Stap Nyam Yuh Tail

How can we tek wi han tun fashion and use mikle mek muckle when so many external, antagonistic factors prevail. Some persons will try but whole heap will, according to our nation’s history and peoples nature, never reach beyond the presumptuous boundaries set.

Wi watch di news an imagery of wage freezes an pompous vehicles riddle the airwaves with intent to over shadow  the loathing realities of inflation, constricting debt, joblessness, etc. Not everyone will master the tracks, conquer the boxing rings or stumble upon cash just left alone by careless atm attendants in order to clear their plates of the stale and insipid realities that we have been fed or have been fed us. Rightfully so we must recognize those who have triumphed over there dispositions but no be swept away by the whirlwind within which one is so bugled that he becomes blind sighted. Jamaica’s reality of lacks in intellect, capital, collateral, etc. has crippled our youth, both male and female.

If I am special, you are special we all are special then all we are left with is a monotonous flux. As Black people were cultured to believe that we should turn the other cheek when our men are shackled, our women are raped and our kids are left to ride the illiterate wave because Gad naah gi yuh more dan wah yuh can bear , a di same way, we have been left to think that we are special and the world is obligated to us blindly leading us to take part in the rat race.

We as Jamaicans have no clue how to step away from monotony and mediocrity hence we are as captives to a redundant rhetoric  which holds tight the regressive grip of the common vice. A long time Rasta a talk bout Babylon and wi deemed him fool with intense skepticism. Our country because of this has been littered with persons unable to think beyond the walls of their craniums further propagating and perpetuating an unbearable stench of disrespect and egotism.

Cow si him tail and tink a bush biting at it till him nyam himself. Egotism is disingenuous. It has been etched into the bones of the old and breed into the genes of the young. Propaganda and hungry bellyism is our down fall. Tik bruk inna wi aise puppah jeezas. Every baddy know she yuh cyaah clean di stream from di battam yuh  fuss affi start from di tap but yet wi blame di mussic an deem our young men as packs of rats without first highlighting the fact that we left the food and built the nest.

Mek wi stop pointing fingers and start painting solutions to our economical situations to make Jamaica a betta plaice fi live, work , raise family , whatever. Why can’t our leaders stop trying to be culprits and embrace the fact that they have substantive purpose? Who are we fooling to think that we can outfit politicians with exorbitantly priced vehicles which they will in 4 years time own, fi likle aar nutn, in the name of service to the people  when di people a dead fi hungry. We see wars happening globally and retaliations by citizens of nations  and think we are nowhere near such wanton behavior but believe me it’s at our doorstep about to insert its aggressive shaft into our context.

I’ve always thought it to be nonsencesical( if such a word exists) to train people in a field which has no industry and send them to sit on their couches after the graduate but di foolishness starts when yuh start train to much 1000 people fi waah industry we have 10 and smiling aaff yuh face like yuh mekking a difference. Yuh aint better dan the fool we think seh dem fi tek waah old car, call it jeep an dash some half starving and desperate young people in deh fi guh paint side walk an kleen gully with intent that yuh plugging gyaps in unemployment. A who a di fool doah gad, di man weh cum up wid di plan are di one pan di wagon.

Untill this island nation eradicates the filth from our upper and lower cottages we will never move. Untill we can stare wi selves in the eyes, gi wi self a raahtid bax an she a who yuh fooling den wi doomed to sitting and watching di same reruns on the unplugged tv screen.

TAN TUDDY

Why don’t we hand a knife to everyone who thinks they are a surgeon and say “cut”? Aaww! So why is it that everyone who stands and says I am an artist/artiste gets to wear the mantel. As was said by Dancehall Icon Bogle “everybody can daance but anuh every bady a daanca”. To me the problem doesn’t lie with the bestowed, more so, it lies with the individuals bestowing.
Do we ever stop to 

