We have had the conversation before. But things have not improved—if anything they have gotten worse—so we’re having it again. These are words that tend to drive fear into people: If it’s a man or a woman and the words are coming from his or her spouse; or if it’s a child and the words are coming from his or her parents.
We’re not trying to scare you like that. We want to have a talk (again) about music. We particularly want to address the vulgarity that passes for that which has been deemed the food of love.
We want to address some of what we have been and still are hearing on the radio, on television, in minibus and taxis and from those deaf boxes they call music carts.
We have had it with the deejays and the selectors who play what they want, whenever they want. Listen up, you’re on the console and you have a responsibility. Get with the programme. Don’t think you can get away with spinning the lewd music because it’s by a Jamaican dancehall artiste whose accent might make it difficult to comprehend. Or by an American rapper who raps so fast it would be lost on us. It might. But guess who grasps every single lyric? Children that’s who. Their minds are quick and they’re like sponges when young. Play something worth learning from, especially when you’re on duty during daylight hours. Get with the programme!
Parents can probably turn the radio off or switch to another channel when you’re getting down and dirty, but why should they be forced to do that? And those of you who try to bleep the bad language out? Man, it sounds worse. You’d be better off not playing the song in the first place.
It’s that same thing on television. You want to be the first to play that new video. We get that. But not every video is suitable for daytime consumption. There are those that are suggestive and then others that are downright explicit. Find a slot after 10 pm or 11 pm and play them there.
There are those minibus and taxi drivers who pretend that they’re playing music to entertain their customers. We’re onto you. You’re the ones selecting what to play and we notice how reluctant you are to lower or change it when asked. We know that some of you refuse outright to do so.
As for the music carts, they will play anything at any time in the hope that someone, anyone will buy their CDs. And they’re so loud that even when they play good music it’s irritating.
Here’s the thing. Anyone who’s into music today does research and this can take you into different spheres as you try to decide what genres you really like.
We have done the research. We know who drops the F- bombs. We know which rappers, DJs and dancehall artistes (men and women) must have at least 100 F-words per song. We know the ones (men and women) who demean women in their songs and debase them in their videos. We know which ones have just stepped over the line and which ones are so far gone that even if they suddenly turned to singing gospel folks would be listening in trepidation.
You see, just like you, we have access to the technology which brings the music to us. We don’t need to learn anything from you. If we so desired, we could find all of the dehumanizing songs by Lil Wayne, Outkast, Waka Flocka, Ghostface Killa, the Ying Yang Twins, Alkaline, Kartel, Mr Vegas, Popcaan and others. We could download them to our devices and we could play them, via our headphones to our hearts’ content, without forcing anyone else to listen to what we’re playing.
We also know that there are some artistes, who have gone to the trouble of recording ‘clean’ versions of their songs using alternate words. And we know that if we know that and can find them then so can you.
So we’re saying again, keep it clean, man. We know society’s changing and all that but we don’t have to lose our morals. We don’t have to follow the crowd. There’s too much good music that’s not getting airplay, while we are constantly assaulted with filth. Peace.
