Stop Murder Music is a campaign to oppose Caribbean artists who produce music with lyrics alleged to glorify murder of

homosexual men Gay men are male homosexuals. Some bisexual men, bisexual and homoromantic men may dually identify as ''gay'' and a number of gay men also identify as ''queer''. Historic terminology for gay men has included ''Sexual inversion (sexology), in ...

.Archive copy of "Can music incite murder?"
''The Black Music Council Site'' at the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...

. Report Date:15 Dec 2004. The campaign was mainly against

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

n musicians, primarily

dancehall Dancehall is a genre of Jamaican popular music that originated in the late 1970s. Initially, dancehall was a more sparse version of reggae than the roots reggae, roots style, which had dominated much of the 1970s.Barrow, Steve & Dalton, Peter (2 ...

and

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica during the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its Jamaican diaspora, diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, "Do the Reggay", was the first ...

artists such as

Buju Banton Mark Anthony Myrie (born 15 July 1973),Larkin, Colin (1998) "The Virgin Encyclopedia of Reggae", Virgin Books, known professionally as Buju Banton, is a Jamaican dancehall, ragga, and reggae singer. He is one of the most significant and well-re ...

Bounty Killer Rodney Basil Price OD (born 12 June 1972), known as Bounty Killer, is a Jamaican reggae and dancehall deejay. AllMusic describes him as "one of the most aggressive dancehall stars of the '90s, a street-tough rude boy with an unrepentant fl ...

, and the Bobo Ashanti Rastafarians Sizzla and

Capleton Clifton George Bailey III (born 13 April 1967),Thompson, Dave (2002) ''Reggae & Caribbean Music'', Backbeat Books, , pp. 67–69 better known by his stage name Capleton, is a Jamaican reggae and dancehall musician. He is also referred to as Kin ...

. The campaign accuses these artists of promoting

violence against LGBT people LGBTQ people frequently experience violence directed toward their human sexuality, sexuality, gender identity, or gender expression. This violence may be enacted by the state, as in laws LGBTQ rights by country or territory, prescribing punishm ...

through the

lyrics Lyrics are words that make up a song, usually consisting of verses and choruses. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist. The words to an extended musical composition such as an opera are, however, usually known as a "libretto" and their writer, ...

in their music and attempts to stop this. Stop Murder Music is jointly run by

OutRage! OutRage! was a British political group focused on lesbian and gay rights. Founded in 1990, the organisation ran for 21 years until 2011. It described itself as "a broad based group of queers committed to radical, non-violent protest, non-viol ...

, the Black Gay Men's Advisory Group, and J-Flag. The term was coined by British

gay rights Rights affecting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) people vary greatly by country or jurisdiction—encompassing everything from the legal recognition of same-sex marriage to the death penalty for homosexuality. Not ...

activist

Peter Tatchell Peter Gary Tatchell (born 25 January 1952) is an Australian-born British human rights campaigner, best known for his work with LGBT social movements. Tatchell was selected as the Labour Party (UK), Labour Party's Parliament of the United Kingdo ...

in 1992.

Reggae Compassionate Act

The Reggae Compassionate Act was an agreement signed in 2007 by artists including

Beenie Man Moses Anthony Davis OD (born 22 August 1973), professionally known as Beenie Man, is a Jamaican dancehall deejay. His awards include DJ of the Year Award eight years in a row. His twelfth studio album '' Art and Life'' received a Grammy Award ...

, and Sizzla. It has now been somewhat discredited as some artists have felt it was badly worded, while others have denied signing it. Others (including

Elephant Man Joseph Carey Merrick (5 August 1862 – 11 April 1890) was an English man known for his severe physical deformities. He was first exhibited at a freak show under the stage name "The Elephant Man", and then went to live at the London Hospital, ...

, T.O.K., Bounty Killa, and

Vybz Kartel Adidja Azim Palmer (born 7 January 1976), better known as Vybz Kartel, is a Jamaican dancehall Toasting (Jamaican music), deejay. Among his various nicknames, he is referred to as Worl' Boss, Teacha and King of Dancehall. As summarized by ''Roll ...

) have simply refused to sign it.

Local campaigns

Canada

Stop Murder Music (Canada) is an independent branch of the organization in Canada, founded by Akim Adé Larcher, after learning at a local

West Indian A West Indian is a native or inhabitant of the West Indies (the Antilles and the Lucayan Archipelago). According to the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED''), the term ''West Indian'' in 1597 described the indigenous inhabitants of the West In ...

store about a Canadian Tour by Elephant Man. Larcher, a Canadian/Saint Lucian, brought together over 20 organizations from the African and Caribbean communities in Canada to form the group. Despite not causing any artists to be denied entry visas, the campaign was able to get concert venues cancelled, and also get iTunes to remove some tracks by Buju Banton, Elephant Man and TOK that they deemed contrary to their standards.

United Kingdom

The

Green Party of England and Wales The Green Party of England and Wales (GPEW; ), often known simply as the Green Party or the Greens, is a Green politics, green, Left-wing politics, left-wing political party in England and Wales. Since October 2021, Carla Denyer and Adrian Ram ...

and

campaigned on behalf of the stop murder music campaign, including petitioning the United Kingdom

Home Secretary The secretary of state for the Home Department, more commonly known as the home secretary, is a senior minister of the Crown in the Government of the United Kingdom and the head of the Home Office. The position is a Great Office of State, maki ...

in 2004.

Arguments for and against

Tatchell has called for laws against homophobic music and the Campaign participated in protests outside concerts. The Campaign has especially objected to lyrics which they allege to support violence, including allegedly murder, towards gay men. Dennis Carney, chair of the Black Gay Men's Advisory Group, argued in 2004 that the

MOBO Awards The MOBO Awards (Music of Black Origin, also known as the MOBOs) are an annual British music award presentation honouring achievements in " music of black origin", including hip hop, grime, UK Drill, R&B, soul, reggae, jazz, gospel, and Ba ...

had a responsibility to exclude anti-gay artists because, "homophobic lyrics in music normalise hatred towards black gay men." The UK International Development Minister Gareth Thomas argued in a speech that, "A number of artists uch as Sizzla and Buju Bantonare effectively contributing to the spread of HIV by producing reggae and rap songs actually encouraging discrimination against those who have AIDS and encouraging violence against minority groups such as men who have sex with men...Yes, we believe in free speech, but nobody in a democracy should be able to incite violence against minorities." He cited John King and the Mighty Gabby as examples of musicians who are positive role models against violence and discrimination.Gareth Thomas
"Speech"
, ''UK/CARICOM Champions For Change Conference.

Criticism

Tatchell and the Stop Murder Music campaign have been criticised by The Black Music Council, a British organisation formed in 2004 in response to the campaign by the president of Blacker Dread Records, Blacker Dread, in order "to protect the rights of the eight artists placed on the OutRage! hit list".Alicia Roache, Staff Reporter. , ''The Sunday Gleaner'' (sosjamaica.org). 13 December 2004

References

External links

"iTunes Canada pulls anti-gay dancehall songs"
, ''Xtra.ca''

{{LGBTQ Violence against LGBTQ people Caribbean music LGBTQ in Jamaica LGBTQ-related music LGBTQ topics in the African diaspora Murder Musical advocacy groups Obscenity controversies in music Anti-homophobia LGBTQ-related controversies in music