Popular music, and dancehall in particular, has recently come under heavy criticism once again with the release of a decidedly offensive composition by Guyanese artiste Baby Skello. This form of music has a history of controversy and has been long condemned by segments of Caribbean society while at the same time attracting unprecedented popular appeal among large multitudes around the world.
This most recent outrage erupted when Baby Skello dropped a song with lyrics that commit shameless sacrilege against the Hindu goddess Mother Lakshmi and foul-mouthed violation of not only the Hindu religion, but against women and womanhood in general. This was not a controversy; there is little debate about it. Skello’s utterances in that release pose no difficulty of interpretation; they are unmistakable disrespectful and offensive references to the female deity that bring the religion and indeed dancehall, into disrepute.
So let little time be wasted; we have to declare Skello’s work as inexcusable and insensitive desecration of what many people hold sacred. When public outrage and condemnation over this issue built up in Guyana there was a video that was publicised with Baby Skello and his father voicing not properly an apology, but an apologia seeking to explain, to absolve and exonerate him from blame. His father offered a prolonged diatribe claiming that his son was misinterpreted and words used in the song misunderstood. His long rant is riddled with red herrings and various types of the non sequitur. Further videos descended into the comic and the ridiculous.