Senior Superintendent of Police, Delroy Hewitt, in charge of St Andrew South division, shows The Gleaner two buttons that were taken from schoolchildren and vendors at school gates in the Duhaney Park police district in St Andrew. The Gaza and Gully buttons both depict violence. - Norman Grindley/Chief Photographer

Last Wednesday night, both local television stations carried a news item in which the police were expressing concern about the negative impact of this Gaza/Gully 'war'. Apparently, they have located pins associated with these groups carrying violent messages and images. It piqued my interest because I have been asking myself - for some time now - why isn't the society looking in a frank and honest way at the corrupting effect of sections of our music industry on our youth?

In the early 1990s, the manager of American rapper, Tupac Shakur, decided to start a feud between his artiste and another one known as Biggie. What emerged was known as the East coast/West coast 'war'. They dug deep into their resources to come up with insults, charges and counter-charges to keep the feud going. It worked! Record sales soared and the wealth of these men multiplied overnight. But the effect on their followers was tragic. The tension and bloodshed resulted in grief, mourning and incarcerations. This did not matter to the artistes, however; they were making money.

In 1993, a Senate Select Committee was set up to investigate the hip hop movement. So shocked were they of the inflammatory nature of its activities that FBI surveillance was immediately ordered. Eventually, both artistes paid the ultimate price for the pain they had wreaked on so many lives. In eerily similar circumstances, they were shot to death within six months of each other.

Thirsty for acceptance

But what are we doing about a similar situation that has developed here? Every problem in this country is the result of a chronic shortage of loving, caring parents who are prepared to coordinate and sponsor activities for their children. These children are abused, neglected and rejected with a lot of unsupervised time on their hands. They are hungry for genuine 'belongingness' and attachment and thirsty for acceptance which should be coming from the home. But there is no home! And they see this Gaza/Gully feud as an opportunity to belong to something.

In order to be fair to these so-called artistes, I asked my nephew to download some of their lyrics since I cannot understand what they are 'singing'. I got three from the Gully man - Mavado - and three from the Gaza man - Vybz Kartel. What I read shocked me. It was just a collection of hateful, violent, misogynistic themes punctuated with expletives. I was left to reflect on the bitterness and self-hatred that spawned these lyrics and the clear suggestion that the authors may have some serious mental-health issues.

Those in the society who have the education and exposure to recognise the sociological implications remain silent, fearing that they may lose popularity or be considered as not being intelligent. Those in academia spend long hours wading through this muck to find excuses to 'intellectualise' it. This is just dangerous, toxic, garbage put out by a subculture in the industry which does not think it has a responsibility to the society that is enriching it.

I did some research going back as far as 2007. There has not been a day since then that at least one of these so-called 'artistes' has not been in the court or penal system for some serious crime like murder, rape, shooting or just beating some woman. They go around 'breeding' the starstruck, parentless girls and do not stop to offer a cent in child maintenance. They are a dangerous menace to society. Then the media take these stories of 'feuds' and play them and print them, thereby keeping them alive in the minds of these youngsters.

It is a dangerous thing for these characters to be allowed to plant the seeds of violence into the hearts and minds of our impressionable, rudderless youth. I am no prophet, but I think the Gaza and Gully connections will continue to laugh all the way to the bank while the bloodshed will continue among the fans.

Feedback may be sent to letters@gleanerjm.com.