Koromantyns Official Blog Jamaican Music and Entertainment News and Reviews by Jamaican Rapper Dj Ace Koromantyn

My Official Position on "Romping Shop and Daggering"

I recently got some serious heat from some of my more conservative friends on Facebook for publishing the Lyrics and Video for Vybez Kartel & Spice's hit single "Romping Shop". I thought I should write a note to clear things up just in case other people misunderstood my intentions.

I published the posts to raise awareness about the issue and invite commentary, not to promote the song! Judging by the highly polarized and passionate responses, it would seem as if some people actually believe that this is something that just popped out of the woodwork. Vybez Kartel and the majority of Dancehall artists have been doing songs like this for years! This is why he is “Number 1″ in Jamaica.

Mass media (radio and tv) and sponsors have supported the Erotic and Violent sub-genres of Dancehall for years. Therefore, most of these artists do songs in four primary categories; Gyal, Gun, Conscious/ Rasta or Gospel tunes. They know that if you want to make the headlines or Sting in December you better do songs in the first two categories. Think about it, what would Sting be without artists like Bounty Killa, Beenie Man, and hundreds more who thrive off it?. What would happen to all those famous sound clashes without violent content?

We all (Jamaicans) created it, not just Vybez Kartel. He only cooked the meal, but its the populace that’s eating it after the media houses have spread the table and invited them to sit down. If the majority of Jamaicans really gave a hoot about the state of the music industry we wouldn't be having this discussion today. Face it, "the chickens have come home to roost"!

Now the Broadcasting Commission is trying to make up for its tardiness by rushing out with all guns blazing. What a joke! Their actions will only accelerate the move to the Internet as a platform to publish and distribute these sub-genres after they “unwittingly” increased the demand for it by banning it from the airwaves.

I personally think they should have used the opportunity to work with the Jamaica Intellectual Property Office and other relevant stakeholders to create and implement a rating system with some kind of monitoring and evaluation mechanism to prevent this from happening in the first place.

What can I say? Its just another day in Jamaica!