Kartel's Rampin Shop - A Principal Speaks

[Historian]

'Rampin' Shop' - musical poison

Published: Sunday | February 1, 2009



As a principal of a school of over 1,930 students with approximately 1,000 being boys, I am faced daily with the fact that as a nation, we are rearing our children on garbage in terms of the values that as a society we are passing on to them.

There are some parents who try to counter the effects of this filth that so permeates our society, but it is becoming increasingly difficult when the Government will not censor the filth that portrays itself as entertainment in the audio and visual media.

This belief that music and videos that promote unbridled sexual expression, violence, the debasement of women and disrespect for authority is acceptable, is further reinforced by entertainers and academics who come on talk shows and interview programmes on the television and speak about the right of the people to express themselves in the dancehall space.

I have a feeling that in the same way that Vybz Kartel does not allow his children to listen to his slackness, that many of these academics do not expose their children to this type of entertainment, which they so glibly promote as being acceptable. I cry shame on them, because I am seeing the damage that their endorsement and promotion of such filth is doing to our children.

x-rated lyrics
My outrage has been fuelled by the knowledge that one of Vybz Kartel's songs, Rampin'' Shop, was being voted on FAME FM in its #1 vote for favourite song for the week recently. I will describe this song to you in as decent terms as I conjure, which is very difficult. The song is done by Vbyz Kartel and Spice. It is done as if two lovers were having violent sex and describing in graphic, vulgar, obscene language, how it should be done. The introduction begins by Vybz Kartel introducing himself as, "ah di teacha", with Spice replying, "And ah spice". They then go on to condemn same-sex relationships, and then launch into what can only be described as something which takes place in triple x-rated pornographic movies.

Who is responsible? We must work together to stop enriching people like Vybz Kartel who create filth and are then paid when they release it on the public. The corporate giants in this nation who are promoting such filth need to come into the schools and see what is happening to the minds of the young. Vybz Kartel needs to have his children listen to his songs and analyse them and give him their feedback. Government ministers, such as the minister of education and the prime minister, need to sit and listen to some of these songs and understand the devastating impact they are having on the psyche of the Jamaican children.

students' views
I will now share with you some of the views of some students on this song. Students from seventh, eighth, ninth, 10th and 13th grade gave 115 written responses. All but two of these students describe the song as being disgusting, inappropriate for air play and having a negative impact on their psyche.

Tenth grade - "The song Rampin'' Shop by Vybz Kartel and Spice can be heard everywhere. While walking on the road it is playing in the cars of motorists passing by. The schoolchildren play it every time on their phones. They play it with the expletives, unedited, having no respect for the other passengers on the bus. It is played on the television, radio and the Internet. A song of this manner should not be available to the underage public. It is poisoning the minds of children and should be banned."


"This song is a total disgrace to Jamaica. I hear it every night when they have dances down the road from my house. Vybz Kartel went all out for this song. It is very slack and when I hear it I feel very uncomfortable about my body because of those hard-core lyrics!! Spice is no better! She is a disgrace as a woman and she is no help in how men view us as women. Sex was created by God for marriage. It is special. Kartel makes it seem like a video game!"


"The edited version does not make sense because even with the edited parts out you can know what is there."


"I think I'm becoming addicted to it because it's basically everywhere I go. I know what the lyrics are saying is wrong but it's hard to resist something that's constantly around you."


Thirteenth grade - "Honestly, that song is lewd and disgusting as, not only is it degrading women, but it also reflects the direction in which this country is going. I see children as young as four years old singing that song from beginning to end. That is basically giving the step by step process of how to take part in sex activity."


Ninth grade - "I think that Spice is not setting a good example for her child and a lot of people look up to her. For her to sing a song like Rampin'' Shop shows she has no self-respect and none for her fans. As a mother, she should not be behaving in such a manner."


Eighth grade - "One night I was singing it loud as if I wanted to do what Spice and Vybz Kartel was doing."


Seventh grade - "In my opinion, Rampin'' Shop has a very negative effect on our youths. We have to listen to these sexual lyrics not because we want to, but because it is polluting our communities."


