Sing about social issues, Mykal Rose urges young acts

Grammy Award-winning singer, Mykal Rose, is urging the current generation of dancehall artistes to modify their message and deejay about social issues in a manner that will empower listeners and assist them in enjoying longevity in the music business.

The former leader of Black Uhuru noted that, despite many people having issues with "the new sound" he was more concerned with themes and content.

"Dem can do the music with the sound that dem have now, but dem need to sing bout dem day-to-day ... explore social issues across the board in your lyrics. Even the Beatles sing bout dem every day. People a bawl seh dem cyaan tek the violence inna di music, and that needs to change. We have a tradition of giving the world good music that last for 50 and 60 years and still sound fresh. How much of the music that is being produced now will stand the test of time?" the militant Rose quizzed.

According to Rose, the benchmark was Jamaica's golden era of music which saw stars such as Dennis Brown, who he referred to as his "godfather in the business".

"When I first started singing, I sounded like Dennis Brown. But, after a while, I know in myself that I had to get my own sound ... my own voice. But, yuh see Dennis? ... back in the days when Dennis Brown a chop tune, every man haffi just siddung pon di fence and listen."

For more than three decades, Mykal Rose has been writing, recording and performing message-filled, roots reggae music across the globe, with solo stints before and after joining Black Uhuru. He released his latest album I Give You Love, on September 15. The 13-track set features collaborations with Bounty Killer, Bugle and Jahmiel.

"We have a song with Bounty called Steppin' Like a Murderer. It is a total message song addressing the youths who behave like seh, if it's not killing, then it's not happening. It says ' stepping like a murderer nuh push it nuh further'. Bounty, with him big voice and him rough deejaying, was perfect for this song. And, memba seh me come from Waterhouse and Killer come from Seaview just around the corner. And the whole a we work for King Jammy ... so is long time and plenty history," Rose declared.

He shared that the Jahmiel collaboration, When Dem A Go Let We Go, shows the extent to which "the system" has to share the responsibility for wayward youths.

"If yuh check it, you have some youth who go a school and do dem work and still end up inna di wrong lane. Is like sometimes the system set a way so that the youths dem cyaan win, but everybody get up and blame the youths," he opined.