think who a lot of these people writing for the news papers and doing TV interviews are how they became qualified to hand over such titles. Have we stopped to think of our Minister of Culture and the many respected officials we have giving out Fine Arts and Music awards to the public. Well, I am curious to say I hadn’t before this but the thought has me pondering.
I do not wish to take away anyone’s accolades or titles( yeah right ) my point is and is simple put unless you are certified to certify “shut yuh mouth”. Weekly I read the Art sections of news papers to find “works of art” scuffed at by the academics and no where worthy of being recognized by the “Intuitives” yet it is lord with honours by untrained eyes and unqualified pens smacked right on the front page of that section.
I hope my banter does not come off as just a bitter young artist wishing he was being featured because guesses what, I have been, so has my work, so if your mind lingers there you are not listening. What I speak of doesn’t only pertain to painting or the visuals it also speaks to literature, the culinary, performance and entertainment. I can whip up a good enough meal but I aint no chef. I can become one with dedication and education but until then I can whip up a good enough meal, yuh get mi?
No one seems to take the Arts serious: not the government, institutions nor the artists themselves, no my bad sorry, the patrons buying the crap does; because they crave that which is creative so much they are forced to take what they get. If we as Artists cyaah put wi futt dung who the hell will. I we wont produce, write, criticise and bestowe we cyaah guh stop whats taking place and if so , wi would have to kibbah wi mout.
I am talking freely and boldly as that’s what I do best “stop gwaan like yuh a govanna general, handing out awards and bestowing titles, as mi grand faddah wuddah seh, tun tuddy jackass”. The Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts, the National Institute, National Gallery and many a Art Consultants/ graduates of the mentioned college exists for a reason. I do not wish to take away the prestige from anyone I just demand that it not be presumptuous.

Without Vision

like a man chained in a cave to stare at a shadow eventually accepting his realities( Plato "Allegory of the Cave) so many of us stay retarded by our dispositions in life. Jamaica's Art/ Industrial Arts industry is so rich in potential yet not many a individual's mind has been impregnated with a response that has the guts needed to take the bull by the horn. Jamaican Art has become the buying and selling of mediocrity and lack of integrity breading a result of the "bruck pocket, gimmi a bly "culturally insignificant. This  cohort resides limited in their fortitude to recognize this truth, as believe it or not,  it would destabilize their pockets and livelihood. How then can there be a revolution of this process if timidity is the epitome of our existence .

It has always been my impression that the Edna Manley college, one of the foremost leaders tasked with the mantel for the rejuvenating and re-contextualizing of the Jamaican Arts and its contemporary expression and economy, has not failed in producing artist annually but has fallen short where the ability of these practitioners reside in contextualizing their academia bestowed them.  Outside of philosophizing and doing art to meet a personal expression these professionals are limited and eventually do not contribute much to the nations Art nor do they impact its culture, outside our miniscule Music catalog.

there are a few persons who have tried to capitalize on industrializing their Artistic and  creative expression and those persons have to be credited where necessary but one must admit what has been done so far is not even a chip off the iceberg.

 Fifty years is a great triumph for any developing post colonial nation  and Jamaica having accomplished such should be applauded in context." Sly mongoose yuh name gaan abroad" but in this case not for the violence that has retarded our nations  infancy but for being one of the first nations, no longer wearing Her Majesties albatross , to have leaped this far and stayed close to being flat footed. Our physical and entrepreneurial  renditions as a nation has developed over their years which allows us to live and compete globally. Though we boast a nice resume our breathing is asthmatic and our grip slipping.  

Lets pause at this interval, " rest wi likle self," and reflect on the ways we have managed our creative abilities so we can effect a more impacting result as we embark on the next fifty yes to come. There are many groupings of talented Arts professionals  as well as creative genres untapped but ripened unwavering to the idea of being  exploited. In hindsight lets authenticate the sentiment, as consistently  referenced, that we are the Mecca of culture and capitalize on it to reclassify our economy matriculating from developing to developed. Throughout my primary and secondary eduction there was one thought which was impressed on my mind and that of my classmates daily , " Jamaica's most valid resource is it's people."

