Lecturer in Reggae Studies at the Institute of Caribbean Studies, UWI, Mona, Dr Donna Hope, in pointing to what she terms the hypocrisy that exists towards popular Jamaican music, revealed that unsuccessful efforts were made to ban Queen Ifrica's current hit song, Daddy from airplay.

In a thought-provoking presentation that garnered mixed reactions from the audience at the well attended 2008 Bob Marley Lecture recently, Dr Hope noted that at Rebel Salute, Queen Ifrica did not perform the song.

DR Donna Hope (left) being presented with a copy of the latest book written on reggae icon Bob Marley by author Vivien Goldman. The presentation was made after Dr Hope's address at the annual Bob Marley lecture at the Undercroft at UWI on Thursday.

"I later learned that a female representative of one of the sponsors insisted that the song was unfit for performance at that time," Dr Hope told the large gathering.

Speaking under the theme, The Full Has Never Been Told: Exploring Dancehall's Moral Conscience, the forthright dancehall doctor asserted that in most instances dancehall music has been subjected to unreasonable criticism and has been charged with every single dastardly deed that has plagued the Jamaican society.

Hers was a lively discourse as the respected academic frequently revealed her artistic fervour by deejaying a line or two of some of the songs. Donna Hope highlighted more than a dozen artistes whose songs speak to the moral conscience of the genre - artistes such as Bounty Killer, Cham, Baby Wayne, Busy Signal, Spragga Benz, Ninjaman and Buju Banton.

"Baby Wayne's Mama, set the stage early as a powerful anti-gay/prison narrative that is pointed directly at our young men. Baby Wayne takes you within the prison to witness the ignominious defeat of this badman who cries consistently for Mama. Yu haunted, kill man and get and get wanted, mi nuh response fi yu and courthouse business.... Mama him all a sweat inna pants when him hear di judge gi him a life sentance..."

After completing her analysis of the anti-prison theme in dancehall tunes which included Busy Signal's popular single, Nah Go A Jail Again, Dr Hope turned her focus on contraception and family planning. She made reference to Ninjaman's hit single Protection that piggy backed on the public education campaign of the National Family Planning Board and its slogan, "two is better than too many", and Buju Banton's Willie with the line, "rude bwoy don't be silly, put some rubba pon yu willie".

"Ninjaman's 1987 Protection with Courtney Melody, seems like an important lyrical intervention into the continuing challenge of teenage pregnancy and acted as an exhortation for the use of contraceptives," she continued.

Dr Hope noted that Beenie Man's Straight Prison depict paedophilia, rightly, as a criminal act for which the offender must go straight to prison.

"Queen Ifrica's most recent foray into this realm also speaks to the notion of sexual abuse of teenage children by heterosexual males."

Elaborating further, Dr Donna Hope observed that boys are also the victims of child sexual molestation and must be protected as well. She said the carefully crafted lyrical content of Ifrica's Daddy forcefully rips away the mask form the twin towers of the open secret of paedophilia and incest.

This Dr Hope said, was the reason for her choosing the theme of her presentation. "Because it was again a serious underrating and underanking of the value of some of the messages of our popular music culture. Two recent events also propelled me to make this thematic choice for my lecture this evening, Exploring Dancehall's Moral Conscience..... in the words of Buju Banton who comes out of dancehall as Mr Mention and transformed into Shiloh with his transformation by Rastafari, The Full has Never Been Told."

In defining what is dancehall, she said beginning in the 1990s, the term dancehall came to mean much more than just a place where you go to dance and have fun. "Dancehall music coalesced into a culture and gained prominence as the current manifestation of Jamaican popular music culture from the 1980s onwards. As dancehall music progressed it transformed from a relatively non confrontational cultural expression that narrated the intricacies of the day-to-day lives of poor Jamaicans to include challenges to the dominance of the sociopolitical system. The mode of this challenge is often difficult to decipher, but it is couched for example, in exhalation to maltreatment of the vagina, for testimonials about the wonders of the punny, the celebration of the glock, the nine and other weapons that masquerade as extensions of male power.

"The multiple themes that encapsulate Dancehall's Moral Conscience moved beyond the limited stereotypes as slack and vulgar...so defined. This demonisation of slackness fits neatly into the artificial and limiting dichotomy that had been created around dancehall, which serves to polarise and hence some pristine and socially accepted category labelled kulcha."

But given all of that, Dr Donna Hope's Bob Marley lecture was seen by some as condescending as she sugar coated the issue without making any reference to the negative aspect of dancehall culture. As a result of which she was challenged more than once from the floor during the question-and answer period. When it all ended, one well known entertainer was overheard saying to a group of persons, that "For every one positive dancehall tune from most of the artistes that she made mention of, there were 10 negative tunes."

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