Damion Crawford Hits Back At PM Holness’ Comments

S. PinnockJune 16, 2022

Damion Crawford is calling out Prime Minister Andrew Holness on the “hypocrisy” he has displayed regarding his apparently wavering belief of dancehall music contributes to crime. Crawford brought this to the parliament’s attention with the argument that Holness has used the same songs he chastised for influencing crime in his campaign for his own political gain.

Crawford highlighted a 2013 statement Holness, who was then president of the opposition, made informing the then PNP Government that they should take responsibility for the crime in the country. However, now ruling as the Prime Minister, he points to every other “chief contributor” that does not include the government.

Detailing how the Prime Minister speaks “with multiple voices”, Crawford spoke on the “fire campaign dubplates” Holness dropped during the last election, which included Skillibeng’s “Mr. Universe”, Masicka’s “Just A Minute, as well as dubplates from Intence, Jahvillani and Teejay.

Quoting Masicka’s “Just A Minute”, Crawford highlighted the type of violent music Holness censored for his campaign.

“Me an’ di crocodile chit chat fi a minute. Couple rifle, couple criss Glock fi a minute. Cah me deh deh so di wul place lock fi a minute….Me just swing di Beretta pon mi belly fi a minute. Link up Erica pon mi celly fi a minute,” he quoted. ”Shoot out, heavy tools out, me ah bring it. Get di food doh, buy ah new house every minute.”

“If he believe that violent music, as he say, created criminal activity, why did he choose this song?” Crawford questioned.

Crawford, who had parliament astounded by his findings, continued to quote more songs that were chopped and censored for Holness’ campaign, including Teejay’s “Owna Lane” which has a verse singing about annihilating someone who snitches to the point where their body is no longer recognizable by their own mother.

Presenting that Holness had the opportunity to choose other artistes such as Chronixx and Protoje, both of whom are conscious reggae singers, Crawford labelled Prime Minster Andre Holness’ actions as “hypocrisy”.

Rebutting this argument, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Kamina Johnson Smith remarked that there is “no hypocrisy in the Prime Minister’s position” as Holness has “always indicated his support for dancehall and the creativity in dancehall while indicating that is a problem where violence is promoted by that type of music or any type of music.” Smith lastly stressed that Holness did not use violent language in his dubplates hence, despite the original version of the tracks, they do not contradict his beliefs.

Watch the video with Damion Crawford speaking on Holness’ “hypocrisy” below.