Heavy D cries foul - Manager says cops unfairly targeting his artistes

Fed up with what he calls the "constant harassment" by the members of the security forces, artiste manager Heavy D said he is dreaming of a day when his charges are simply allowed to do their jobs.

"Is long time this ting happening, to the extent that the police even want to govern music on the Internet," he told THE STAR.

Heavy D said that during the recent Squash/Alkaline beef when various diss songs were being traded online by the two artistes, the police called him about it and said it needed to stop because it was influencing people in St James to do things.

Permit turned down

"I can't understand it. These songs were not even released. And it goes further than this, because every time we book a show, and the promoters go for a permit, they are turned down. It happened to me when I was managing Tommy Lee. A seven years now dem a track Tommy Lee and all now dem can't find anything to charge him with. I had to return millions of dollars to promoters for Tommy Lee and now again for Squash," Heavy D said.

Although Heavy D is the common denominator in the musical affairs of both artistes, he, apparently, is not the problem. It is their lyrics, specifically their gun tunes. The artiste manager pointed out that it is only in Jamaica that the gun songs are a problem. He says that Squash's Shooting Mood is one of the artiste's biggest songs in the Caribbean, earning for him thousands of dollars by way of specials.

"The police tell me point blank that they not allowing the artistes to work because dem do gun song and dem going to tek the money and buy gun. Yuh ever hear anything so stupid?" he said.

Heavy D said that the artistes with whom he is affiliated are not wrongdoers.

"From day one, I tell all artistes who want to work with me that I do not work with criminals. So if they have any of those motives, then I am not the manager for them. It's dancehall I do, that's the only thing I know. And, another thing is that a man might have a past. So Squash was locked up for how long and the police eventually have to let him go without any charge, but even so he is still getting a fight," he lamented.

Heavy D says that the blocking of the artistes from live performances is done on a parish basis. He singled out St James, Manchester, St Elizabeth and Westmoreland as the parishes where the police are most stringent.

"Dem tell Squash that him mustn't go to St James because of his influence, so him change him address totally, but the police still have a problem with him. If an artiste cyaan work and earn in the country where him born, then where him must work?" he quizzed. Heavy D says he understands that Jamaica has a crime problem, but he believes that the police need to do their work and find the real criminals.