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Ninja Man defies 'Borders'
Basil Walters, Observer staff reporter waltersb@jamaicaobserver.com
Monday, February 25, 2008
NINJA MAN... anything weh too violent, mi kinda refrain mi self from it In a stunning retreat of his long-standing rude boy image, controversial dancehall artiste, Ninja Man refused Professor Carolyn Cooper's invitation to perform his defining 1990 hit song Border Clash.
The deejay's refusal came during the closing ceremony of the Global Reggae Conference, held at the University of the West Indies Assembly Hall on Friday.
This defiant stand by the self-professed "the-gold-teeth-gun-pon-teeth Don Gorgon," could be interpreted as a vindication of the critiques, particularly leading dancehall critic and columnist Ian Boyne, who often chides the genres violent lyrical content - much to the consternation of Professor Cooper and other leading dancehall apologists.
Boyne who did not attend the function, had in one of his recent controversial pieces entitled, From Bob Marley to Mavado, challenged the conference to examine the negative features of dancehall.
"February has been officially proclaimed Reggae Month; there is much hype over its celebration and a major reggae conference opens. at the University of the West Indies, Mona campus. But will anyone have the courage to speak the truth about the state of the music today?," asks Boyne in the aforementioned column.
Interestingly, little did the 'Don Gorgon' realise that he somewhat, not only spoke according to his conscience, but entered a space where an intellectual "clash" was taking place. A clash with the mores of dancehall culture - in which Ninja Man has played a key role - at its core.
Before Professor Cooper's lengthy introduction of Ninja Man, she ended her closing remarks of the week-long conference with a quotation from Bob Marley.
"What is marginal, what is peripheral?" Dr Cooper asked rhetorically before explaining. "Marginalisation is indeed often a sight of enpowering with resistance to and radical transformation of hegemonic institutions. In the words of Bob Marley - We refused to be what they wanted us to be, we are what we are, that's the way it's going to be/ You can't educate I for no equal opportunity, talking about my freedom, people's freedom and liberty, yeah/ We've been trodding on the winepress for much too long, rebel. As we close this historic conference on Global Reggae, it gives me great pleasure to invite Ninja Man to perform his Border Clash classic."
Added Professor Cooper: "Ninja Man's 1990 composition, Border Clash, is the classic articulation of the recurrent motif in Jamaican dancehall culture that demarcate contestation for power in a wide range of phases of interest. In its narrowest sense the dancehall clash denotes the on stage competition between rival deejays and sound systems contending for mastery before a discriminating audience.
More broadly, the clash is not just a performance event, but becomes a trenchant metaphor for the hostile interfacing for the warring zones in Jamaican society where for example, rival politicians, area dons, community leaders and their followers, contend for the control of territory both literal and symbolic."
Now for the surprise of the day, nay, the entire conference. Ninja Man refused to perform Border Clash.
Dressed in his signature dapper style, the Don Gorgon addressed the audience: "Right now, some a oonu a go disappointed. Right now mi take a very serious aim inna di country, and anything weh too violent, mi kinda refrain mi self from it," Ninja Man said and the Assembly Hall on the UWI, Mona campus erupted in a way it never did for the duration of the conference. Everyone, including Cooper, applauded long and hard.
"When yu use dis term Border Clash most of the time, a man feel like yu a deal wid, like sey fi hold borders and boundaries. Well, right now mi cut off all border line, all boundaries and a one God, one aim, one unity, one umbrella we a say inna Jamaica," he added to perhaps the biggest shouts of approval and applause he ever got in his whole career from what must have been the smallest crowd.
Ninja Man was not finished. "And," he goes on, "we waan bring all the youths dem weh inna di fighting inna Jamaica, weh inna di politics ting, di ghetto confusion, di every day gang rival, we waan cut dem outta di violence and bring dem inna one unity. And di only way fi do dat is use the music, and if the music is a thing weh a tell yu sey kill dem and murda dem, border clash, and di yute dem a listen and a shoot after one another, lets refrain from border clash and dem tune deh and do songs like these."
For third time, from resounding applause, the Assemble Hall was shaking like it was experiencing earth tremors before he performed the tune he suggested.
The song Ninja Man eventually did, goes in part:
" Yes it hurts me fi hear di gun dem bark and it makes me happy when ghetto youths a talk, and that's a powerful decision that I want you fi know oh oh oh oh oh...
University oh, mi see some dangerous tools in di hands of the fool
And mi beg di ghetto youths dem fi cool before yu give book and pencil and send dem to school yu give dem a big forty-five dat dem fi rule....
Oh mr politician yu come inna di ghetto with yu guns and amunition
Everyday yu get up yu start issue out weapon people start dead by the minute and second
Dis why I'm on a mission fi tek di ghetto yute dem from di guns dem and amunition..."
