Ding Dong Says Jamaican Resorts Shun Violent Music Videos

Jamaican resorts are shunning the songs and accompanying music videos that glorify violent and criminal lifestyles and have banished such content from being aired on their properties, according to Dancehall artist Ding Dong.

In Jamaica, larger all-inclusive hotels oftentimes have their own exclusive resort channels, which are customised and managed by them, and form part of their means to market directly to their guests in new ways to generate additional on-site revenues and even promote Jamaican music.

In addition, music is one of three key reasons, tourists flock to Jamaica, research from the Tourism Ministry has shown, the others being love and food.  However, according to Ding Dong, violent musical content is not given the time of day at these resorts, as hoteliers believe such material will devalue the tourist experience.

“Mi guh one hotel dung a North Coast and dem don’t show certain music video pon it becaw dem seh: ‘hear wah, di people, tourist a come pon trip, dem nuh waan si inna no gutter an no man a rush dung nobaddy wid no knife an nuttn’”, Ding Dong stated during an Onstage interview with veteran entertainment journalist, Winford Williams.

“Dem waan si happy music video, suh some a dem video, dem teck offa di channel.  Seriously enuh, because di tourist dem want fi be happy and vibrant,” he explained.

Background music is a major part of the offerings of many of the larger resorts in Jamaica, where music is streamed via speakers within lobbies, corridors, at the beach, foyers, elevators and halls, under licence from the Jamaica Association of Composers Authors and Publishers (JACAP).   However, unsavoury music for international guests in particular, is always a no-no.

In January 2021, Sean Paul in an interview on Radio Jamaica Radiffusion (RJR), had advised that violent lyrics will never make the grade internationally, and called on Dancehall artists to pen tracks which are Billboard-worthy.

“So we must be versatile.  Suh even though you guh duh bad man ting, don’t live inna dat man…It jus a damage yah suh.  Is not dat di lyrics and di music is causing it yuh nuh…  Mi love gun tune tuh but mi nuh waan hear it everytime, all di time.  Mi waan hear some different ting,” Sean Paul had said.

Weeks after, Prime Minister Andrew Holness, while speaking at a Jamaica Stock Exchange (JSE) Regional Investments and Capital Markets Conference, had given pride of place to Jamaican music, stating that it was important in economic development, but was being devalued by a flood of violent songs.

At the time Holness had said that Jamaican music, while on par with science and technology as a tool for economic development and was embraced by the Government and people across the world, it has for decades, been bombarded with songs of violence, which threaten its integrity.

“Our IP, our culture, what we own; our intellectual property is of great value.  If you allow me a few minutes to share some thoughts on it; you know, our music has been such a powerful tool not just for Jamaica, but for the world.  It is a means of liberation.  It elevated us in the eyes of the world.  Other nations took our music and it has become anthems for progressive thinking right across the world for freedom, and resistance and we embrace it as our culture.   But in the last few decades, our music has been overtaken by violence,” Holness had said in his address.

The Prime Minister had also made reference to Chronixx who performed at the event prior to his address, noting that the Dela Splash artist had performed and “not one of his lyrics had anything to do about violence”.

“He is one of my favourite artistes.  I listen him all the time.  We, by what we are producing, we are devaluing our culture which is a very important asset for our economic development.  So we are not just seeking to focus on science, technology, engineering and mathematics.  We also see that there is serious work that needs to be done in our creative industries to ensure that we can produce works of art and music at are edifying and uplifting,” Holness had said.