We got wind of a very timely and provocative discussion on Facebook, started by award-winning Poet and Professor Kei Miller with Man Booker Prize Author Marlon James chiming in for the debate. All this the day after controversial Reggae Start Buju Banton was released from an American prison for drug trafficking charges. Have a look and leave your thought below
Kei Miller: I’ve said this before, I’ll say it again now – the thing that has ALWAYS fascinated me about ‘Boom Bye Bye’ is not how homophobic it is, but how homoerotic. How do people always miss that fact? Before 14 year old Buju condemns the homosexual act, he imagines it with a vividness that could make one uncomfortable. And his imagination makes it not just sexual, but romantic as well:
‘Two man hug up and love up and kiss up inna bed, rub up one anedda and feel up lead’ … and only then, as if he’s caught himself in his own fantasy, does he ‘man up’ quickly and turn it around, ‘Sen fi de matic and de uzi instead! Shot battybwoy mek we shot dem dead!’ When are we going to discuss that, and its implications.
Marlon James: Zas chrise I was thinking the same thing! Given how gay porn was all but impossible to get one’s hand on, all the in and outs of gay sex I learned from homophobic dancehall, particularly boom bye bye, but also whichever song taught me “swordfight” was foreplay.
A little background
Boom Bye Bye a song write and song by Buju Banton released 25 years ago when he was 20 years old has been seen as the most homophobic song done by a Jamaican Reggae singer. It became one of the songs that was used against the Jamaican LGBTQ community for years and helped label Jamaica as a very homophobic place to live. Jamaican Reggae Dancehall singers Beenie Man, Sizzla and Capleton had also sang anti-gay songs.
Banton turned the corner and was was one of several artistes who later signed on to the Stop Murder Music Campaign in 2007. It was officially called The Reggae Compassionate Act that the artists signed has pledged them to:
■ “respect and uphold the rights of all individuals to live without fear of hatred and violence due to their religion, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity or gender”;
■ “there’s no space in the music community for hatred and prejudice, including no place for racism, violence, sexism or homophobia”;
■ “we agree to not make statements or perform songs that incite hatred or violence against anyone from any community”
Your Thoughts?