A people is an expression, an expression a culture, a culture an asset. Art is an asset of an expressive culture.  "Cow nuh know the use of him tail till him lose it" we cannot fall victim to such realities. "Wah heart nuh si heart nuh leap", without a vision the people perish, it does not have to be 20/20 as long insight is not in vain. The Aim of this "chatup" is not to discourage the trying our pedestal the tried but to  redirect and re-volt the Jamaican expressions, its context and economy. Jamaica's Arts/ creative industry is at a fork in the road: do we stand idle by and watch  as people take our valuables as their own or do we capitalize on  that which is valuable to  justify the road we will take. No man is an island and so it takes all within the industry and those on the periphery to  own, deconstruct and reapply the energies needed to say that we have done our nations expression justice and are proud. 

Owning Di Black Pan Mi Back

Di black man story is one which gnaws at the heels of many who have inherited the distinguishable Dark skin which some now try to wash away using di regular Blue Bummer. To consider yourself of that nature and not have a say on the new trend of toning up or down would be in my eyes an  abondonment of the path that has been chartered by those persons of colour who have died for the causes which we now revel in and use to whipe our asses when we do get the chance.

I have always been a follower of certain ideals put forward by the great black man himself Marcus . To say that what ever a man does with him skin nuh matta a lie mi wouldan ah tell,. It matta.  Di black man has suffered somuch, endured so much and triumphed over somuch and is at a point now where he is able to decided for himself where to venture in this modern society of the global. Yet, at di peek a him elightenment him a rub toothpaste and curry pan him self boy wi fool sah. 

Mind yuh, everyman does have the right to be whom ever him choses to be and as a very open minded person, who am i to seh nuh dweeit all i can seh is before yuh mek di leep tink bout di repocusions of yuh own selfish actions. Where di patriotism gaan, oh sarry nun neva di deh from start. Well, baxide a time now wi start develope some, grow sum roots man for far too long dis society has been eating at di table of , mi a duh mi ting an who nuh like it chuck aaff pan sumn memba when yuh a dig ole dig two. Look yah man  yuh tink nanny did jus enjoy running round in bushies di amount a ticks ketch di poor oman but dat neva stop har, yuh tink Paul did jus a look somewhere public fi ded or di adda omuchteen man an woman weh ded deh wid him. Yuh tink Marcus di waah ded a pawpa giving him all to di cause of pan africanism because him want dem fi put him inna book and pan rasta flag  or di king man di jus waah ded lakka dat bullet bellet infront a umuch people no it was because they were thinking outside of demself putting our blackness ahead of theirs an all wi can talk bout now is dat wi a tone cause it look gud an a wi party face if at any point kunnu munnu was applicable believe me its now. KUNNU MUNNU. Forgive my urge to be judgemental if i cum off a bit harsh. 

Kartel a di teacha and him lyrical, dats a fact, wen mi hear him music mi waah grab a " gal" an start wine out har waist, but, there is a big gapping divide where wi views concern on di matter of toning down di blackness. Man black to rawtid, man black. Own di damn ting yuh nuh si nuh baddy weh white a tone up nuh whiteness. Dem tan, yes, but bypass di surface idea of them wanting to tan and all you will see is sum people who just cyant deal wid looking pale but dem quite contended wid dem whiteness. di white woman will want a black man yes because we all know black men carry big things( the propaguanda wi spred is so much a bag a bull rap only we can believe it, funny enuff dats not true) di white man rundung di black woman because shi kno how fi bubble pan it, all an all dem tings( foolishness, cause di amount a white woman weh deh bout di place a bubble cyaah count). The point of alla dat is just stop fooling yuh self. 

At di end of di day mi cyaah tek weh di man blue soap, nar, pull him new tone up or dung products weh a cum out soon off di maakit, but, mi sure can spread the flyers around which emphatically support di notion of not bleaching. I have seen somany persons wid some " wicked black", weh tek yuh right back to Africa, jus a go round a bleach off di beauty an it just pain mi heart. Yuh beg dem , plead wid dem, teck weh di cream, but, di home grown scientist dem guh back guh cancok sum new shit fi rub pan dem self.  At di end of di day, yuh can bawl out yuh choat ole dem naah guh stap till dem damn skin bun aaff, but who am i to speak, my value system( sum might say) is no different  as i am an avid smoker and when mi seh avid mi mean nutn less dan dat, probably more, but nutn less. 

