Get up stand up stand up for yuh rights!!

You know I asked the people to piss in my pocket...and believe that they did, lol!

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/Barbadians-tighten-the-screws---More-Jamaicans-beaten--locked-up--kicked-out_8607625

and these are the previous articles in this latest regional integration/disintegration-self hate fiasco:

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/Barbadians-are-the-ones-lying_8588601
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/Finger-raped-in-Barbados_8573453
http://www.nationnews.com/articles/view/jamaican-myrie-plans-to-sue/
http://www.nationnews.com/articles/view/no-record-of-body-search/

There are more but I'm getting bad energy from them so...moving on.

For the last few days I have been browsing a lot of internet blogs and forum discussions, actively taking part in some, but mostly just looking on. This was so that I could get a sense of what people were/are thinking and how their thoughts could/would develop into anything, if they did develop into anything at all.

Well here is the thing, most people are emotional, very emotional, coming to conclusions in an instant and making what would seem like rash judgment calls. This is a bad thing because of the mentality it develops in the social psyche of a nation and in this particular case, a region. This is even more disturbing in a region where there are supposed to be mechanisms and schemes in place to develop regional integration. When there is so much emotionally driven talk about boycotts, and reciprocal actions and disbandment of CARICOM and expulsion of countries from CARICOM, one has to get worried, if one is interested in an integrated and homogeneous region that is. If, however, you are seeking to be like the proverbial cheese and stand alone, then the recently highlighted events in the regional media and the emotional and irrational comments must be making you smile :D . They say that Kamla say she wants no part of CCJ, Bajans allegedly showing their xenophobic colours, Jamaicans calling for boycotts of Bajan products (btw BIM doan mek one shite) and it goes on and on and on and down and down.

The regional dis-integration movement was not the purpose of this particular blog though. As I was wandering the internet and going from blog to blog, newspaper to newspaper, forum to forum, I realised something, a lot of people had a lot to say, lots of it emotional, some of it clearly thought out and rationally put forward, some of it just plain ignorant, but there were a lot of things said by a lot of people. As I read the online papers today and the days following the Jamaican/Barbadian immigration saga I notice that there is something missing from the news...action. Where were the stories about the petitions, the photos of people picketing, people rallying? No where, there were none. People call for boycotts, no one ever does it, people call for action, no one ever acts. "Action" should be added to George Orwell's list of imaginary or meaningless words in his essay "Politics and the English Language", because this word as used in political rhetoric and when used in speaking about political elements is meaningless, the meaning is not defined but usually left to be contextually defined by the listener, meaning that everyone can get leave with a different interpretation of what was said the person saying it can leave without having to feel inadequate or offensive or whatever they would feel had they taken the time to tell the people what hey meant by "action", this is, of course, following the assumption that the speaker/the summoner to action has an idea of what action they were instigating :s.

In France people are called to action and respond to the calls fairly regularly, ever since they chopped off the heads of the royalty the leaders of that country tend to listen to the population. Here in the Caribbean, and Barbados seems to be most guilty, we are very inactive on a socio-political level. "Irie mon", "shit happens", "same shit different day", all of these phrases seem to be the social and political battle cry of the Caribbean populations. "Inaction over In Action!" our motto, manifested in our lives and daily goings about. Talk talk talk talk talk talk, seems like we just love to hear our beautiful accents in UPPER CASE and hushed tones commenting of the latest injustice and/or ignorant political move by our governments, but could not be bothered to make our words and opinions manifest with tangible actions and visible solidarity. (well for something other than a damn movie everybody watched online anyway)

Get up stand up, stand up for your rights!
Get up stand up, don't forget to fight!

Bob had a nice tune, but we forgetting to get up and stand up, and we sure as hell ain't bout no fighting.

I bout some action, even if it just a picket demonstration. Time for some action...here is to hoping that I do not join the ranks of the "Inaction over In Action!" brigade.

Piss in my Pocket and call it Gold; Stop Insulting My Intelligence.

