Free to be foul?

- File

Police Commissioner, Francis Forbes, had always expressed disgust at the situation.

David Dunkley, Staff Reporter

THE whip of the law has cracked as an attempt is being made to clean up the dancehall and curtail the use of profanity at public stage shows in Jamaica.

Charged under section 30 of the Town and Communities Act for use of profance language are: American rappers ­ Snoop Doggy Dog and Ja Rule; Jamaican deejays ­ Bounty Killer, Beenie Man, Merciless, Elephant Man, Baby Cham, Sizzla, Anthony B, Kip Rich, Alozade and Ghost.

These artistes performed at two of the major stage shows for the summer ­ Sumfest and Champions in Action. The Dancehall night of Sumfest ended in chaos and sparked public protest and since then the police have become militant.

Deputy Superintendent James Forbes, head of the Constabulary Communications Network, says the public outcry was one of the main reasons why the police began to enforce the laws at the shows.

Laws which he admits were previously overlooked.

DSP Forbes said Police Commissioner, Francis Forbes, had always expressed disgust at the situation. But since the Sumfest 2001 debacle the head cop gave strict instructions that the laws be enforced at these shows.

So some entertainers may lose the princely sum of $1,000 from their bank account for each charge of uttering profane lyrics, or face a jail term of 30 days.

Yet many are not overly opposed to the new muscle flexing of the law.

Hawkeye, who has recorded songs such as Twingy Twang and Money Making Guy says everyone has a right to freedom of speech but sometimes some of the artistes abuse the right. He said the measures will not affect him but he feels it may affect other entertainers who people expect those types of lyrics from.

"I feel it's good the police are trying to take the profanities out the dancehall because it encourages artistes to show more talent," deejay Hawkeye told The Sunday Gleaner.

But the artistes also suggest that the hardline of the police might do harm to their craft and others even suggest that it threatens their freedom of speech.

Deejay Bling Dawg, aka Ricky Rudy, says he is not entirely happy with the regulations but says, the law of the country and if it is being enforced then he has no choice but to abide by it.

Warning

"I really don't agree with them summoning the deejays, I think they should have warned them first and let them know that they will be charged. But at the same time it is a law of the country and we must abide," he said.

The deejay says many people want to hear the lewd lyrics and foul language and a deejay has to give his audience what they want. He suggested that some shows should be labeled and rated.

There was a public outcry against the profanity, abusive, indecent language which were used by some performers at the Sumfest show in Montego Bay, earlier last month. The police since then have been on a drive to enforce the Town and Communities Act which speaks to, among other things, the uttering of lewd, abusive and indecent language in public.

Conviction under the Town And Communities Act is not a criminal offence so it does not go on the person's record and no fingerprints are taken.

This means that a deejay can be taken before the court and convicted several times for such an offence and this is the extent of the punishment. DSP Forbes said: "A few years ago deejays were not behaving this sort of way. There weren't any guns at stage shows, people weren't smoking and blowing ganja all over the place, people never use to throw bottle, deejays never use to have lewd lyrics and lewd behaviour," he said.

But from all reports lewd behaviour at stage shows is nothing new.

In 1991 the dancehall stage show Sting at the National Stadium ended with bottle throwing and abusive threats by a deejay on stage.

According to a Gleaner report, at Sting 1988 the plug had to be pulled on deejays on stage because of excessive crudity and slackness of their messages.

Bottle brawls

And there are also other reports of bottle brawls at All School's Jam in Montego Bay.

But this is the first time that police have taken such forceful action against so many artistes. Action which includes a high police presence at some stageshows and the hi-tech scrutiny of the event through video recordings for post-mortem reviews.

Forbes dismissed suggestions that in telling a entertainer what he can or cannot say at a show is infringing on his/her freedom of speech.

"Freedom of speech goes with responsibility and it is the responsibility for all of us to obey the law," he asserted. "That is one of the responsibilities that comes with freedom of speech."

Deejay Bounty Killer, who has already been summoned twice, for his performances at Sumfest and Champions in Action, said in an interview in The Gleaner that telling deejays what they can or cannot say is the only measure he does not agree with. Bounty Killer said whenever he goes to a show he goes to give the people what they want.

"I'm not letting anyone spoil my performance. I go to a show to work and I work," he said.

Deejay Elephant Man, who was summoned for his Sumfest performance, says he believes entertainers are being tied down and forced to give less than what they really have to give or what the audience really wants. He said this may very well affect the entertainer's career.

"Certain songs we want fi do we can't do them, certain things we want to say we can't say them," he said. "We ca'an lick out on certain people certain way and that is what people want to hear from us."

So do the police believe summoning a deejay to court for the same matter several times will stop the breaches of the Act?

"Whether it will or will not, there's nothing the cops can do about that," DSP Forbes said.

"If that is how they want to treat it, then let them do what they want," he said. "We have the power to enforce the law, not apply the punishment."

DSP Forbes is adamant that enforcing the law will not affect a deejay's career or performance.

"The fact that people came away from Sashi 2001 and enjoyed and commended the show and we never found anything to summon anyone before the courts, is an indication that there can be performances that people can enjoy without the law being broken," he said.

Decency

Debbie Fraser, an entertainment lawyer, said the cops, from reports which she has received, are enforcing the law and trying to ensure a level of decency in the dancehall. This she says she supports.

Pointing to Bob Marley and Shaggy, Fraser said there are a lot of artistes who have made it internationally without using profanity in their music. "As entertainers they have a responsibility to act in a decent manner and if they break the law just like any other person, they should be made to answer," she declared.

Deejay Baby Cham, who was also summoned for his performance at Sumfest, says he believes the police's action is just to distract the nation from the current problem of crime and violence. "Police are straying from what really is the issue, them just looking something else to put into the limelight, but I believe they should put more emphasis on crime," he said.

The deejay says the dancehall is a place where one hears lewd lyrics and those who want to come and hear such come at their own free will.

He said in cases where the audience at a show includes children the deejays should tone down their lyrics.

In terms of his performance, the deejay says he does not have to use profanity so he has no reason to change his performance.

"Like how them want we to stop those word and things, we going to add our own little spice and make our own word them now", was how deejay Kip Rich responded to the cops' actions.

Kip Rich was reported to have made slanderous statements about the Prime Minister PJ Patterson, during his performance at Sumfest for which he was also summoned. He later apologised to the Prime Minister in a letter. The Mothers chain of fast food restaurants, pulled an advertisement the deejay had done for them and said they would be having discussions with the deejay as it relates to his future with the company.

The deejay told The Sunday Gleaner he agrees with the move by the police but the deejays should have been warned.

"They should have had a meeting with the artiste and let them know cause it is something that had been going on from along time," he said.

Back to Entertainment