Last month we conducted a poll on dancehall music to see what fans think is the main reasons why some dancehall artists visa got revoked. The survey was done throughout the month of July, with 529 people giving their response.
Majority of persons who responded seems to think that anti-gay lyrics in dancehall is the main reason these artists visa was cancelled. Over 35% of people who responded think that anti-gay lyrics is adversely affecting dancehall artists. A little over 29% of respondents think that the alleged link to Don Christopher “Dudus” Coke is the reason these artists are without visa. What was even surprising is that only 23% think that violence in the lyrical content of the music is the reason for the visa revocation. The remaining just under 12% is unsure the reason why.
Whatever the reason maybe, it is a growing concern to us at Urban Islandz and dancehall fans that our Caribbean artists are prevented from performing in the United States which is by far the world leading music market. We want to hear more from the artists themselves as to why they are without visa and what are they doing to get it back. We need our music to expand and not decline, so we are reaching out to these artist to let them know we support them and we want to see more good music coming out of dancehall.