Setting: Caribbean.
Total population: 38,045,052*

There are a few people who sit in fancy chairs around fancy tables in each island and tattle amongst themselves, and then they meet with their counterparts from across the region and tattle amongst themselves again and then they stand behind lecterns, on top of podiums, in front of cameras and speak to us, the ordinary folk, and say we are moving towards integration, we are finding and working towards ways of unifying all almost 40 million people.

After this the brilliant ones amongst us sit in lecture theaters and and classrooms and library cubicles and analyse the implications and possibilities that would arise from this unification and integration. They write papers and present their findings to their peers who either cheer or chide and then it is filtered by removing jargon and convoluted terms and given to Joe Public so as to get them on board and in a mind state to facilitate what is called the integration movement.

All is fine and fair so far, here is where it gets tricky, and where the insulting of my intelligence begins; ready? Remember your parents back in the days of your youth telling you, "Do as I say not as I do."? Well the officials, the academics, the institutions, the governments are manifesting this parenting cliche. How? Like this.

The University of the West Indies, an institution created within the vision of regional integration, one university, three campuses, none offering the same specialties so as to make people leave home and travel (read as integrate) to other regional territories and foster relationships with a regional cross section of persons. This would facilitate a much smoother integration process...LOL! So fast forward a few years, and the campuses begin offering the same things as each other, so Bajans really do not need to leff home and Jamaicans don't haffi fly out and Trinis can stay home and lime. Well non-campus territories still have to send their people out, but integration is a all encompassing not selective, as some people would like to have us believe. University of Guyana? 4th UWI campus? Things of myth and legend I believe.

Caribbean Court of Justice, who sign on? Enough said, moving on.

Media. Yes media. "The integration movement is making significant strides to becoming a reality", says one news report, then the rest of the news program is dedicated to how Jamaicans are drug dealers and prostitutes and murderous bastards, Trinidadians are obnoxious, self centered people with serious internal integration problems based on a racial divide, the Winward and Leeward Islands are hopeless banana republics and the non-English speaking countries are not worth a once-over.
I sense a mixed message here..subtle.

What is the end result? well you get stories like these:
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/Finger-raped-in-Barbados_8573453

With comments like these:

• This is an outrage and very shameful. The Jamaican government has many tools at its disposal to retaliate against the Barbados yet is seemingly polite about this travesty. Sadly, this is not an isolated incident and requires a string response. Jamaicans, if little Barbados can treat some of us like that, you retaliate by not vacationing there, don't buy goods made in Barbados and boycott Bajan owned companies in Jamaica. Support Jamaican owned enterprises.
  Jamaicans, you have power. Use it!!!

• Jamaica must go it alone, no to Caricom and no to CCJ. It is a good thing that Jamaica did get out of the West Indian Federation. This "Finger-raped" would never happened to Shanique if she was traveling on an US or Canadian or EU passport because those governments will "punish" Barbados.
  It is bad when a "white country" theat Jamaicans "bad" but when it it a 'black country" doing the same there are no words to discribe shame shame on our so call " black" brothers and sistersin Barbados.

Someone somewhere thinks I am stupid.

Why produce/promote songs like this then nuh if wunna really aint bout this togetherness thing?

Piss in muh facking pocket and call it gold man, I stupid so. Would have to be.

Guidance and blessings, Jah love!

*Figure from: http://encyclopedia.caribseek.com/Caribbean_Population_and_Languages/

everybody like dem got talk fuh me!

Ok yeh its a bit odd, but I'm still on a music tip.
 So here is the question, what is bashment? What makes a song bashment? Is it the song it self, the lyrical content or the instrumental? A combination? Let us take a look see.

From observation I'll have to say that all songs deemed bashment have a few things in common: they are bass heavy, usually very high bmp, and are more rhythm oriented than melody oriented so as to inspire waistline articulation in the form of juks and stabs, a wukkupp more than a wine or grind. These features are found in bashment without regard for the era from which the song originates.

