‘Every ghetto youth is a star’

Professor Donna Hope is calling on the teams of political leaders to be more cognizant during song selection they employ on the campaign trail leading into the upcoming local government elections.

The socio-cultural commentator gave the caution during an interview with THE WEEKEND STAR on Thursday night, hours after Prime Minister Andrew Holness used one of Vybz Kartel’s popular phrases at a political meeting.

Holness, explaining his government’s quest to “move Jamaicans from poverty to prosperity”, seemingly borrowed a line from one of Kartel’s songs.

“It is not just my belief,” Holness said. “One deejay said it far more eloquently than I could have said it, ‘Every ghetto youth is a star’,” he said to rousing response from the crowd that gathered at the Montego Bay Convention Centre in St James for the announcement of the date for local government elections.

Kartel, one of Jamaica’s most celebrated entertainers, used the words ‘Every ghetto youth is a star’ in two songs, Reparations and Unstoppable.

In Reparations, which Kartel did with Gaza Slim, he deejays:

As long as dem…

N ah buy no gun

Nah support no war

Big up di man dem star from near and far

Dem call it scam

Mi call it reparation

Every ghetto yute is a star (Yow yow!)

So dem wah live like one (one one…)

The lyrics of Unstoppable are likely to be far less contentious as the entertainer uses that song to speak about his triumph over adversities. He deejays:

Mi nuh pay badmind nuh mind

Work hard fi achieve what’s mine

Unuh never waan si the star shine

Every ghetto youth is a star

Hope said that it does not matter whether Holness was quoting from Reparations or Unstoppable. In fact, she said politicians will use dancehall lyrics and songs to connect with a certain demographic.

“It’s a certain type of vibe – politicians like to connect with popular culture, but they don’t spend time to either understand, or have people around them to kinda guide them on what to connect to,” Hope said.

She reasoned that the responsibilities of political leaders may restrict them from the lyrical deep dive that is required to understand the context of some songs.

“A lot of young people, and not so young people, spend their time analysing and pulling apart words and lyrics to gather deeper meaning. Which is something I don’t think the prime minister even has time to do,” she said.

At the same time, she said it is irrelevant that Holness appeared to have quoted from one of Kartel songs, despite the fact that the entertainer is serving a life sentence for murder.

“Whether it is Unstoppable or Reparation, I don’t think the prime minister is showing support for any illegal activities. He, like many of us, would have separated Vybz Kartel the entertainer, from Adidja Palmer, the man. And that’s fine in my eyes,” the professor said.

Holness, in his address to Labourites, said he wants all Jamaicans, including ghetto youths, to realise the dream of prosperity.

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