IN JAMAICA: Anti-Gang Bill May Seriously Impact Music Industry - Artistes Should Lobby Against Its Passing, Says Damion Crawford.

Tourism State Minister Damion Crawford believes the move to create a law which will force local artistes to refrain from creating music with content that is deemed as being violent is based on prejudice against dancehall music.

Hon. Damion Crawford

According to the minister, who defends dancehall against its many critics, there is no evidence of a correlation between the genre and violence.

The minister, who recently won a selecting clash against Daryl Vaz, says he witnessed several clashes at Sting which were not violent.

He also indicated that it was hypocrisy to say that dancehall contributed to violence when the same is not being said of cartoons, movies and games with violent content.

"It starts from the premise that there is no research, which shows that the consumption of violent media leads to criminal activities. It is merely an assumption, and it is also an assumption that a reduction of violent media will reduce criminal activity," Minister Crawford said. read more