Eek-A-Mouse Cracks Jokes As Police End Performance On New Years Eve

As the Sunshine band launched into the riddim of Rude Boy Jamaican, the Negril police abruptly halted Eek-A-Mouse’s New Year’s Eve concert at Bella Donna’s on Summerset Road in West End, in the resort town, shortly before 2 o’ clock on Wednesday morning.

A wryly amused Eek-A-Mouse, after being informed by the band’s guitarist that the police had ordered them to “lock off,” attributed the intervention to the song itself—his 2001 hit about the fateful day the police shot General Starkey, one of Kingston’s most notorious gunmen, 43 years ago.

“Mi nuh tell yuh seh di police nuh waan hear dat man—Rude Boy Jamaican. A di wrong song!” Eek-A-Mouse exclaimed, attempting to humorously appease the officers and affirm his innocence.

Turning directly to the police, he pleaded, “But boss, mi can sing an no music? Officer, mi can sing live song acapella, no music?”

“Jus’ sing ’bout New!” a male patron chimed in from the crowd.

“Wha yuh seh, mi can sing with no music?” Eek-A-Mouse asked the officers again before turning back to the audience and beginning to sing the lyrics to Ganja Smuggling.

The concert, which was one of the West End’s most anticipated New Year’s Eve events, had already seen performances from veteran artists such as Principal Grundy, Power Drill (a blind singer), reggae artist Emiliano from Mexico, and Kingston-based singer Effective. Fans from Europe, North America, and Jamaica gathered at Bella Donna’s, a venue renowned for its live reggae shows, to enjoy what the promoter had envisioned as an unforgettable night.

The police intervention, however, brought the event to an early end. Under Jamaica’s Noise Abatement Act, events must end by midnight during the week and 2:00 a.m. on weekends. While a temporary amendment during the Christmas season has extended this cut-off by two hours in 2019, it expired on December 31, that year. Promoters are still able to apply to the Ministry of Culture and Entertainment for their events to be extended to an additional two hours.

The song Rude Boy Jamaican has garnered over 20 million views on YouTube. In it, Eek-A-Mouse declares his independence as a “badman,” not reliant on anyone else, and uses vivid imagery to illustrate his connection to his gun:

“Eat wid mi gun, sleep wid mi gun
Even clean mi teeth wid mi gun
Pon mi side mi keep mi gun
Mi finger numb if mi can’t feel mi gun”

One verse references Monday, June 1, 1981, the day 26-year-old gangster Anthony “General Starkey” Tingle was killed by police in Trench Town after returning from a dance. Eek-A-Mouse, who narrowly escaped death that day, sings:

“It was a Monday morning when dem kill di General
An di man dem bawlin, Kingston 12 stress out
Crooked politicians come down
When di police come you run
Dem want shoot you down wid gun.”

In a May 2023 interview with The Star, Eek-A-Mouse recounted that Starkey often disguised himself in dresses, wigs, and lipstick to evade the police. On the day of his death, Starkey was reportedly unwell and had gone to rest at 17 Love Street after a party.

“After di session, dem tell me seh Starkey feel sick. Him did a throw up and him go inna di yard at 17 Love Street and go lie down. A deejay name Errol Shorter from Love Lane did have a toothache and Shorter guh sleep inna di room, and other man go lie down, too. My mother always seh anytime yuh see too much man a sleep inna house, don’t go in deh. A mi mother save mi,” he recalled.

Eek-A-Mouse further described how a lookout named Skellie, armed with an M16, alerted him to the police’s arrival. Crawling on his belly to investigate, Eek-A-Mouse quickly returned to warn Starkey, who was dressed in bathing trunks and wearing a “Chiney bump” hairstyle at the time.

As Starkey attempted to flee with a 9mm pistol in his waistband, police encircled the property and opened fire.

“A policeman push him gun inna mi forehead and mi bawl out, ‘Boss nuh kill me! A me name Eek-A-Mouse!’ Him seh, ‘Bwoy, a yuh a Eek-A-Mouse with the big song A Wha Do Dem? Wha’ yuh a do yah? … a criminal we a look fah. Stay yah so,’” Eek-A-Mouse recounted to The Star.

After the shootout, he witnessed the gruesome aftermath:

“Mi see di police officers throwing the men’s corpses, including Starkey, into a truck. Dem lean on a 90-degree angle and mi see the blood a run out.”