This music, as with all the types of world music, holds its own set of characteristics and deserves respect regardless of taste. The language is different, but just because it's foreign, or you just don't agree with it, does not allow it to be disregarded and disrespected. Do you speak perfect English? It's really no different than your son, daughter or friend using words common to your dialect or accent that only people in your surrounding area would understand. At this point, there are very few people speaking and using the English language as it was created. How ethnocentric are you to discriminate these people? Forgive me if you are in the process of critiquing the Blue Collar Comedy tour as well. But if you are just singling out this group of people, there are some underlying issues at hand. Since when was Robert Marley racist? Please post your sources. From what I know, his father was a white man from Scotland. Robert Nesto Marley: "I don't have prejudice against mself. My father was a white and my mother was black. Them call me half-caste or whatever. Me don't dip on no body's side. Me don't dip on the black man's side nor the white man's side. Me dip on God's side, the one who create me and cause me to come from black and white." Robert led his country through the hardships of discrimination at a level no less than any other activist.
Each society has its evils, its right from its wrong. What is relevant and accepted in one society may not be as welcomed in another, which is normal. But because some thing's not welcome in the U.S. does not mean that it is necessarily bad. For instance, in Saudi Arabia, you can serve multiple years in jail for possession or consumption of alcohol. Does that mean its O.K. for Saudis to call us alcoholics? Rastafarians deserve as much respect as Catholic Ceremonies involving the ingestion of wine during service. Both kill brain cells, both reek havoc in societies. Although this is not the argument at hand... which can cause death directly after ingestion?
Damien Marley has inherited musical talent and a reputation from his father and his mother. He, just as his father, is attempting to bring "their music out of the socially deprived areas of Jamaica and onto the international music scene." The majority of Damiens songs are about ghetto youth. "Ghetto youth in need and there is no doubt about it..." He has the talent to incorporate incredible sounds into a powerful movement. Why don't they shoot him? Why don't inner city kids from Philadelphia shoot Allen Iverson? Who are you going to take seriously from Jamaica? The ones with the AK's or the one's with the microphones? The kids sell drugs to get the money. The money that is needed in our world that we associate with cars that no one on this earth needs. Houses that could fulfill the needs of an entire block in Kingston or any ghetto. These kids see the tourist and get the wrong idea about how life should be. Damien is trying to bring light to his people and the poverty of his homeland. When's the last time you heard Kenny G talk about the meth problem of his home town in Washington?