Sean Paul, Gramps Morgan Throw Support Behind Demarco’s No ‘Gun Songs’ Pledge

Grammy Award-winning superstars Sean Paul and Gramps Morgan have thrown their support behind their compatriot Demarco, after the Fallen Soldiers singer declared that he would no longer record violent songs and urged his Dancehall compatriots to do likewise.

Demarco’s pledge comes after he released visuals for Big, Bag, and Brave , a murder tune released in September, and Brag and Boast, a song released on October 28 about his expensive lifestyle and the “canons” (guns) he keeps close to protect it.  The videos, which both feature prop weapons, so far have just 328,000 and 130,000 views on YouTube, respectively.

However, in expressing regret at the murder music he has recorded in the past, Demarco, on Monday, urged his colleagues to turn over a new leaf in a post that he shared on Instagram.  

“I wish every Dancehall artist including myself will stop singing killing and gun songs, amen,” he posted adding: “let’s stop promoting killing each other and promote making money together!!”

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“Been screaming this for years now.  Thank you bredda for speaking,” Gramps responded, adding later that he wanted Jamaica to be about sun, fun, “party and dance and make being conscious cool again”.

Sean Paul, who has been advocating for the cessation of violent music, especially over the last year chimed in: “Same way so G. We are what we pre”.

In response to Sean Paul, Demarco stated: “mi done wid gun song mi boss , while to Gramps he replied: “ mi boss thank you for always singing positive music🙏🏾🙌🏾”.

Sean Paul also returned later to rebuke a follower who claimed to be an artist and who posited that ‘badman music was necessary’, and that experiences whether good or bad, including those about criminal activities must be expressed.  

 “Dat shit in the news an on social media every day. U jus love the blood,” Sean Paul replied, while Demarco admonished: “Sigh I Hope you will change your thoughts one day my G. I won’t hit home until your affected by the same gunman chunes your singing and I pray that doesn’t happen.”

“Thank you.  Dem cuss me fi say this, but who better than you to say it, was the comment from Ce’cile in response to another post where Demarco noted that “if a song like I Love My Life can inspire people and help them change their life for better” gun songs could similarly incite violence and “add fuel to fire” .

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Demarco’s initial post was one of several and sparked a lengthy discussion that saw him responding at length to many of his followers.

His compatriot I Octane also agreed with his stance noting “Real talk”, to which Demarco responded: “@realoctane longtime this a bother mi mi bredda an mi finally get the courage fi speak out about it. We as artist can sing bout nuff more topics than killing our own and getting paid from it. 🙏🏾”.

Demarco who rose to musical prominence with his breakout song Fallen Soldier, has recorded songs such as True Friends and Love My Life. 

He later recorded several gun songs among them Dem Fraid (a diss track aimed at Mavado) and Skill mi Skill.

On IG, there were however, several more some followers who attempted to dissuade Demarco from refraining from recording violent content, with one man even hailing him as having made “the tuffest gun song dem” and that he should continue.

Nevertheless, the singer pointed out that his mind was already made up, and replied: “mi mek the tuffest gun songs I agree but where dem guh? inna the young getto yutes brain fi corrupt dem mind when mi should a sing songs fi stimulate dem brain fi make money and tek care of them family”.

There were also other followers who questioned how Demarco out of the blue decided to turn away from recording gun songs.

“Great statement u mek. What I would want to know though is why is it always when an artiste already made a catalog of gun songs n already peak n made millions off those sing , n on the back end of their career they normally start to understand this? I am genuinely curious 🤔 would like to hear your rational opinion,” one follower asked to which Demarco replied: “GROWTH”.

Another follower franxo_francis had a similar pertinent question for Demarco.

“Why did you start in the first place and promote it to the youth? What made you wake up and say today is gun man time?” he asked to which the singer replied: “Because I wanted to stay relevant and that was wrong my strength is not violence Music”.

In response to another who juxtaposed gun movies with murder movies,  while asking whether these types of films will be banned by the authorities, Demarco responded: “Music is not the only thing that creates crime but I’m a musician and I know what I’m going is wrong.  So you’re saying me telling my brothers with the same skin color as me to load up the draco and murda the whole family is right, and my aim is to make money off it?”

In June this year, Sean Paul had lamented the tendency of upcoming artistes to focus solely on violent themes in their songs, and not make efforts to start diversifying their catalogues, in a genre which he has long described as a melting pot of various moods, topics and lyrics.

“We are supposed to be talking about what we are seeing. Some of the younger artists just stick to one topic.   And, so, there must be some time that you’re not seeing a gun.  You eat breakfast, right?  You do some normal things in life, right? But those songs are not coming out,” he had explained in an interview with Vibe Magazine.

The Temperature artiste, who had, weeks before, listed Skeng and Born Fighter Jahshii as the two rising stars to look out for during a Breakfast Club interview, had praised fellow artist Laa Lee, who has steered clear of violent topics, but instead has been highlighting the beauty of Jamaican dance culture through his music.  Similarly, he had singled out Tanto Blacks, whose focus has been on comedy and encouraging people to proclaim wealth on themselves.