Friday, March 27, 2009

What happened to having a childhood?




Remember the days of Chinese Skip, Run-down and Lick, Ring games and telling your age in fractions because you just really wanted to grow up. For those of us now grown childhood evokes fond memories of things that we can no longer do as adults of innocence and wide-eyed exploration which adults cannot posses. Childhood was also a time when we longed to occupy adult spaces. Staying up late, drinking wine, smoking and being able to dance all night if we wanted to, were all the things we wished to do. What is childhood anyway? Childhood as defined by the American Heritage Dictionary is the first period of substantive intellectual, social and emotional development in humans; a period characterized by dependency (for survival) on a greater power or authority; generally entailing an inability to comprehend issues and realities beyond immediate experience.

Dancehall music and culture is no doubt very influential and to the undeveloped mind that cannot truly differentiate what is real and what is fiction, what are good values to posses and what is only appropriate for only a certain space. In this theatre of the Dancehall culture in which more is never enough. Everyone is over sexed, over-high and overly violent. If this is the mother’s milk that feeds the coming generations in an unchecked manner then the present social problems of a exponentially high crime rate, teen pregnancy and a mass of unsupervised, uncared for, unwanted children will only continue.

It is easy to lay the blame and point fingers. All one has to do is point and say “its your fault”. That solves the problem and the pointer is satisfied that there is no longer a problem. As a society we have been doing this for much too long. Unfortunately our problems fester and manifest in eventually more ugly forms. As a society we have failed preceding generations of children, each more than the other. We always seem to find superficial things to blame such as Dancehall or the Media. We say the music is slack, homophobic, ignorant, and violent, never questioning how much of the content is a reflection of the society. We are very quick to dismiss the people who inhabit this space as the dregs of society, base humans and we see no harm when the police exterminate a few.

There is no place for innocence in the dancehall. There is no place for children nor is it a space for anyone to use as a means of primary socialization. This is a scared space to those who maturely occupy it. To be honest children are unable to comprehend actions and innuendos that inhabit the space, obviously they will misunderstand and it is in this misunderstanding where they become scared for life. It’s not hard to miss really little girls acting overly sexual some not caring about STD/STI’s. It is even sadder when you see how many young men get lost along the way, all wanting to fit the dominant male archetype in the dance, the ‘Don’ or the ‘Entertainer’. Usually typified by how many females he possess and where: “Move yu draws and sidung.” Is considered both romance and foreplay. Personally I am jus tired of seeing children force ripe or other wise in the dance hall and other adult events. I am also tired of the adults who encourage their presence, especially the women who allow themselves to be mounted by young boys as a novelty act. Wonder why no one else see them as paedophiles?

It would be stupid to think that systems were perfect in the past. However they ALL weren’t dysfunctional. So for example, if a child came from a bad home, then there was the school, various clubs, the wider community and even the church acted as surrogates. In essence acceptable socialization agents worked. They didn’t need to go above and beyond their respective roles, some did, and all they had to do was what they were supposed to do. One gets the feeling that everyone else is supposed to be a parent but the actual parents.

Now it feels like nothing works. And as a result the last thing that seems to have some sort of order, some relevance, some function. Is the Dancehall culture! Go fig?


1 American Heritage Dictionary. Fourth Edition. 2000.
© Copyright 2006 Education for Peace International. All rights reserved. 10:53 29/04/08


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Thursday, March 5, 2009

10 Reasons why I like Konshens


  1. He’s soooooo dreamy ^_^

  2. In an age where people constantly chastise Dancehall music, he proves that there are good artists who still produce quality music. It’s not all about Gal, Guns, and Money.

  3. He didn’t sell out. We buy into marketing every day and Dancehall is no exception to this rule. As much as we flaunt freedom and rebellion, the ubiquitous image of the conscious Rasta man permeates the culture. It is therefore refreshing that he chooses to be an exception and by him sporting a nice fade and efficiently delivering a good clean message he is more of a rebel than many who buy into the “Rastaman” image. God he’s dreamy.

  4. In this Global Recession he’s got his priorities right. In his début song “Winner” displays his go-getter almost anything goes attitude that guarantees success. This also makes for a good provider.

  5. He is a good storyteller form start to finish with his songs you get a very vivid image of the thoughts and feelings he tries to convey. His songs are properly constructed so that listeners can appreciate the fact that effort went into making an introduction, verses, chorus, bridge etc. Thank you Konshens.

  6. Did I mention he’s dreamy? While not metro he does seem to actually put some effort into his appearance, at the same time not being a bleached face, tight pants wearing confused male who needs to prove to the world how much he fits the approved male archetype by singing anti-gay songs and by letting the world know how many women he has “daggered”. In short he is just well put together, you get the feeling he is pretty grounded in his values so by extension he exudes a timeless elegance so no matter what he wears, for e.g. wife-beaters and jeans or a suit, his swagger is still the same.

  7. “If you looking for me I’ll be at my baby yard,

    At my woman yard, oh at my empress yard.”

    One just has to respect a man who is able to strike a balance between his love for women and his need to be a womanizer. It is absolutely refreshing to know that there are REAL men who still know how to treat and pamper REAL women. Much respect is due to a man with enough good sense, that is able to differentiate between a community whore and an empress. There is a feeling of deep respect and love for the opposite sex, so you know he was brought up right.

  8. His voice is great and he has a nice flow. That is important cause no woman wants a man that sounds like Urkel.

  9. Right now he looks like he has staying power. Thus far most of the songs we hear from him display a timeless quality about them. It is easy to see him many many years from now effectively doing vintage shows and drawing huge crowds. He shows so much potential to become his own giant instead of being the next [Insert name here]. He is just Konshens with his own style and sound.

  10. He is good boyfriend material for some nice Dragon, Ox, Monkey, Taurus, Scorpio, Pisces, and maybe Cancer mix. His earth element says he is reliable strong, hardworking and practical. The fact that he is a Capricorn means he is supposedly charming by nature, very focused, good with money, and apparently intelligent and quick-witted. His Rat makes him pretty thrifty, astute and possess really great instincts and he likes nice things (I don’t know what that’s suppose to mean I thought everyone did). His possible down side is his stubbornness and he would be very secretive, good memory so he won’t forget to hold a grudge if he feels he was wronged. His inner perfectionist at times will be a bit overbearing. If you can live through that then he is your number 1, you know if you're into that sort of stuff.