Nothing too fantastic in the melodies of these songs: Little Lenny - Bum Flick and Vybz Kartel - Dumpa Truck, but they are bass heavy, rhythm oriented and the bmp is fairly high.

 Now looking back at the list one might be asking, "but rastaman what about the lyrics?" In those two songs above the lyrics are, quite "bashy", but from observation lyrical content is not a determining factor in what is bashment or not. How many old dub fetes or bashment events (short pants vs short skirts/ leggins and heels) are advertised with these songs as part of the ad?

In fact Super Cat seems to be the go to guy for old bashment, but listen to the lyrics of these songs, the latter is a hail up to the veterans of dancehall music, a song of praise/celebration if anything, but let the DJ select it and the the girls will call on their energy reserves if they have to and bash right out...COME OUT TINGS!


Which Lil Rick is bashier? Which will fill a dance floor faster? I bet the first one will, and its is more socially conscious than the latter, which is just about the female ass and its effects on him.

What's the point? The point is this, bashment is not lyrically defined and I guess that is good and bad. On the one hand you get a larger selection of music to chose for bashment events, and as an artist you get to reach a larger demographic, but on the other hand the message in the song, in a case where there is a message, is potentially lost in the bashment frenzy since it is the beat, not the lyrics, that crowd responds to. In most cases I'm not sure people even listen to the lyrics, sure they hear the lyrics and given enough time they repeat the lyrics, but they are not listening to them. What therefore is bashment music? Bashment music is music that can bring out the bash within, and for that nuff nuff bass, high bmp and repetitive drum rhythms are all you need. So whether it "too scabical"* or "you can't walk the road as you like lately"* is not the determining factor, once it makes the people jump up, bruk out, skin out 6:30 pat and crank and dagger, it is bashment.

It is kinda hard to do all of those dances to the song below. Its so mellow you just have to listen to the lyrics, no inner bash to be summoned by bass and drums, maybe just a lil scant and a head bop.

Red Star Lion - Watching Me


*Peter Ram and Lil Rick references. The first reference is to Peter Ram's Pat and Crank, which is opened with him declaring 'this one too/to (no one is sure whether he is addressing scabicals or declaring the song itself as scabical) scabical'. The second is Lil Rick reference to his dub song from the 90's about gossiping people and how they talk about you behind your back and even to your face. The chorus begins with the line " i can't walk on the road as i like lately, everybody like dem got talk fuh me" It is also the source of this blog title.

one love, one heart lets get together and play tune

There exists this magical place in cyberspace where music lovers come together and post 'tune' and vibe in the cyber company of one another. The cyber city wherein this little enclave is found is Facebook, but before you go "oh dear, a facebook thing/app, it has to be folly" hear me out. This little cyber hole might be a Facebook group, but it lives up, for the most part, to its name, "I dedicate this group to real tune..." For those outside of, or unfamiliar with Caribbean musical jargon, when a song/piece of music is titled as 'tune' it means its either very popular or it merits distinction from other songs. This merit could be based on things like the musical concept of the piece, to the arrangement, to the lyrical content, instrumentals, etc. but it has to be distinct and distinctly good. This group is dedicated to real tune..and by real tune I mean the songs merited above others, not for popularity, but for being distinctly good in some aspects, if not all.

Look at these offerings from last nights crazy, crazy reggae session:

           Dennis Brown - Money in my Pocket

Beres Hammond - Warriors Don't Cry 

Matisyahu - Jerusalem

Bushman - Call the Hearse

It is a group formed by Caribbean nationals, but its focus is not solely on Caribbean music like reggae and dancehall. Dubstep, rock, trance, hip hop and rap,  r and b, have strong representation in this group too. This group is a private group, kinda like a members only club, but is has members from across the Caribbean and even as far as away as Sweden, so we are actually global in scope and representation and musical preference.

For this blog post I dedicate it to real tune... from which ever genre.