Demarco is done with gun songs.
At least one veteran dancehall artist intends to heed the call of the government when it comes to violent gun lyrics. Well known for his often gritty lyrics, Demarco has revealed that he supports the Broadcasting Commission’s call for artists to stop focusing on gunman tunes. Last month, in October, the commission banned all scamming, Molly, and gun music from the airwaves.
At the time, the commission stated that there would be an immediate halt on any audio or video recording, live song, or speech that promotes and/or glorifies scamming, illegal use or abuse of drugs, illegal or harmful use of guns or other offensive weapons, “jungle justice” or any other form of illegal or criminal activity.
An indicator of how much the murder rate has climbed on the island is that there have been at least 1,294 murders between January 1 and October 29.
The decision was met with mixed reactions in the dancehall community. Still, many veteran artists have since said that they agree with the measure as violent crimes continue to escalate in Jamaica.
For the “Fallen Soldier” deejay, it was not a difficult decision because he believes that the time has reached for those in authority and public figures to do something that would make some sort of drastic and real change.
The “Till My Time Come” singer explained in a recent that if music can be inspirational and help people get through tough times, it has the same potential to make violent people feel encouraged to commit heinous crimes.
He also admitted that he had been mulling over these thoughts for some time and felt that violent lyrics had contributed significantly to the social decline in Jamaica.
The popular deejay also said that he felt that he had wronged the Jamaican people by contributing violent lyrics. He hopes that his stance would also encourage other artists to do the same thing and not admit that their violent songs are having an effect on society.
However, he does not think that artists should be absorbing all the blame for the murder rate in the country. He used his track with Vybz Kartel called “Emergency” to further highlight his point.
“Who control the ports?” Demarco questioned while speaking with the Star. “A no we, so if the Government secure dem port, I think crime woulda be less. Gun no mek a Jamaica, so that is why mi cyah blame music alone. A wul heap a things but mi wah mek a stance and say no more gun songs and mi wish others can do the same.”
Another reason that the St. Catherine native has also decided to walk away from violent lyrics is because he is now a father. As such, he does not want to see his children head down the dark road of becoming criminals.
He again questioned where the guns are coming from, saying that children cannot afford guns but that it has been recorded in recent times that they are behind some of the brutal gun crimes on the island.