"I have been disturbed by this song. The morals are very unsuitable for young children, teens or even young adults. They have put together the sketel and badman of dancehall and the product? Immorality. I know that Jamaican teens love it because it is very easy to catch on to, but how does this help our young people?"

All I have left to say is this. Until the decent, well-thinking citizens of this nation begin to be outraged and put a stop to this airing of filth, then we have condemned ourselves as a nation doomed for destruction. We are destroying the psyche of our children - our future.
Esther Tyson is principal of Ardenne High School, St Andrew. Feedback may be sent to columns@gleanerjm.com.

[Historian]

Musical Attack on Chidlren's Rights!

Distorted desires, lost childhood

Published: Sunday | February 1, 2009



Glenda Simms

The collusion of adults in the population in the early sexualisation and the related levels of abuse against children has been raised in many societies. The time has come for the spectre of lost childhood as a developmental blockage to be confronted.

For instance, the September 19, 2008, edition of the Edmonton Journal carried an article by writer Robin Summerfield, entitled "Sex Sells ... even to children". This article shared with readers the concerns raised by Jean Kilbourne, the author of a new book, So Sexy So soon: The New Sexualised Childhood and What Parents Can do to protect their kids.

In this article, the impact of media on teens and children was the focus of the themes covered by the author, who pointed to the problem of how the profit-seeking conglomerates and fashion houses deliberately target youngsters as consumers of the sleazy side of what is now called popular culture.

It was also pointed out that besides being promoted as consumers of miniskirts, which reveal rather than cover up the most private of private parts, thongs for teeny-boppers and bikinis for babes, "children are also exposed to adult themes of sex and sexuality earlier and earlier".

fulfil promises
Paula Sergio Pinhero, who was responsible for compiling the 2006 United Nations World Report on Violence against Children, concluded his introductory remarks in this publication with the caution that "children are tired of being told they are the future". They want to see us fulfil our pro-mises in the present so that they can enjoy their right to be protected from violence today.

This message needs to be shouted loud and clear by the children of Jamaica, because they can no longer trust the adults to free them from the atrocities that so many of them confront on a regular basis.

Indeed it is clear, from the responses of those being paid from the public purse to protect children, that it is easy to spout rhetoric about how we love our children and that parents need to make sacrifices to protect the little ones, and so on and so forth.

'chattering heads'
We have yet to see these 'chattering heads' take decisive legal actions against television and radio conglomerates, which contaminate young children's minds with the overtly sexual content of their programming, music-production houses that flood the airwaves with lyrics of hatred against women and girls, and video producers who continue to think up new and innovative ways of bombarding the world of the child with sleaze in cyberspace.

It is within this framework that I raise the latest form of attack on children's human rights. This one is disguised as entertainment and a form of child play.

The January 5, 2009, edition of The Gleaner carried a front-page article that informed the readers of this paper of the involvement of "children as young as eight years old in sexually explicit street dances".

According to the writer of the article, during the late-night hours of the Christmas season, these young children were observed performing the 'Daggerin', defined by some as "a quasi erotic dance".

Since I had never heard of this dance, I asked a street-wise and intelligent young man if he could describe the 'Daggerin' dance. He told me that 'daggerin' is an overt demonstration of rough and crude sex. He made sure that someone of my vintage could comprehend what he meant, so he further elaborated on 'daggerin' as a kind of 'slam-bam' activity.

During the morning hours of January 28, a host on a local talk show carried by FM 93.7 used the term 'daggerin' to clarify the kind of sexual activity that one of his callers was describing. His discussion of and context were very explicit. This helped me to fully comprehend the activity of 'daggerin' and to use this motif of the penis as the 'dagger' to critically analyse the oversexualised context in which far too many Jamaican children are being socialised.

It has been observed that the majority of the little ones doing the 'daggerin' in the nights on the streets of our towns and villages are girls. This means that since girls do not have penises, this latest dance is sending out the subliminal image of girls' desire to be daggered. On the other hand, little boys are being socialised to accept the daggering effects of their penis. They also know that every little girl is waiting for the appropriate moment when she must be daggered.

