HYPE IS JUST AN ILLUSION

BY STARAPPLE
Recently it was reported that Squingy from Bass Odessey was gravely ill and was in the USA for treatment; then sadly one week later we received the sad news that he had passed. I remember watching Bass Odessey and Coppershot in the Guiness Clash and Squingy’s name was called a few times not only from those in the clash, but those in attendance. Amazing, the arena of dancehall is quite a spectacle; make that an experience.

Entertainment can be very addictive and destructive to both those who soak it in and to those who purvey it. Do those in the industry put too much stress on themselves or do those who enjoy good entertainment have unrealistic expectations of those who provide it?

Serious questions and not something we should take lightly. I think what struck me the most is a statement that Squingy issued before he died:

“For years, I’ve been traveling and entertaining the world. I’ve given everything to my fans and neglected my own body. I have a terminal Illness and it’s time for me to focus on maintaining my health as best I can. Moving to the US is going to allow me to receive adequate health care.”

There are several things which can be taken from his statements:

Our health care is wanting;
There is no privacy in our health care;
We have become so callous that many would take pleasure in chastising
an ailing selector and so on …

And is much more that could be extrapolated from his statements, but what is evident is that many persons in entertainment spend so much time trying to please fans that one’s own health is never really taken into account only for granted, family life is often put on the backburner, friends come by the shipload when you are sailing on a high and desert you when the wind blows unkind and the illusion that has to be built to draw fans in came become highly debilitating in the long run and causes many an otherwise rational person to have unrealistic demands from the entertainer.

Just think of some of the celebrities who come to mind when you think of meltdown and serious personal crisis Anna Nicole Smith, Michael Jackson, Britney Spears, Amy Winehouse, Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, Gregory Issacs, Ninja Man, Nadine Sutherland and many other Jamaican entertainers who are highly drugged up on either marijuana, marijuana with extacie, beadie, copious amount of alcohol, excessive sex with a wide number of partners, numerous children spread far and wide with different baby mothers and the list goes on.

Maybe these things happen though because there is the constant need to please and better the last performance, never see come see or we the audience never allows failure and that places punitive stress on the entertainers.

We live to accumulate things and show off and hype; yet in the end when the soul is stripped from the body we have nothing. We need balance and not just the balance pon **cky head that we aggrandize.