Andrew Holness Reveals Dancehall Artistes Approached JLP With Offers To Make Dubplates
Prime Minister of Jamaica, Andrew Holness, has revealed that most of the dubplates voiced by dancehall artistes for the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), were not commissioned by the politicians, but that several artistes voiced the campaign songs of their own accord and approached the party.
According to the Prime Minister, he is not perturbed about the dissenting voices, objecting to the use of dubs and specials voiced by Dancehall artistes for politicians during the campaign period leading up to the island’s General Elections on September 3.
“So let me say that we spent a lot of effort on music – dancehall in particular. But to my surprise, we did not commission most of the tracks that are out there. People volunteer; people just put music out, and I am happy for that because there was a time when a dancehall artiste or a reggae artiste wouldn’t even dare enter into the political arena,” Holness, who is leader of the JLP, told journalists in a post-nomination interview yesterday.
“I remember one artiste, I had asked him to perform for me, and he did, and he said he was getting threats from the Opposition. You know, this is a sign of the evolution of the country. It should be that artistes should be free to express their political opinions without fear. The music needs to do that because it is the most powerful tool of communication we have and it can be used for social commentary. It can be used to change people’s outlook,” the PM added.
Among the artistes who have voiced pro-candidate and pro-political party, dubplates are Skillibeng, Shenseea, D’Angel, Intence, Ishawna, Stylo G, Spice, TeeJay, Dovey Magnum, Christopher Martin, Quada, and Jahvilliani.
Bounty Killer, Vybz Kartel, Tanya Stephens, Queen Ifrica, and Protoje have openly lashed the island’s politicians for what they describe as their exploitation of Dancehall music during their political campaigns, but otherwise failing to support the genre when in office.
Intence, Masicka, TeeJay, Ishawna, Shenseea, and Skillibeng are among the artistes who have voiced dubplates for the Prime Minister. Only the Shenseea and Skillibeng commissioned dubs have been released officially by Holness’s campaign.
#MrUniverse pic.twitter.com/XoUvJn08xE
— Andrew Holness (@AndrewHolnessJM) August 15, 2020
When asked by veteran entertainment journalist Anthony Miller, whether he is happy with being referred to as Mr. Universe in the Skillibeng dub released on August 15, Holness had this to say: “I clearly am not Mr. Universe; I am the builder. Maybe 10 years ago, I would consider Mr. Universe, but I consider it complimentary. But, I like it,” he said, laughing.
But one politician from the PNP camp has a divergent view from the Prime Minister and the anti-dub entertainers. PNP vice-president Damion Crawford, said in a Star article yesterday that he was disappointed with the ‘pay for play’ attitude of the Dancehall stars.
The former Minister of Entertainment told the tabloid that while the ‘dub-for-dub’ battle taking place on the campaign trail, between the JLP and the PNP has been chock-full of entertainment value, he believes artistes should only voice dubplates for politicians whose policies they do in fact, support.
He said based on the fact that many of the artistes have been making dubs for both parties, and for candidates running against each other in the same constituencies, he believes the campaign season has been seized by artistes to make money, as opposed to using the music to push policies and attract support for the best candidate.
“So one artiste a make song fi di two side, and maybe it’s just me, but mi wouldn’t make a dub if mi nuh inna agreement wid the person or the party policy. So even though dem still have to pay mi, I would have to be in agreement with their policies,” he told the tabloid.
Crawford said because the election campaigns surround the future of the country, they should not be taken lightly by the artistes.
He also argued that although artistes are grappling with a loss of income due to the shutdown of entertainment, resulting from the COVID-19 outbreak, money should not trump the country’s best interests.
“As much as I was excited at first, me recognise say it was ‘pay for play’ thing, so anybody that was willing to pay, they (the artistes) would sing, and mi never like that,” he said.
“I just think it’s a misuse of influence if you don’t agree with their opinions to do dubs…” Crawford explained.