STORY OF THE SONG: Gaddafi makes dancehall's record

Mel Cooke, Sunday Gleaner Writer

The intense hunt in Tripoli for Moammar Gaddafi, the man from Libya who has been a major player on the international political scene for 42 years, has captured world attention. Still, with his wraparound shades, undeniable 'swagger' and involvement in events of global import - many times, allegedly, on the wrong side of the law - Gaddafi has always been a figure of intense media interest.

And that has included the 'dancehall media', where in the 1980s, a couple of the talking 'Gleaners' behind the microphone have included Gaddafi in their reports. The songs have either not been taken as political reports or, over time, their political import has faded to the sheer danceability of the music.

In his 1986 dancehall anthem, Under Pressure, Supercat includes Gaddafi in the roster of world leaders he sings about, in what turns out to be a snapshot of the world political crises then.

Under Pressure is on the same rhythm as Half Pint's Greetings and, in a previous interview with The Sunday Gleaner, Half Pint said he was in London, England, when he got the rhythm.

Like Greetings, Under Pressure is also on the Powerhouse label. And in his recording, Supercat goes international as he deejays "under pressure the world under pressure".

Then he narrows it down to the polarised positions of the time, first through territory and through their renowned leaders:

"Through the leaders of the world them a fight fi power

An a one a dem a sey him control America

The nex' one a say him rule inna Russia

An a one a dem a say him control China

The nex one a say him control Cuba

One a rule Libya, one a rule Uganda

But mi say gunshot a buss up inna Nicaragua

An every day dem get up training like a gorilla".

Then Supercat zeroes in on Gaddafi's defiance of one of the world's two superpowers at the time:

"Gaddafi a de leader me say dung a Libya

Him no fraid a Ronald Reagan who a run America

Cause if dem start de war a pure nuclear power"

Fittingly, for a man who has been forever embroiled in controversy, Gaddafi was also mentioned in the mid 1980s King Kong song Trouble Again. King Kong sings about the world situation as well with:

"Trouble again and the world is getting nervous

Trouble again, mankind you better conscious"

And, in the first verse, he outlines a cycle that starts and end with Moammar Gaddafi and includes, like Supercat, former US president Ronald Reagan:

"Gaddafi lick a shot an' Reagan lick it back

The Russian them vex bout dat

Reagan say him no response fi dat

Cause all him know a Gaddafi start that."

Now Gaddafi is the one 'under pressure'; Ronald Reagan died in June 2004.

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  Dancehall takes a look at world leaders

As different leaders have come and gone across the global landscape, there have been comparisons and contrasts with their public persona, or the situations they have been involved in, by dancehall artistes.

In the mid-1990s, when the Beenie Man and Bounty Killer feud really cranked up at Sting 1993 after the initial square-off at Stone Love's anniversary also in December that year, Capleton compared their animosity to the main global conflict of the time.

Earlier, in Almshouse, the fiery Rastafarian deejay had cautioned against negative energy between deejays with "Almshouse we no want dat bout/almshouse pond dat we lick out". He focused on deejays of an era just before Beenie Man and Bounty Killer's dominance, saying, "It no right fe Baby Wayne a step up inna life/an a nex' entertainer a give him a fight".

However, in the later Music Is A Mission, Capleton gives exclusive treatment to Bounty Killer and Beenie Man, making a comparison between their situation and the tussle between Saddam Hussein of Iraq and George H. Bush:

"Now Bounty Killer must be Bush and Beenie must be Saddam

But me no see no Gulf and me no see no Vietnam".

Beenie Man and Bounty Killer have resolved their conflict of nearly 17 years, performing together at Fully Loaded 2010 and the Sir Arthur Guinness celebration at the National Stadium in October last year. Hussein was executed on December 30, 2006, while George H. Bush - as well as his son George W Bush - were present at the commissioning of the United States Navy ship USS George HW Bush in 2009.

Bounty Killer, long the beloved bad character of dancehall, seemed to revel in his onstage reputation in his combination Khaki Suit with Damian 'Junior Gong' Marley on the latter's 2005 album Welcome To Jamrock. The Killer observes:

"Dem sey Bounty a de beas' inna de eye of the beholder

Comparing to Hitler and Ayatollah".

His detractors could have hardly picked two more colourful characters to compare him with. Adolf Hitler, the infamous instigator of genocide against the Jews, killed himself by gunshot on April 30, 1945 - within a day of getting married to Eva Braun, who also committed suicide. Khomeini, on the other hand, died peacefully on June 3, 1989, his suppression of internal opposition the major bad mark against his rule.

Junior Gong features in another song where a world leader is mentioned. In Road To Zion with rapper Nas, also from the Welcome To Jamrock album Nas takes a shot at long-time Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe:

"Cause what I'm seein' is haunting

Human beings like ghost and zombies

President Mugabe holding guns to innocent bodies

In Zimbabwe."

At 87 years old, Mugabe, despite intense external criticism and internal foment, is still in charge in Zimbabwe.