It's a Wild Wild West - Real life story

"Living in the wild wild west, it's not easy to stay alive. Living in the wild wild west, it's not safe to go outside."

These are some of the lyrics from Indie Allen's latest single, The West, which speaks about the crime affecting his home parish of St James. The track is one that is close to his heart.

"I wrote the song near the end of 2016 going into 2017 after my cousin got shot," the Montego Bay native shared with The Gleaner. "He was driving his mother and babymother home, and they were stuck in traffic when someone pulled up and fired some shots."

His cousin's life was spared, but that was not the end. "My grandaunt - an elderly woman - was also murdered, and I've lost friends and family to acts like that in MoBay," he said. "It was an eye-opener. Everything was boiling over, and I couldn't stand it anymore. That inspired the song."

He continued, "I go back and forth between MoBay and Kingston, and every time I go home, the level of fear everyone has for me makes me feel like MoBay isn't the home I'm used to. Innocent people are being hurt - I just don't recognise the place anymore."

Allen is grateful for the feedback the song has been receiving since its release on Tuesday, and he hopes it will spark a change.

The Jah Love singer added, "I don't want it to be just another song; I want it to bring a level of awareness to how the place a run and start a conversation," he said. "I want to see the song grow to a point where people support it and start a campaign that impacts lives positively. As artistes, it's our social responsibility to use our gifts to advocate for change, and I want to evoke some kind of change, nuh matter how big or small. That's my end goal."

Montego Bay, which has been associated with lottery scamming and crime over the years, was placed under a state of public emergency (SOE) in January to combat criminal activity. At a press conference held in Montego Bay last Friday, Deputy superintendent of police in charge of operations in St James, Kevin Francis, said that there has been a 68 per cent reduction in murders compared to figures last year. The SOE has since been extended to January 2019.

Allen recently returned to Jamaica after performing in the United States and is currently working on his EP and album for release next year.