Dancehall needs less hype and more storytellers said deejay Assassin who toasted tales of poverty and strife at the Jamaica Poetry Society's monthly fellowship on Tuesday. AssassinAssassin's performance was ostensibly aimed at counteracting the view that dancehall is void of literature. Mid-set he honoured 80s deejay Professor Nuts as one of the greatest story tellers. "Everyone wants to make the next crowd banger and these people don't get to hear stories being told in the music," said Assassin who, along with poet Dexta Malawi, was a guest performer. Deejaying without a beat, he performed songs including Don't Have No Money, Same Thing Again and Hand To Mouth. Afros, locks, dashikis, guayaberas and the sort had eyes angled on Assassin whose platinum cross and diamond encrusted watch perfectly reflected the floodlights in the open air theatre at Edna Manley. "I am not trying to masquerade as a poet and I see how you take the poetry thing serious," said Assassin whose lyrics were filled with stories about the poor and included allusions, turn of phrases and puns. During Hand to Mouth Assassin utilised hand gestures and excited the literati: "As we get the money it done/ and it feel like the next month a come...mi owe one month rent so mi had to pay half/ couldn't pay light so that have to stay off/...mi pray mi no get laid off/cause I could a try thief and end up a prison like Bernie Madoff." Assassin also hailed his late mother for "believing in her kids". "I can appreciate that now being 26 and having a daughter of my own now. Kids going through school should understand their parents' effort," Assassin explained then performed an untitled track that included a line about a mother choosing to pay for school fees over false hair. "I will pay attention/ because mi know a nuff money mommy spend pon/mi fi go a school/because a me she a depend pon/ don't worry mommy I will be your pension." Assassin came early to the fellowship, which is open to the public, and heard the nearly 20 poets deliver original works which fit into the performance or literary tradition. The deejay engaged in poetic criticism as is customary by the audience following open-mic performers. Earlier this month, former Prime Minister Edward Seaga damned the recordings fuelling the 'gully versus gaza' debacle, saying the tracks lack any form of musical standards. "My love for Jamaican music does not incorporate the latest form - dancehall," Seaga told reporters and editors at an Observer Monday Exchange meeting. "Dancehall music lacks components of classical music, which includes lyrics, melody and rhythm," Seaga added. "Things come and go, but I don't know why, for the love of me, this one won't go," Seaga added. "It doesn't have melody, and forget lyrics, but what it does have is rhythm and that has made it hugely popular." The gully/gaza conflict recently received international attention after the world's fastest man, Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt, endorsed Vybz Kartel during an interview with New York radio station Hot 97. There is, too, the ubiquity of graffiti strewn across Kingston that heralds the fictitious locales of 'gully' or 'gaza'

Source: Jamaica Observer