Well mi aguh show yuh seh nat because wi rolling around in di same pig pen, an carrying di same stench, dont mean my eyes cyant open up and my mouth cyaah talk. If di tings deh deh fi talk, mi aguh talk dem. Dem affi guh cut out mi tongue. An it tek more dan dat fi stop mi as mi still have mi han dem a mi existence.

Di girls find it cute is nat a point, it fashionable is even more unstable, mi feel gud bout it is just retarded, everybady a dweeit mean seh yuh mustn. The time you should be an individulist is not when yuh want an excuse fi rub on di bleach , toothpase paraxide, or what eva. The time to be the individual is when you have the chance to say you are proud of who you are and will not allow any one, cercumstance, or issue to derail you from  who you know yourself to be. My high horse seems to be growing but atleast its for a cause which not only resides in my heart but in that of the diasporic Black African as well.

Come on stop bulshitting dis isnt di place or time to do that , how can bleaching out your black skin to tone it down not be about blackness. A baby pan a breast weh nat even can reason to a certain extent can tell yuh yuh fooling yourself. Yuh bleaching, YUH BLEACHING, You are bleaching, can it be any clearer and what are you bleaching not the pink of you muscles, not the ivory from your bones but di black from yuh skin , di history etched on your face. "If yuh  a bleachas Guh back home  guh fi yuh umbrella " an gimmi mek mi beat back on di black pan yuh back as only whips and lashes can jarr yuh memories to di time when blacks where reduced to nothing just because they were blacks and even at that point yuh neva say no bady bleaching.

RESPECT DI TING PEOPLE YUH BLACK FI A CAUSE. A YUH HISTORY, REALITY AN DESTINY. USE IT FOR THE GREATER GOOD AND DI FURTHERANCE OF THE NATION AND DI HUMAN RACE AT LARGE. Dont let yuh own selfish actions destroy the hopes and dreams of a young nation and its battered people. lets be the change for once in our sad lives. 

Thanks fi di chance fi chat up di tings dem love unuh walk gud an mek gud duppy fallah unuh . 

Don't Misconceive Di Stance

I was told earlier today that my bantering on about whether God exists or not  did not state whether or not i believe in God. Before I get into that whole discusion on my beliefs I must say this isnt a deny that god exists blog its just a thing weh mi talk mi mind bout things that occur on a everyday basis within this my Jamaican Society.

Now that I have said that mek mi guh back to wah mi did start out wid. I dont really think it is of any neccessity to divulge my beliefs to anyone to make my point clearer but seeing as mi love chat why not . I am a none religious being who cares not for the ideolgies of " God Folloewers". Alright yuh want clear seeit yah mi nuh believe inna Gad. Its almost as I said before  like a crime fi seh dem tings deh inna Jamaica, yuh might get dragged into di miggle a di town an den stripped, whipped and hung.

I have met persons though who share similar notions of existence as my self . The ones who are not religious but spiritual, the ones who believe that we come from munky  and di one who couldnt care less weh wi come from. mi kinda gh wid di laas group. Is an age old question but Who created dis Gad a from mi a pickney mi have da question deh lack dung inna mi heart enuh peeps. Wah him jus pop up outta no where an start create suh. Den weh him get di knowledge from, di skills, etc. mi know he is god and so him just happn to have all a dat lack , well too bad mi nuh buy it  an if yuh a cook it mi nuh nyam it.

Yuh waah unda stan why mi nuh believe it . I have an i dea that no one created the earth we just exist yes we have a history but at di end of the day wi just exist. This is sumthing mi think more sensible dan anything else weh any baddy a tell mi bout wi come from gad particle, gardens of eden or munky. When i say this people think i am crazy but when i say who mek gad how him just exist suh i am the crazy one still but they are highly inteligent for thinking that gad just exist suh. Boy the contridictions of ourideals  rise like stench from the dungle heaps of Riverton.

Dont use di bible to justify shit to me if yuh trying to explain certain tings as dats just a great waste. I might listen to history but mi always tek it wid a grain a salt. Listen to it deconstruct it  and own mi own afta dat. Some people tek di bible not as a reference but as a dictation and i am not of that mindset suh if yuh want mi fi own dat view yuh affi guh nail mi to a cross, pun intended, hahah.

