Konshens Unimpressed With ‘Paint the City, Paint the Town’ Project

Dancehall star Konshens, appears not to be impressed with the Government’s recent announcement that it would be spending $300 million on the first phase of its ‘Paint the City, Paint the Town’ project.

In responding to the news, Konshens did his calculations and implied that the funds could be better spent elsewhere, particularly to buy food, for needy members of the population.

“That’s 20k worth of food to 15000 households. Mmm nuttn like fresh paint in covid lockdown 😋yummy,” he wrote sarcastically on Sleek Jamaica’s IG page, which had noted in its captioned post about the matter that the project would be generating employment through “beautification, mural painting, street-sign installation and the improvement of selected markets”.

However, Konshens’ idea might not find favor with members of the Jamaican Cabinet, as according to Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Desmond McKenzie, the project represents the effort of the Government “to put people into productive work”.

McKenzie had made the announcement during his contribution to the 2021/2022 Sectoral Debate in the House of Representatives on Tuesday, according to the Gleaner.

The Minister had said the programme will generate employment through beautification, mural painting, street-sign installation and the improvement of selected markets beginning in Kingston and St. Andrew, May Pen in Clarendon and Buff Bay and Port Antonio in Portland in its first phase.

McKenzie had also indicated that the project would also provide 2,000 jobs for community members, and would, in some cases, become permanent employment for the maintenance of the facilities.

However, Konshens was not the only Dancehall star in disagreement as Stacious responded with a: “Kmt” at the announcement.

In the meantime Konshens, whose given name is Garfield Spence appeared on Audiomack’s Fine Tuned two days ago, for an acoustic performance of his hit singles Bubble, Bruk Off Yuh Back, and his new track Can’t Stay Sober, backed by guitarist Elijah Rawk, to much approval from his Jamaican compatriots.

A few days ago Konshens, also appeared in an feature article with High Times cannabis magazine, to discuss ‘music and marijuana’.   He told the publication that although for most of his career, he turned to alcohol “to relax and calm his inhibitions”, but that since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, he has relied more on ganja to put in the right frame of mind, while simultaneously easing his dependence on alcohol.

“My aim is to start smoking more and drinking less, then eventually it becomes not drinking at all… Ganja is definitely a healthier option,” he told High Times.

“It just gets me mellow. And I’m not living inside of my head as much. In this time, where we are at home alone, and we have so much time, we start to live in our head and overthink things. Smoking helps me think about what I want to think about, and not get onto negative thoughts. It’s helped me focus on what I need to focus on,” he added.

The 36-year-old also told the cannabis publication that he “was not attracted to weed vibes until… maybe about 12 years ago” and that he “still can’t roll a proper spliff”, relying instead on a pre-roll cone.

“I don’t like alcohol, which is crazy to say because I always drink. I don’t like what alcohol does to me. I’m socially awkward, I hate the camera and I hate being in everybody’s eye. So being slightly lit [from drinking] helped me with that. It helped take the edge off. Weed has helped me find the right pace in life. The weed keeps me mellow,” he told the publication.

Konshens, who is known for ganja songs such as Real Herbalist and So High also affirmed that ganja plays a major role in his “writing and recording process” noting that: “Before and during, I have a spliff to get me in a zone”.

“I still wouldn’t call myself a ganja man.   I like to sing hit songs and about what I know. Early in my career, when I did weed songs… it was because I was connected even though I was not a hardcore smoker. And now I can speak on it differently,” he said.