The adult men and women who are reported as onlookers who goad on these eight-year-old babes to gyrate and thrust their pelvises forward to simulate the penis as dagger are an interesting reflection of the levels of degradation and the depths of inhumanity to which far too many adults in the Jamaican society have sunk.

sick minds
They use their sick minds to project adult distorted sexual desires on our children. These are the adults who are driving up the levels of carnal abuse, incest, rapes, teenage and unwanted pregnancies, the need for abortion and the generalised high levels of child abuse which were reported in the local media house on January 26 and on CNN on January 25, 2009.

No child registry or other government agency can find many meaningful ways of dealing with this state of affairs. What is needed is a wholesale holistic approach to reinvent and reform every community in every corner of the island so that adults and children will understand that childhood is a special period of human development and that this period must be protected from the contaminated and twisted minds of many adults who are posing as models of growth and development.

The time has surely come for the Government to demand of all functionaries responsible for the protection of our children and all adults who make the decision to have children to live up to their responsibility and move beyond rhetoric and come up with more workable and sustainable approaches to dealing with the abuse of our children.

Something drastic has to be put in place so that all of us can come to the understanding that the integrity of childhood is the most important building block in our pursuit of a sustainable socially coherent, economically viable and spiritually enriched, civilised and developed society.
Dr Glenda P. Simms is a consultant on gender issues. Feedback may be sent to columns@gleanerjm.com

[Bricktop]

Unnuh have time a waste to rhattid bout "violent sex". The author negates any point she makes in the article when she refers to dancehall music as filth. It made no sense to read the rest of the article after that because she has shown her bias up front. So now sex is taboo? Esther man neva cock har up and gi it to hard yet? Suh she a engage in filth? As Shabba Ranks once said:

Dem a talk bout me slack and bout me dirty/and dem neva see mi face inna nuh blue movie/yuh slack mommy out di she slacker dan me/di greatest ting in slackness is to have baby

[Bricktop]

"A song of this manner should not be available to the underage public. It is poisoning the minds of children and should be banned."

The song should be banned even though the author herself says that it is available on the internet and is heard blaring out of peoples cars? Why don't we go one step further and ban the internet and car stereos that would solve the problem. Some a unniuh need fi go live inna North Korea to rhattid

[Bricktop]

Di song wikkid:

http://media.imeem.com/m/3QusS7m4rW/aus=false/

[Mosiah]

Do you have any standards at all, Brickie? Do you allow your children to listen to any song they choose and to do anything the feel like?

[Bricktop]

Do you have any standards at all, Brickie? Do you allow your children to listen to any song they choose and to do anything the feel like?

Am I a child? You are saying these songs should not be made because kids could listen to it? Do we ban cigarettes and alcohol because children could possibly have access to them? I would not let my children listen to these songs but what does that have to do with the price of tea in china?

[Mosiah]

I asked simple questions. Thanks for your responses.

[Naminirt]

'Rampin' Shop' - musical poison


Eighth grade - "One night I was singing it loud as if I wanted to do what Spice and Vybz Kartel was doing."


.

Oh lord

[Exile]

Once it other people's kids..it's ok...whoeeeee!

[Sir X]

This is on the air waves ? cannot be .

[Bricktop]

This is on the air waves ? cannot be .

No it's not. There is a clean version that is on radio so i don't know what all the hullabaloo is about. Kids will always seek out this form of entertainment yuh coulda ban till unnuh cyan ban nuh more di yute dem have cell phone wit internet on it. Let's ban the internet.

[Runawaybay]

What constitutes a clean version? Bleeps and mutes cannot erase subject matter, context or content. In my opinion, radio programmers, djs and personalities should try to lift the standard by refusing to play certain songs bleep or no bleep. Some things should remain in the dancehall.

[Assasin]

gimme a link nuh brethren.

need to run something by you.

[Bricktop]

What constitutes a clean version? Bleeps and mutes cannot erase subject matter, context or content. In my opinion, radio programmers, djs and personalities should try to lift the standard by refusing to play certain songs bleep or no bleep. Some things should remain in the dancehall.

Okay that's fine but the TALIBAN on this site want to ban dancehall all together plus yuh tink it's the radio these school kids hear the song? They have the mp3 on dem cellphone so what is banning the song from radio really going to do?