Cocoa Tea

Beenie Man, Capleton, Marcia Griffiths, Cocoa Tea, I-Wayne, Mahmoud Ahmed from Ethiopia, The Itals, Jovi Rockwell, Fire Star, Lionize, Image Band, The Iternals, S.T.O.R.M. AND MANY MORE....

A few weeks ago, I had a conversation via Twitter with Andrew Collins, About.com's Guide to Gay Travel, regarding modern reggae and dancehall music. If you're not familiar with dancehall, it's an upbeat genre of music based on reggae rhythms (or, more precisely, riddims) that features a deejay toasting (rapping) over the top. Musically, it's really fun. Lyrically... well, not so much. There are plenty of dancehall artists whose lyrics are socially conscious and respectful, but the majority of popular artists tend towards slackness, specifically violent homophobia. I've got a pretty decent mental filtration system, and years of practice have put me in a place where I can listen to lyrics that I disagree with and see them as indicators of socioeconomic factors and cultures that are different from my own, but even I can't take some of the more hateful lyrics that directly advocate killing gays and lesbians. It's especially true because Jamaica is one of the most dangerous places in the world for homosexuals, where violent attacks are commonplace and offenders are rarely prosecuted. Going back to my Twitter conversation with Andrew Collins, we both agreed that throwing the baby out with the bathwater is definitely not the solution on this one. My personal strategy is one of a reverse boycott (a girlcott?) - I do buy reggae music and support Jamaican artists, but only the ones who I feel are using their lyrics for good. This is where roots reggae comes in. Roots reggae became a distinct subgenre of Jamaican music in the late 1970s, just as dancehall began to emerge. In those days, roots reggae was the thing: Bob Marley and Peter Tosh were selling massive amounts of records throughout the world, and singing about spirituality, brotherhood, love, the struggles of the oppressed, and other things that, though sometimes controversial, were not directly offensive. There are, in fact, still artists around who are rocking these sorts of lyrics - one of my favorites is Burning Spear. All the reggae rhythms you could want, and nothing hateful or hurtful, unless you're offended by religious or liturgical music - many of Burning Spear's songs are about Rastafarianism, a nonviolent religion. Burning Spear is what I think of as a "legacy artist," though - he's been around since the good old days - there are modern roots reggae artists, as well: Cocoa Tea, Junior Kelly, and Ziggy Marley, just to name a few. What are your thoughts on homophobia in modern Jamaican music? Should people who disagree with these lyrics boycott Jamaican music (or Jamaican exports entirely)? Should we support the artists who don't sing violent lyrics? Should we just go ahead and listen to the slack lyrics and view them a valid expression of an oppressed culture, whether or not we agree? What do you think?

At least two prominent Jamaican music icons, Marcia Griffiths and Cocoa Tea, flew to Washington DC and endured the freezing cold to witness the inauguration of the first African-American President of the United States, Barack Obama.