Staff writer - Kerran Monroe
Apparently, the Broadcasting Commission is at it again and with them succeeding with their plight to get Ragashanti off air, their new target is Poocaan. Apparently, Popcaan is ‘popping’ too much for the liking of the head of the commission.
“Box Pon Jaw (All Now)” by deejay Popcaan has been banned by the commission. This leads me to the question, “Is popcaan Jamaica’s or the media’s biggest problem at the moment?” If he is then, we really have no problems as a nation. Do we?
The premise for the ban, according to Nicole Morrison, the Public Relations Officer for the Broadcasting Commission, in an interview with the Weekend Star is that the song “endorses violence” and as such is in breach of the Children’s Code for Programming. Therefore the song “should not be transmitted on broadcast radio or television at any time.”
I understand that our airwaves need to be regulated and there need to be rules or else what we would have is next to chaos. However, I do not support double standards. If the main concern of the commission, is the children, then why the song can’t even be played at nights when children should be sleeping but, Television Jamaica (TVJ) and CVM television, the two television stations that all Jamaicans have access to, can broadcast violent films at 11 o clock at night and rate them PG 16 and above.
Listening to the song, prior to writing this article, I saw nothing about the song that was that extreme which could have caused it to be banned from the airwaves. The song speaks about defending oneself and the last time I checked, it is merely human to want to protect or defend oneself. “Wi no join tomp ina mout or box pon lip,” is a line from the song. He does not speak of unperturbed attacks against any person or group of persons. Throughout the song he maintains a defensive stance.
Entertainer Popcaan
Andrew Myrie, the producer of the “Nymphomaniacs” riddim, on which the song is voiced, shares my sentiments, as he opined in an interview done with the Weekend Star that the song is not promoting violence against anyone but really just about defending oneself and if I am not mistaken, we are under the law allowed to defend ourselves from people who attack us.
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