the performer who represented D’Angel was also booed, and once again, I’m lost as to why this happened. Was it that they thought the performer didn’t represent the artist appropriately? This I could understand.

Best performance of the night: The best performance of the night goes to Ikaya and her tribute to Bob Marley. It was simply a breathtaking performance that I can say every Marley fan would appreciate. The performance had me washed with goose bumps from start to finish.

Another great performance was from Shauna Williams, she showed why and how she won the ‘On the Verge’ talent competition with her rendition of Adele’s ‘Set fire to the rain’. Great vocals, great performance… it was flawless.

Closing performance:  The Youth View Awards came to an end with a thrilling performance from Popcaan which had the crowd on their feet as he performed some of his current hits. It was a great way to finish the night.

Bloopers! :  I felt bad for Mystic. She won the award for favorite female dancer and took forever to go up to collect her award as they called her name, eventually thinking she was absent from the event. When she finally did show up and collect her award, before she could say “Than...”she was abruptly cut off.

Christopher Byfield, I had to laugh when he meant to say “Presenter” but somehow “Presetta” came out. What happened there? Lol

Etana, she’s one of my favorite artiste, but I had to laugh when she was to present an award and actually dropped the award upon entering the stage, the crowd thought she broke it, luckily, she didn’t.

Worth mentioning: WORL BOSS! I was happy to see that Vybz Kartel with his recent troubles with the law, managed to take home two big awards for the night. Well, the ‘girl boss’ MILK had to collect them on his behalf, a move that was well received by the crowd.

Comfort Fedoke from America’s hit show ‘So you think you can dance’ did a pretty good job with their dance routine.  I should say that all dance crews and their performances were pretty good for the night.

Overall, I’d give the YVA’s a 7/10 rating. To go with the number of highs for the nights, there were quite a number of lows. Minor technical difficulties at the start wrecked havoc on the show, thus not making the ‘highs’ consistent, but the great performances of the night surely made up for it in the end. With all that, I surely do look forward to the next staging in 2013. See you there.

Scenes from the YVA's

The new bacchanal venue !!!!?

With the soca season slowly creeping upon us and with the shutdown of Mas Camp, the place we’ve come to call HOME for Bacchanal, the question that fills the air is “Where will Bacchanal be held now?” The word on the street and from good sources is that Bacchanal will be held at the National Stadium’s car park. (Although yet to be officially confirmed)

If this is actually the new venue for Bacchanal, I’m curious to see how they transform it to somewhat resemble Mas Camp, a place we have become accustomed. Another aspect of this venue that I hope is being looked at is security. Being so close to certain communities I hope the safety of patrons is taken into consideration as it’s a factor being considered by many.  Once measures are put in place to ensure that people are safe, I have no problem with this venue, it’s a good choice. (Y)

With that said, I don’t care where, As long as it’s Soca... I’m there!