It seems as if big brother is watching and listening at the same time. News has traveled fast about the recent derogatory acts by performers in the entertainment field.  Not only in music but on the radio where masses of people listen to get their “groove on,” so to speak. The exploitation of the term “freedom of speech” has gone too far.

Entertainers feel they can say anything they want at any given time and live a life full of freedom. Music is now becoming a competitive industry to see who can be the baddest and nastiest superstar on the planet. Many would agree that the more sexual and raunchy the lyrics, the more the song sells. Everyone waits to see the video, and if it’s in the same line as the lyrics, the song reaches the top of the chart.  It’s troublesome that many youngsters look to these artists as their role models. You can’t blame them-they see the jewelry, clothes, cars, women, money, and they figure it’s cool to be that way. The music that’s sending a more positive message is not as popular. Don’t get me wrong, some of these explicit songs do send a message about life, but the entertainers need to be more tactful. Imagine turning on your radio where every other word is bleeped out, after, in most instances, half of the word is already uttered.

Most of these entertainers have limited vocabulary, so it’s hard to write decent lyrics. Some blame it on their upbringing, and figure it’s just the norm to be a thug. The whole concept is ruining the minds of the younger generation. Children can now get access to these lyrics with the greatest of ease. Half of the time parents are unaware of the lyrical content of the songs their offspring listen to on the radio or even watch on TV.  It’s evident in all forms of music, and growing at a rapid rate.

The fast pace and fast life is devastating in some ways to one’s health as well as the mind.  The music industry is making tons of dollars from all these entertainers and vice versa. It’s just such a shame that it has to come down to this: the quality of today’s music is not as rich and clean as it was back in the days.  Take Reggae music for instance.  The great Bob Marley and Dennis Brown gave all they had to bring the music to higher heights. They even complimented each other on their hard work. Today is far different with all the lyrical wars, competitions, and even theft. Most artists are in it for a get-rich-overnight scheme. This has hurt the Reggae industry on a whole. Many great artists are still doing the right thing and putting out quality music. But it seems as if they have to work extra hard to get the attention they deserve.

Reggae is growing at such a fast pace that even other genres of music want to be a part of it.  Most popular billboard artists are now infiltrating Reggae in their own style of entertainment. This is somewhat good and has helped other reggae acts do likewise. However, it has become a nightmare to hear the quality of the more popular dancehall tunes today. It’s full of profanity, violence, and obscene gestures towards women. To make matters worse, these songs are popular because that’s what most of today’s younger generation want to hear.  Just recently, one of the biggest musical events took place in Jamaica (Reggae Sumfest). It was suppose to bring back unity to the Island that was plague by violence several weeks before the event. We saw nothing but the same outbreak that the organizers were trying to avoid-artists using profanity and obscene language on stage and towards each other. Of course this was on Dancehall night.

Visitors to the country were in shock to see and hear such behavior. Many of these artists felt it was cool to behave like animals. Little did they know it would affect their careers in the long run. The bigger officials in the country decided enough was enough. They are now taking a keen look and watching these entertainers at every stage show on the Island. The tables have turned; anyone caught going to the extreme with profanity will be banned from performing at major events and possibly face charges. It’s important to have freedom of speech but it’s also important to speak about freedom. I agree with these officials, the music industry needs to make it clear to these entertainers that it’s time to clean up their act. Radio stations need to start playing more quality music and people need to support positive artists on a broader basis. Most of the songs today have samples or influences from older music. The entire music industry needs to be more productive in making quality music. In most instances many would agree that music is life. People can feel the lyrical content in a song, and many react to that feeling. Let’s make music that’s positive, so that people have more positive reactions that will cause them to do positive acts.
ONE LOVE & GOD BLESS.