Reggae artiste Queen Ifrica says she was “bothered” by a recent song collaboration that features veteran deejay Bounty Killer and dancehall newcomer Jahshii.

Speaking at the Security Summit of the Montego Bay Chamber of Commerce in St James on Wednesday, the singer stated that older artistes have an obligation to help mentor and mould their younger peers.

“Bounty Killer did a song wid Jahshii. Now Jahshii, I love him very much. He is one of our very budding potential superstars out of this country… Now the song that Bounty Killer did with Jahshii is a very serious gun song,” she said. “I was bothered by it as a fellow artiste. The song very nice, very catchy, the yutes are into it, but we are here today because of the level of violence that we are seeing played out amongst our young people in particular.”

Queen Ifrica said that while every artiste reserves the right to do as they please artistically, older artistes should be encouraging their younger peers to do songs that are more elevating.

According to her, Jahshii did not earn his place in the industry as an artiste who spat gun lyrics.  In her assessment, the Cream of the Crop artiste, who gained his popularity through uplifting songs, should be encouraged to continue down the path of positivity.

“So I want to say to Bounty Killer, that as much as I love you and the fact that you have introduced so many great artistes into the space, you’re getting like a grandfather role now, these are great-grandchildren that you have dealing with. Change the strategy a little.”

“I am saying to you now Jahshii, that as much as you have the right to be lyrical and do what you want to do, let’s do some of these songs that will elevate your peers’ minds so they don’t feel like ‘chapping’ is the only way out or guard rings.”

Queen Ifrica also shared that if veteran artistes are serious about mentoring today’s generation, it can be done. She went on to indicate that at present, she is putting plans in motion to reach out to some of these artistes to help bring about the change she speaks of.

“A lot of these youths want to come to us as elders, but a lot of us as elders are not approachable. We feel like we been there, done dat. I have all a dem number in my phone and I am trying to set up a meeting so I can help them to understand that see Vybz deh, Tommy Lee deh, they are in jail and we don’t know the reason why they’re there but they are still very influential even though they are in there. Let’s look at what we’re doing wrong in the industry and really try to help these youths who really look up to us the way they do.”