THEY say it never rains, but it pours. Following closely on the heels of my last article, I too watched the Ricky Trooper video on youtube.com. It would have been hilarious, were it some kind of fictional movie, but in real life, it was both pitiful and despicable. I have to admit that the word ‘moronic’ kept popping up in my thoughts throughout, as an apt description of Trooper’s behaviour in this video.

Two scenes, in particular, provoked this thought. The first one is where he brandished what seems to be a Springfield Armoury XD 9mm compact pistol. He finally points it directly at the camera, with explicit instructions that it be put on youtube.com. It was completely asinine and juvenile of his camp to put out the release, after the video’s presence on YouTube, claiming that it was not a gun, but a cigarette lighter. Do they really think they are fooling anyone with this line of argument? Especially the Feds?

The second scene had Trooper saying “‘Merica, yuh cyaan get me out, a two visa mi ‘ave. ‘Merica, mi pay me tax, a two visa me ‘ave.” He goes on to display both his working visa and his 10-year visitors’ visa and instructs the person recording the drama to put it on YouTube.

While I am not sure what role this played in the cancellation of his visas, it certainly did not take long for him to be proven wrong. The YouTube video surely could not have helped his cause.

What is more debilitating is the impact behaviour like this is having on the Jamaican music industry by extension. It provides fodder to those who describe dancehall as ‘duncehall’ music. Furthermore, as per usual, when there is bad news, the media conveniently classifies this outrageous behaviour as typical of all Reggae artistes. The distinction between Reggae and Dancehall music is discarded, to our collective detriment. This, then, is the classic Achilles’ heel of our Jamaican music industry.

A natural instinct of most Jamaicans, I know, is to protect and defend our own, because the world seems always to be coming down hard on us. No one in their right mind, however, could defend Ricky Trooper in this instance. He is clearly not a good representative of the majority of our people or our music industry — much less should he be even allowed to claim the role of ambassador of Dancehall music on the international stage.

In a sense, the non-conformist nature of our popular music was essentially revolutionary in instrumental and lyrical content. This has traditionally been a main strength in its universal appeal to the alienated and downtrodden people of all creeds and nations. It was always soul food for the weary and oppressed; it was battle anthems for the militants struggling for their freedom. In Jamaica, from the late 1950s onwards, every ‘bad man’ saw himself as a nascent revolutionary, joining a worldwide movement to ‘beat down Babylon’, to shake off the yoke of colonial and class exploitation. Unfortunately, that image is fast being eroded by some devious miscreants in and out of our music industry. Now, when they refer to themselves as ‘bad man’, it simply means unsavoury links with criminality, drug running, bullyism, bad-word mongering, misogynist, female abuser and vile lyricist. If we in the industry do not expose these elements and reject their behaviour outright, we are not only hypocrites, but also shooting our industry and ourselves in the foot. Please forgive the violent analogy, but it seems quite apt in the circumstances.

If we remain silent, however, we are only going to speed up the death of the very industry on which Jamaica has, to a large extent, pinned its future economic development. How many people heard or read the comments of the USA diplomatic representative at the opening of the new Red Bones Restaurant, where he spoke about no longer tolerating artistes who continually disregard their laws against discrimination and, in contravention of them, promote violence in interviews and on stage, while on their performance tours of the United States?

For more than two years I have been calling on my colleagues in this industry to self-regulate or face sanctions from civil and government authorities in Jamaica and around the world. We must urge all the members of our Jamaican music industry to respect and obey all the laws– including taxation compliance — of the host countries, in which the ply their trade. There can be no more compromising on these issues, as the livelihood of our artistes and very survival of our industry is imperilled.

We had already seen the trends developing in Europe, and should therefore not be surprised at the latest counter-action from the American authorities. If we are not careful, by the time we awake from our drunken slumber, there will be no roses to smell.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, I urge my readers to listen to On the Promenade, with Tony Munroe on Hot 102FM on Monday nights from 10:00 pm to midnight. For those couple hours, Tony takes you on a jazz scene of R&B and Reggae-influenced music. The programme is a must-listen for jazz enthusiasts, interspersed with titbits of information on what’s happening on the international jazz scene.

Email: che.campbell@gmail.com