... Mark Myrie, David Smith and Christopher Coke are three Jamaicans who've achieved copious notoriety of late ... in recent months each has had high-profile legal attention to deal with ... Smith has been sentenced to a six-year jail term for financial fraud, Coke is incarcerated until such time as he can be put on trial for charges related to drug and weapons trafficking and, in his own drug conspiracy case, Myrie, better known as Buju Banton, waits in his Florida cell for a jury decision which will be known within hours of you reading this, if not before ...
... it bears mentioning that there is none among us who has never done a foolish thing they would not repeat ... it is also true that a hard lesson or two, learned and addressed, can lead anyone to an improved life, to become a humbler, wiser and better person ...
... as a Grammy-winning, veteran musician Banton is well known internationally, and with no apology to the
sector of the Jamaican public who revere their talismanic "Dudus" as a leader-of-men, Coke doesn't have comparable star status ... there is a hint of phonetic comedy to his main alias, perhaps creating the need for the alternate option, Presi (President) ... nothing funny about social unrest and DEA extradition to face Uncle Sam's eager prosecution though ...
... there is a tradition of Jamaican entertainers adopting the name
Banton ... in addition to Buju there's Burro, Pato, Mega, Starkey and others ... Bantons all ... it's a grandiloquent moniker signifying top-ranking status and super-boss magnitude, verging on the titular, as in
Buju
the Banton ... no such issue for the more prosaic name
David Smith operated with (lest you thought there was a common thread there) ... white-collar crime doesn't usually grab as many "sexy" headlines, in fact Smith's sleight of hand probably wouldn't warrant mention in this company if it weren't for for the audacious scale of his (and his wife's) slippery
Olint Investment Ponzi scheme ...
...what may well be a common thread though, laid bare for all to see, are clear indicators of pervasive malaise within Jamaican society specifically, and likely, wider society as a whole, given that Jamaica has no monopoly on scandalous behaviour ...
... it is not entirely surprising when a financier who amasses personal fortune by unscrupulous means gets found out, nor does anyone do a double-take when an inner-city don turns out to be involved in illegal activities, but when a prominently bellicose Rastafarian "herbalist" is implicated in cocaine consumption and dealing, the incongruity is startling ("Sensimilla Persecution" doesn't sound as sincere now, I wore out the acapella version on my 45) ... Buju Banton's music is prolific and varied enough to interest a variety of listeners ... even those who find his caustic, throaty delivery hard to take, can hear something melodious and redeemable in "Untold Stories", "Destiny" or "'til Shiloh" ...
... some of us who count ourselves among his fans have periodically been challenged by this complicated talent, particularly his inability to walk far from the controversies that followed him after the notorious monster hit "Boom,Bye,Bye" ... his aspiration to Marleyesque recognition is heavy-handed, despite his obvious reverence for Bob's essence and notwithstanding the close relationship to Stephen Marley ... maybe we should see this as merely another contradiction ... Buju "walk like a champion, talk like a champion" Banton is, after all, the same one who is also known as Gargamel ... a dread name when growled with the right inflection, but look it up ... it's a smurf cartoon character ...
... I am allowed to feel disappointed in some of the choices of my countrymen ... they will have to live w
ith the consequences of their personal actions ... I use this moment to say my piece regarding
Buju in part because the jury is well into their deliberations and are presumably sequestered, so adding my voice to all the noise at this time will have no bearing on the hype factor ... plus ... this is as good a time as any to comment because I suspect the stain on Buju's credibility will remain regardless of the verdict and many will be less forgiving than I ...
... my verdict? ... guilty of hypocritical mindlessness and incomprehensible lack of vision ... but not guilty enough to dash away such prodigious talent ... "it's not an easy road," he sang ... true dat, complete redemption will be hard to come by ...
*** Post Script ***
"said, I had a close one yesterday, Jah put an angel over me"-"Close One Yesterday"-Inna Heights-1997
... the jury came back hung, evenly split, retrial set for December will provide the next chapter in this story ...
sector of the Jamaican public who revere their talismanic "Dudus" as a leader-of-men, Coke doesn't have comparable star status ... there is a hint of phonetic comedy to his main alias, perhaps creating the need for the alternate option, Presi (President) ... nothing funny about social unrest and DEA extradition to face Uncle Sam's eager prosecution though ... 
Buju the Banton ... no such issue for the more prosaic name David Smith operated with (lest you thought there was a common thread there) ... white-collar crime doesn't usually grab as many "sexy" headlines, in fact Smith's sleight of hand probably wouldn't warrant mention in this company if it weren't for for the audacious scale of his (and his wife's) slippery Olint Investment Ponzi scheme ...
ith the consequences of their personal actions ... I use this moment to say my piece regarding Buju in part because the jury is well into their deliberations and are presumably sequestered, so adding my voice to all the noise at this time will have no bearing on the hype factor ... plus ... this is as good a time as any to comment because I suspect the stain on Buju's credibility will remain regardless of the verdict and many will be less forgiving than I ...