Well now yuh know mi views pan dat i hope dat it brings clarity and transperency to who i am and where i stand , or sit if i might say love everytime

Mi Glad Fi Di Chance Fi Chat Mi Mind

This is  a pleasure for me to know that I can come and say anything I want to say bout anything and anyone in any-manner gramatically correct or not, yuh just need to understand the context and the concept of what i am getting at. Many persons wont like my views but that has become a norm for me but there is no need talking if you cant own your own opinion any given matter so Ive got many opinions to share.

Nuh watch nuh face mi have sumthing fi almost everyone, a joke, just di one dem weh think dem intelligent enough. lol. dont get mi wrong anyone is allowed to respond, listen, share them views, but if you  fail to understand and cant bring yourself to the level of comprehending anuh fi yuh fault. thats just how you where created , lol.

On the matter of creation , one of the First things I would like to touch on is something that has been a sour thought on many minds, the idea of there being no GOD. Jamaica is a place where Christianity reigns mighty and I hate stepping on people's toes but dats why dem mek shoes , fi cushion di blow, lol.

I grew up in a very Hyper-ized Christian setting similar to most persons in rural Jamaica but a bit over the top, if yuh get the drift. If I was to go further a Middle Class Hyper-ized Christian Home. " Jesus in the morning, Jesus in the evening , every minute of the day" ... and so fort and so on , outside of ackee, saltfish, salt makerel and green bananas, Jesus was our main meal.

I have always thought of myself as someone who is open to listening to peoples views and pulling what I want from it or just casting it into the wind but this Jamaican culture which wi call wi own is quite  oppressive I believe, no disrespect though, i wouldn't sell my country fi a blue book and a green paper. The point I am getting at is that Though I was taught by my family to own my own ideals, reason, etc they were one of the first of many to come who have and are trying  to stuff their own prejudices down my throat. I know that this is not unique to Jamaica but it definitively is synonymous in many ways.

God is a brand that has been stapled into the shirts of our minds for many a centuries for me to deny his existence to anyone would be an inconsideration on my part,pity though, when the table turns conscience is something that evacuates the building. Christians tend to think that they are the only ones deserving of blissful happiness seeing as they have been washed in the blood of the lamb. They tend to beat down on you an inna sum case get vile pan yuh mad fi cut yuh choat fi dem Gad. Ironic an idea isnt it the same God the speak about whos mantra is " love, love and more love"  but as ironic as that sounds this God of love is the same one who because of his imperfection created an imperfect world and then decideds who bun up inna hell fyah or who guh drink hunny because you have been naughty or nice .

I am not an atheist, skeptic, agnostic, evolutionist or anything like that and do not at any point desire to be put in any category other than than which i say i am HUMANIST. I believe in love, love and more love. I believe every man is the controller of his own destiny and in the end will have to answer to his own conscience alongside that of is society. God for me is a societies way of escaping  their responsibilities as individuals. And  believe me I dont care about what one wants to do with himself as long as I respect his opinions but as was said befor no one accepts the opinions of a man who utters my sentiments in Hyper-ized  Christian Society. Sometimes I feel as I someone is going to try an shut me up, which for me is more of a push to get me talking.

I dont want to talk to much on this topic , yes mi know mi chat nuff, but just to end on a not so heated note, heres my last take on di ting.

Hold wah yuh hold if a him wake yuh up inna di mawnin a him wake yuh up. I f a him direct yuh path a jus suh it stay a him a duh dat fi yuh but dont cum try and lynch mi because my ideals are on the opposite side of your reality. When mi wake up inna di mawnin a mi open mi yeye dem not Gad , when mi want money inna mi pocket fi pay mi rent anuh gad gi mi a mi go out guh look ih. Ones understanding of what was said in the previous sentences is dependent on how he/ she entered the conversation. A persons views are inhabited by his/ her experiences, perspectives and culture but it must be recognized that though we may be of similar cultures, experience and perspective no man is another hence his understandings and rationalization on any given matter should be rightfully his to be practiced where ever he chooses as long as he is respectful in his representation of such .

Thanks for listening. Walk gud an mek gud duppy fallah yuh till wi chat again. And please do give me your feed backs I am open to everyone's  truth