Fantan Mojah calls out ‘hypocrites’ bashing dancehall music

Recording artiste Fantan Mojah has not retreated from doing dancehall music despite the backlash he has received this past year for experimenting with raunchy lyrics and music videos.

He has charged that reggae music is not getting the support it should and that the decision to focus on doing more dancehall is aligned with the feedback both genres receive locally.

"Right now, me just want the selector dem ah Jamaica, di one dem playing inna di dancehall and pon di radio station, memba seh Fantan do some hot dancehall music, and nice reggae same way too. We ah serve the two fan base, di younger ones and the elders," he said in a recent interview with THE STAR. "Any music at all - whether dancehall or reggae - when I am doing it, it is for professional and personal reasons."

The artiste has been very outspoken about the criticisms of his 2021 dancehall singles such as Fire King and Touch That Body. When asked about his opinion on the lengthy debate about dancehall being the cause for the social ills Jamaicans are having to deal with, Fantan Mojah maintained that the persons delighting in dancehall and casting blame were one in the same.

"You're a bunch of hypocrites," he said. "The system has been fighting the music for so many years and I don't see why they do it."

Fantan Mojah explained that the hypocritical behaviour exists across all levels of society as well as in the music industry. He said that "there is bad mind" but the attitude towards dancehall and the music becomes questionable "when the system still use the music at politics meeting or functions."

He continued "Everything you keep, you use the music. Even during election, you personally cut dubplates and yet you tell lie on the music to the masses and say it insights violence?"

The Nuh Build Great Man lyricist is serious about dancehall and is currently adding the final touches to an EP that he said will show his 'dancehall side'.

A member of the Bobo Ashanti Rastafarian order, he has no reservations about the decision and whether it has any conflict with his religious following. Instead he anticipates people will appreciate his music for being art and a means of self-expression.

"Me can't tell people what to do or how to operate pon Earth. Do what you doing and eventually people will take on because the same person weh seh dem nuh like it, ah dem same one ah go come and seh you know me did actually like it," he said.

"Music is music; music is what you dance to and when people distressed, music a di only thing weh relax dem mind ... music don't do nothing to the nation except uplift the nation," Fantan Mojah continued.