You're all social hypocrites' – Kartel writes letter lashing out at 'Rampin' Shop' critics

Popular deejay Adidja ‘Vybz Kartel’ Palmer is defending his Rampin’ Shop and has sought to speak out against the critics of the song.

In a letter which he sent to THE STAR on the weekend, the deejay responded to an article which was done by Esther Tyson titled ‘Rampin’ Shop – musical poison’, which begged for a stop to be placed on “the promotion of such filth”.

Kartel begins the letter by dubbing those who view the song as poison ‘social hypocrites’.

“This is a response to an article written by Esther Tyson, (principal of the Ardenne High School in St Andrew) and advocated by the rest of the social hypocrites who claim Rampin’ Shop is musical poison,” Kartel writes before expressing his views as to what is affecting the minds of the nation’s children.

Devastating impact

“The ‘devastating impact on the psyche of Jamaican children’ is not caused by daggerin’ songs but rather by socio-economic conditions which leave children without free education, with single-parent homes (or shacks), lack of social infrastructure in ghetto communities, unemployed and disfranchised young men with no basic skills who are caught up in the ‘gun culture’ cultivated by our politicians in the 1960s/’70s. These are all faults of the governments (PNP and JLP).”

The deejay then touched on the issue of ‘double standards’, while making reference to two of his songs for which he claims he was given no great compliment by those who now find a problem with Rampin’ Shop.

“When Vybz Kartel did Money Fi Spen (with the intro being ‘we nah run dung gun … we nah run dung war), it went to number one on the charts. No accolades were given. When I did Emergency, no accolades were given; but when the same audience that embraced all those ‘reality’ songs embraced Rampin’ Shop for what it is – music, it’s a problem to you and yours, the Scribes and Pharisees of our time,” Kartel wrote.

Undercover Jekyll and Hyde

In the letter, Kartel also questions the contribution of his critics to dancehall music before asking: “Incidentally, has anyone ever wondered why this song is so big? It’s because everybody loves it and that’s the whole bottom and top line. In part, because contrary to what is said, there are a lot of self-righteous, undercover Jekyll and Hyde characters.”

The letter continues, “Rampin’ Shop is just as easily accessible to the public as porn sites on the Internet via laptop or phone; as accessible as R-rated movies or carnival revellers ‘daggerin in broad day uptown during the day-time on our local and cable television stations. I encourage you to use your obviously lengthy spare time to write about things that actually affect the nation like, I dunno, probably a light-bulb scandal, etc … and stop making much ado about nothing.”

The song Rampin’ Shop done by Vybz Kartel and Spice was released late last year and has become a hot topic for critics who say the song is not fit for airplay.

One such critic, Tyson, in her column published in The Sunday Gleaner ( February 1, 2009), blasted the song while claiming that it only aided in devastating the psyche of Jamaican children.

On Friday evening, the Broadcasting Commission issued a release stating that with immediate effect, a ban has been placed on the playing of all daggerin’ songs and songs that require ‘bleeping’.

Rampin’ Shop, charged with sexually explicit lyrics, was among the list of songs to be banned.

Source: JamaicaStar