Basil Walters, Observer staff reporter waltersb@jamaicaobserver.com
Monday, February 25, 2008
NINJA MAN... anything weh too violent, mi kinda refrain mi self from it In a stunning retreat of his long-standing rude boy image, controversial dancehall artiste, Ninja Man refused Professor Carolyn Cooper's invitation to perform his defining 1990 hit song Border Clash.The deejay's refusal came during the closing ceremony of the Global Reggae Conference, held at the University of the West Indies Assembly Hall on Friday.
This defiant stand by the self-professed "the-gold-teeth-gun-pon-teeth Don Gorgon," could be interpreted as a vindication of the critiques, particularly leading dancehall critic and columnist Ian Boyne, who often chides the genres violent lyrical content - much to the consternation of Professor Cooper and other leading dancehall apologists.
Boyne who did not attend the function, had in one of his recent controversial pieces entitled, From Bob Marley to Mavado, challenged the conference to examine the negative features of dancehall.
"February has been officially proclaimed Reggae Month; there is much hype over its celebration and a major reggae conference opens. at the University of the West Indies, Mona campus. But will anyone have the courage to speak the truth about the state of the music today?," asks Boyne in the aforementioned column.
Interestingly, little did the 'Don Gorgon' realise that he somewhat, not only spoke according to his conscience, but entered a space where an intellectual "clash" was taking place. A clash with the mores of dancehall culture - in which Ninja Man has played a key role - at its core.
Before Professor Cooper's lengthy introduction of Ninja Man, she ended her closing remarks of the week-long conference with a quotation from Bob Marley.
"What is marginal, what is peripheral?" Dr Cooper asked rhetorically before explaining. "Marginalisation is indeed often a sight of enpowering with resistance to and radical transformation of hegemonic institutions. In the words of Bob Marley - We refused to be what they wanted us to be, we are what we are, that's the way it's going to be/ You can't educate I for no equal opportunity, talking about my freedom, people's freedom and liberty, yeah/ We've been trodding on the winepress for much too long, rebel. As we close this historic conference on Global Reggae, it gives me great pleasure to invite Ninja Man to perform his Border Clash classic."
Added Professor Cooper: "Ninja Man's 1990 composition, Border Clash, is the classic articulation of the recurrent motif in Jamaican dancehall culture that demarcate contestation for power in a wide range of phases of interest. In its narrowest sense the dancehall clash denotes the on stage competition between rival deejays and sound systems contending for mastery before a discriminating audience.
More broadly, the clash is not just a performance event, but becomes a trenchant metaphor for the hostile interfacing for the warring zones in Jamaican society where for example, rival politicians, area dons, community leaders and their followers, contend for the control of territory both literal and symbolic."
Now for the surprise of the day, nay, the entire conference. Ninja Man refused to perform Border Clash.
Dressed in his signature dapper style, the Don Gorgon addressed the audience: "Right now, some a oonu a go disappointed. Right now mi take a very serious aim inna di country, and anything weh too violent, mi kinda refrain mi self from it," Ninja Man said and the Assembly Hall on the UWI, Mona campus erupted in a way it never did for the duration of the conference. Everyone, including Cooper, applauded long and hard.
"When yu use dis term Border Clash most of the time, a man feel like yu a deal wid, like sey fi hold borders and boundaries. Well, right now mi cut off all border line, all boundaries and a one God, one aim, one unity, one umbrella we a say inna Jamaica," he added to perhaps the biggest shouts of approval and applause he ever got in his whole career from what must have been the smallest crowd.
Ninja Man was not finished. "And," he goes on, "we waan bring all the youths dem weh inna di fighting inna Jamaica, weh inna di politics ting, di ghetto confusion, di every day gang rival, we waan cut dem outta di violence and bring dem inna one unity. And di only way fi do dat is use the music, and if the music is a thing weh a tell yu sey kill dem and murda dem, border clash, and di yute dem a listen and a shoot after one another, lets refrain from border clash and dem tune deh and do songs like these."
For third time, from resounding applause, the Assemble Hall was shaking like it was experiencing earth tremors before he performed the tune he suggested.
The song Ninja Man eventually did, goes in part:
" Yes it hurts me fi hear di gun dem bark and it makes me happy when ghetto youths a talk, and that's a powerful decision that I want you fi know oh oh oh oh oh...
University oh, mi see some dangerous tools in di hands of the fool
And mi beg di ghetto youths dem fi cool before yu give book and pencil and send dem to school yu give dem a big forty-five dat dem fi rule....
Oh mr politician yu come inna di ghetto with yu guns and amunition
Everyday yu get up yu start issue out weapon people start dead by the minute and second
Dis why I'm on a mission fi tek di ghetto yute dem from di guns dem and amunition..."
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