EDDIE MURPHY'S RED LIGHT WON'T PLAY ON MY IPOD!

It’s so unfortunate that we are living in a world that dictates that the rich will exploit the poor or let me be clearer.  The richer classes will exploit the economic classes lower on the economic rung.  Eddie Murphy released a single featuring Snoop Dogg now calling himself Snoop Lion.  Red light as Mr. Murphy named the tune, is a song that only hints as some sort of social consciousness.  The less than meaningful lyrics sung by the song writer himself, Eddie Murphy are a slap (slap one) in the face of people not fortunate enough to live a Beverly Hills lifestyle.  Murphy sings “Broken economy, the streets are dire, even more than before.  I need some betterness to take me higher feels like I’m gonna blow…”  For a man that doesn’t live a life under the same economic conditions as most of the people in the world that will buy his tune, should steer clear of speaking in the first person.  He hasn’t had to concern himself with how much he can afford to spend on food versus medicine or medicine versus heating his house on a cold winter’s night. 

Nor will the soldiers come to his door and knock knock knock on Beverly Hills mansion door.    “It won’t be long til the military come knock knock knock on your door.”  What military would he be speaking of anyway? Murphy says “That's about how crazy sh*t is, how long before the f**king cops show up, motherf**kers show up beating on your door. No place to run, here your karma come.” I suppose we should ascertain that the reason the mf’s (military?) are coming to our door is because we have done something wrong because he says in the lyrics ‘no place to run, here your Karma come.’ These meely mouthed lyrics are passé at best and downright insulting our intelligence at worst. 

 

When asked how Snoop Dogg got involved Murphy said “Yo, if he’s Snoop Lion now, he can jump on this track because I wanted to have a rapper on it.” “It was perfect, he’s Snoop Lion, I got this reggae track.  It was like it was meant to be” (slap two.)  At one point during the interview Brian Hiatt who interviewed Murphy for Rolling Stone said “It feels like a pretty legitimate song to me, if people refuse to recognize that…”  Murphy responds “Yeah, you’re just hatin’.”  “Just be hatin’.”    Look who’s judging the legitimacy of a “reggae” song.  Look who’s cosigning this mess of a tune.   If Mr. Murphy was really interested in turning out a relevant and a more authentic sound, Snoop Lion would not have been his first choice.  It would feel much more legitimate if he would have brought in a DJ/SingJay like I Wayne, or Chuck Fenda, But, really, the best choice would have been Shabba Ranks for this track.  Shabba did for Dancehall what Bob Marley did for the foundation sound Reggae.   Shabba could have really taken this song higher.  Shabba Ranks put Dancehall on the world map.  Even the mention of the Dancehall genre to most non Jamaicans renders the name Shabba Ranks. 

So, I question the legitimacy Brian Hiatt’s opinion of the song. Without a Jamaican on the track to give that authentic sound to it, then it ain’t legitimate. Don’t misunderstand, I’m not saying a Jamaican must be on the song but, at least some one that has surrounded themselves with the people of the island and has lived the culture as much as anyone can that is not of the culture much as the former background singer for Black Uhuru, the late Sandra “Puma” Jones of Columbia, South Carolina.  Or, someone that has lived on the island to really live the true lifestyle of everyday Jamaicans, much as Mortimer “Natural Black” Softley of Georgetown, Guyana has done.  Otherwise what Murphy is doing legitimizes Shabba’s stance for not attending the BET awards performance (though Shabba has ample evidence without Murphy’s exploits) by Reggae and Dancehall artists’.  Much worse, Murphy being a very wealthy Black man in America could give rise to another outlet for Jamaicans to work and perform with someone that looks like them rather than having to run to Japan for promotion.

 

The pale faced thinkers of Black Entertainment Television, which by the way ain’t Black no more, decided to group all the Reggae and Dancehall artists on the stage at the same time and invited the GRAMMY award winning Rexton Rawlston Fernando Gordon, known to the world as Shabba Ranks to perform alongside the other Jamaican artists.  You see how the pale faced thinkers move?  They put all the Jamaican artists on the stage together at one time as if Reggae/Dancehall is not the powerful musical force that it has become and is a major player in Black music world wide.  In fact, when we look around the world, whether it be Asia, Africa or Europe most people want to immolate Black American or Jamaican artists in music, dress and language. 

 Eddie Murphy has an opportunity to create a movement the music industry has attempted to stamp out.  Murphy could be a catalyst for artists that have been quashed like Diana King who sings in a style that flows from Jamaican Patwa to Merican (my word for Black American speech) and back to Patwa.  And, Jason Harrow known the the world as  Kardinal Offishall that raps from Patwa and Merican over Hip Hop beats and Dancehall riddims.  Not to mention the countless collaborations that have been produced by Black American and Jamaican artists that never get aired on either “urban” or Jamaican radio stations.  Instead, Murphy proves that no matter your skin color if the mind thinks like the pale face we will continue to hold ourselves back.  No need for the pale ones to do that anymore.