SLEEPY MEETS MR.SOUL IN LADBROKE GROVE 1. LAMENTATIONS 2. ALTON WHIPS THE PRINCE! 3. AGGRESSION, THE GUN, AN' ALL THEM T'INGS 4. ALTON RECALLS 5. CHARTS

3. AGGRESSION, THE GUN, AN' ALL THEM T'INGS Alton Ellis: "The only thing I have against Jamaica, Kingston, now is the violence. Becah the poverty, we know that already, an' we live through it an' mek music outta dat. 'Cos that time we a create Reggae... draw a spliff an' start play some music an' sing... So is the aggression, violence, I Can't take boss. An' it begin from the politician, come right down, so there is no escape. It's not like the street people a jus' keep it up, 'cos the politician would come stamp it out. It's them doing it. "My nature cyaan take the aggression. I'm a Virgo, I born in September, an' most September people is quiet, layback people. You can lead me around the world if you jus' talk to me nice an' sof'. An' if you get mad at me, I jus' quail up, an don' get nutt'n outta me. "Because it is a thing wha' catch on man. Is a lickle courtesy an' all them thing that we enjoy in England. You pay somebody, dem say 'Thanks'. In Jamaica, you pay the bus fare: 'Next!' Like as if you wasn't there!" Horace Andy: "You go on the bus say 'Excuse me'... Jesus Chris'!... Nobody no move! Everybody pile up a the front... bwoy, I don' know..." Alton Ellis: "It's a little different middle class or up more. But we a fe talk about the roots. The mass a the people is like this. The aggression an' the gun an' all them t'ings." Horace Andy: "Even you go in a studio, you 'ave some guys them just come a studio, them nah do nutt'n but steal. An' a ten dollar whe' you no gi' dem, dem... (imitates attitudes of surly threat) 'Eh! Beg a ten dollar!' You say 'Wha' you gi' me, the money fe put down? Nah man!'...That's how you have to react. I don' know if Alton a react to dem that way, but I react back the same way. You 'ave fe make 'im know say 'Look man, ask me with respect'. Nex' time 'im see you 'im say 'Bwoy boss, me sorry the last time'. Then you say 'Ah Ha!' y'know, an' you still don' gi' nutt'n! You say 'Bwoy me broke today' (laughs). "Sometimes you 'ave fe 'ave people who, from them see you with them, people don' ask you fe nutt'n. 'Ca these people are people who are direck bodyguard y'know? (laughs). Sometime, y'know me friend them wait for me, y'knowwhamean? 'Im... bad! Well, 'im is a Don inna the area dem, y'know? So, when them look 'pon 'im, them say nutt'n. "When you alone now, you 'ave some others, them call them fryers, the smaller ones, the one them what jus' start to learn from the bad them. Them fresh! 'An them will do you things because them jus' a come up, an' them waan fe be known. Those are the ones that you 'ave to be careful of. You 'ave to mek them love yuh, y'know? All three, four a dem, you gi' dem a money, share up this man, y'know..." Alton Ellis: "The problem is that it never end. That's the beginning of most a them. You jus' gi' 'im two more weeks, or nex' three days an' jus' see 'im again, an' nex' thing 'im come, the man ask some ridiculous money fe ask you must start business fe 'im, y'knowhamean? 'Im waan three grand fe start business. Dem always come to artists fe chat because seh we rich, y'knowhamean? I can't tek it no more boss. I don't need that. This year I go Jamaica three times an' I come to the conclusion me done with that place man. I finish with it. I'm not going there to live. I can't see it for the future. "This man come from America, big musician, did live a foreign fe years y'know. Big ol' man now, fifty nuff, sixty likkle bit y'know? An' them deh in them living room, like we sitting 'ere talkin', 'pon the 'ill y'know. An' some guys broke inna the house wi' dem big gun an' clean up the place. And the guys said 'How come you come from foreign an' no more money than this?... an' jus' kill the people y'know? Kill the three man an' jus' lef' two man. An' is old people, y'know? Them type a things I can't situate. I can see them rob, clean out a them an' leave... I can see that. But to take the people them life... them people them stain, mentally and spiritually. Blood stain them." | NEXT |