Caribbean Studies Ia

590 Words3 Pages
Does Dancehall music have a negative impact on the youths? Madam teacher, fellow students, a pleasant day to you all. Today’s moot is Does Dancehall music have a negative impact on the youths? For one to fairly answer this question we need first to expound on certain key terms. 1. The Encyclopedia Britannica defines dancehall music as a genre of urban folk music that came out of Jamaica in the late 1970’s and is generally considered the direct predecessor of “Rap”. It is in its most basic form a Deejay toasting (or rapping) over a riddim. 2. Youth is defined by Answer online reference as “the time of a life between childhood and maturity”. We can all relate to the idea that music and culture has always been important to the Jamaican community and more specifically the inner cities communities, it is also a major part of our socializing and recreational activity. Having established that fact it is clear to indicate my goal here then, is not to put down Dancehall music but to point out the already established fact that Dancehall music does indeed have a negative impact on the youths. The Bible, which is most of humankind highest teacher on the topic of morals, states in Proverbs 22:6 “Train a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it”. To add to this, research has shown that music is tied to the emotional circuitry of our brains and therefore affects how we feel, both positively and negatively. Based on both the biblical example and the research stated it would be fair to apply the term “GIGO” (garbage in, garbage out) where applicable. As it relates to GIGO and Dancehall music one has to take into consideration that Dancehall music is by far the most popular music in Jamaica, and has been for quite some time. Though we have a wide variety of artists and sub-genres present in the dancehall arena, “slack lyrics” with R to X –
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