Junior Reid

Ace roots reggae singer, Junior Reid, is contending that the ugly incident that truncated Reggae Sumfest's Dancehall Night is part and parcel of an ongoing hypocrisy and conspiracy within the music fraternity.

Taking the entertainment media to task, the international reggae star charges that "the same song dem weh cause the man dem to fight, a dem play pon radio everyday."

The former lead vocalist of the Grammy Award winning super group, Black Uhuru, in an interview with the Observer, launched a scathing attack against the powers that be as well as sections of the media, whom he deemed guilty of corrupting the music.

"The whole thing is a ole hypocrite thing. And if the government ah goh sey dem ah goh charge man, and dem little thing deh, dem ah fi goh charge ah ole heap ah people," declared Delroy "Junior" Reid.

He added,"Dem ah fi goh charge some people weh play certain tune pon the radio. Because nuh song nuh suppose to play pon the radio if it have fi beep out. You see when di youth dem kick back and see a when you war dem show, yuh pon TV, every man gone to war."

He underscored the point by noting that it is those entertainers who are always clashing with each other which the media constantly highlight.

The police has been cracking down on the use of profanity by artistes on stage, in the wake of Reggae Sumfest's Dancehall Night, which was marred by several profanity-laced performances by a number of artistes, as well as the Champions in Action stage show, where much of the same thing occurred. Some of the artistes who appeared on both shows have since been hauled before the courts on breaches of the Town and Community Act.

Last week, top acts Marion "Lady Saw" Hall and Rodney "Bounty Killa" Pryce, were given sentences requiring them to perform community service. A third appellant, deejay, Anthony B, was acquitted.

Reid, also questioned the inclusion of so many foreign acts on Reggae Sumfest, while noting that despite his stature as an artiste, he has not been invited to appear on the festival in seven years.

He said while he is not "fighting against" foreign acts, because he sometimes performs abroad on shows put on by foreign artistes, they should not overshadow local artistes of his calibre.

"And the foreign acts sometimes nuh work out, because they are not placed in the right slot ... and what's more, the foreign artistes said dem nah do any interviews in Jamaica for Jamaica nuh really help them record sales. Dem nuh need Jamaica."

He claims that part of the reason he is being starved of shows locally is because of the kind of music he makes as well as some positions he had taken in the past like his refusal to sign a deal with international pop diva, Madonna, as well as his turning down a role in the Jamaican dancehall movie, Klash.

"Is like me get banned off Sumfest because me sing One Blood, Love Is The Answer, Listen to the Voices, Mashing Up The Earth, Banana Boat Man, Foreign Mind and all dem song deh. Dem can't sey me nuh current, I'm ever current. One Blood lick over 10 years ago and now it lick back with Wu Tang Clan and sell two million and the original One Blood still selling.

"Mi ah fi ah wonda if mi ah fi sing certain tune weh sey fi go kill people and do dem dis an dat... But dem can't get mi off of my track. So me is a man who maintain my style, pon my same road -- mi never bowed."

He contends that it is the artistes who bring the music into disrepute who are getting the top billings.

"They are not doing anything for reggae. Some little man weh all dem do is bring down reggae music. Dem song only sell fi three months and stop. Mi nuh hear nobody a lick back nuh boop boop rhythm, yuh nuh. So if yuh ah fi goh lick back Coxsone's rhythms and certain man rhythms, a dat ah the tune."

The CEO of J R Production and the One Blood Recording Studio vowed that he will never resort to singing songs that degrade women or songs that encourage the youth to become war mongers.

"We sing tune that will never die, for all times."

With respect to the movie Klash, the artiste, whose hit-making credits also includes Great Train Robbery, explains that having read the script, he came to the conclusion that the message it was sending was not in sync with his outlook as a Rastafarian.

"The reason why mi turn down Klash, [is] because dem woulda use Klash and wan kill me... dem a gi mi a Don role. Mi tell dem Donovan dust di don. Dat deh pon mi album weh name, One Blood... They wan while stage show a gwaan, me come hold up di stadium. Big Rastaman with dreadlocks come hold up di stadium wid machine gun... yu see di message weh mi see dat a send. It a send a message sey -- when yuh go to dancehall or these stage shows, you don't safe. Because di big speaker can be making noise round deh so and man a dead and you don't know."

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