Dancehall Music is Having Negative Impacts on Students

Dancehall music is a very important part of the Jamaican culture. In Canada and the United States, Dancehall is becoming very popular amongst various adults and students. Studies have shown that the majority of Dancehall listeners are not aware of the messages that are portrayed in the songs that they listen to furthermore, theses listeners would argue that Dancehall music has no impact on their lives however, many studies have proven otherwise. Dancehall music has a negative impact on Students as it sends and promotes negative messages of violence, se! and drugs.

"irst of all, violence is a predominate theme throughout the genre of dancehall music and conse#uently influences students to behave violently and deem it as acceptable behaviour. $yb% &artel is a good e!ample of an artist who promotes violence in his music. 'is song entitled, Gunshot, contains a lot of messages that involve various violent acts. "or e!ample, his lyrics contain phrases li(e )*e an me guns roll deep li(e subs. +&s and Slugs with blac( leather gloves. ,uinness and red bull with straight big buds. Cah real badman don-t hang out at clubs.. In these few lines, one could perceive guns violence as being popular, especially to students who loo( up to $yb% &artel as a role model. /his negative message can easily influence student0s behaviors as they begin to believe that this is acceptable behaviour and that they can be as violent as they li(e and even encourage more violent acts as

well. /his song leaves an unconstructive message to the student0s hearts and minds. +lso, the more the students listen to this song, the more their actions and attitudes will be influenced and persuaded to be involved in gun violence. In addition, *ovado is another artist that promotes a lot of negative messages to students and other listeners. 1hen the lyrics to his song, Murder are e!amined, it would be found that he promotes violence li(e murder 2shooting, stabbing etc3, which is not an acceptable message at all to be sending on to students. 4istening to a song li(e this can also influence more violent acts in the society. /he society does not need a song li(e Murder, to validate violence as an acceptable behaviour to students. *oreover, there is a new artist called 5opcaan, who is promoting the negative message of violence as well. 5opcaan seems to be following negativity that $yb% &artel, *ovado and other older Dancehall artists have started. 'e continues sending the harmful messages, which others are already bringing to the society, to increase his popularity which is done out of selfishness and this could be classified as very offensive to the society. In his song called My War, he tal(s a lot about murdering people and ma(ing it sound very easy to (ill someone, to his listeners. "or e!ample, in this song he states the following6 )Soh tell some amateurs. + nuh tal(in thing. Dem surprise to how shot a bar( in s(in. + nuh basic school. Soh no stone nah fling. + di war school.. 1hat differentiates 5opcaan0s song from some of the other artists listed above is that he tal(s about having violence in school. In

my opinion, that is much worse than the others because he tal(s about the place many students attend. 'e promotes that violence in schools are acceptable. If many students ta(e this message in their hearts and minds, they would start these acts in their own schools and communities. +s a result, it would become clear, that Dancehall music has negative messages that promote violence due to the songs li(e Gunshot, Murder and My War. So, it would be proven that Dancehall music is having negative impacts on students.

Secondly, various Dancehall artists are encouraging negative messages li(e se! to students. /imberlee is an e!ample of a Dancehall artist who prompts se! in her songs. 'er song called Sexercise e!presses a lot of negative messages, especially for females. 'er lyrics are very e!plicit, and the lyrics to the song could not be found. 7ut in this song alone, she e!plains what guys want and how to please a man. In her song Sexercise, /imberlee compares se! with e!ercise and encourages students that they are very ali(e. *any students interpret the song literally and thin( it is o(ay when it is not. 1hat ma(es it worst is, the fact that some students are se!ually active and the song can encourage these students to continue their se!ual behaviors. 7ramma is another Dancehall artist that encourages se!ual behaviors as well. /his can be found in his song, Daggeration, which mainly is about enticement of one0s se!ual desires. 'is lyrics are very e!plicit as well. I find it hard to understand how someone could encourage or tal( about

girls in that way. 'e states, )Dj tell her dis seh mi nuh ggyyaal 2bram3 mi love the way yo wine8 buss yo bra strap ya wen yo tic( toc( yo8 If yo man ah gi yo moderation my girl come ya fu the daggeration8. Some of the lyrics from 7ramma0s song had to be cut because of the e!plicit words and contents he demonstrates in his song. "rom e!amining his song Daggeration, it could be found or seen that 7ramma has no respect for females. +idonia is another e!ample he uses the song called 100 stabs and is basically the same e!ample as 7ramma 'e also tal(s about females or loo(s at females as se!ual objects. /hese lyrics can harm female student0s self9esteem because they might thin( that is how male students portray female students. It would be shown that, Dancehall is having unhealthy view about se!, due to the songs li(e Sexexercise, 100 Stabs & Daggeration. /herefore, it would be shown that Dancehall music is having negative impacts on students.

4astly, the other negative message that Dancehall artists are promoting are drugs, especially marijuana. *any Dancehall artists tal( about marijuana and are prompting marijuana on the mar(et for students. Some students are literally going out of their ways to get marijuana to smo(e or sell to other people to earn money. Dancehall music is having negative impacts on students through drugs because various students who listen to dancehall are smo(ing marijuana or are being influenced to smo(e marijuana. /he influences to students are either coming from the songs itself or by friends who were influences before. Dancehall music is impacting

students negatively due to the fact that marijuana is illegal and that means that more marijuana is in demand, the more the crime rates would go up. /he first e!ample is an artist called 1ayne *arshall, and he is promoting a song called Blame it on the Weed. 7y the song title itself, it would be seem that there are probably going to be very negative messages coming from his song. In this song he ma(es his own version of a song called Blame it on the Alcohol by Jamie "o!. In both of these songs, these artists tal( about the reason they did certain things in their lives, which can influence students to use that e!cuse for mista(es and or ma(e e!cuse for problems that may occur in their lives. In songs they continuously tal( state that alcohol and marijuana are the things to blame and not on themselves. /hey do not want to ta(e the blame for anything in their lives, so they blame it on their )sources.. /hese songs not only promote alcohol and marijuana use to students but they also ma(e it seem li(e these things are good for students and they could also help them as well. 1hich are not good messages at all to be sending to students, not to mention the trouble with the law, various students would be getting into. +nother song that fits this e!ample is a song called Bro n Bottle by *avado. *avado states in his song, ),angsta-s...sipping 'ennessey...smo(ing trees. +ft data, it0s a hot gal mi go sei%e. "::::in, ma(e yuh live at ease. S#uee%e up di girl titt::, dem beg me please.. /hese are not messages that should be broadcasted out in the world, especially because younger, impressionable listeners have access to this song. +nother e!ample is an artist called 7eenie *an who made a song

called !a

!a

and basically he tal(s about marijuana 2weed3 as well. 'e

States, )Jus drin( a ,uinness an mi smo(e some weed. which sends the message to all his listeners to drin( and smo(e. Dancehall music impacts student0s lives through negative messages on drugs. So, for that reason, it would be shown that Dancehall music is having negative impacts on

So, it would be proven that Dancehall music impacting student0s lives. +rtists li(e $yb% &artel, *avado, 5opcaan, /imberlee, +idionia,1ayne *arshall and 7eenie *an encourage to these negative messages. /hey are also the best e!amples of artists that prove that there are negative messages in Dancehall music. /herefore, it would be shown that Dancehall music is having negative impacts on Students.