Hinds: 'Gangster' music has negative impact on society

NATIONAL Security Minister Fitzgerald Hinds says the music and film industries contribute significantly to young people learning about and practising violence.

He was speaking at the handover ceremony for laptops to the Home for Migrant Girls at the Office of the Prime Minister on Tuesday morning.

Hinds said the world is experiencing extreme violence in diverse ways, with "crime (and) criminality all pouring from the human spirit wherever we are on the globe."

It is because of this, he said, the government recently began viewing crime and violence as public health concerns.

"Violence is an expression of human conduct, human behaviour generated by the human mind and the human spirit for various reasons, and therefore, an international response to this is, in my view, equally necessary."

He then began to recall "back in the days," when he and his colleagues heard the "nice love tunes" of that era, "and: It made you feel to look the little lady in the eye and put down some lyrics."

He said this to underline his point that music affects mindsets and people's behaviour.

"It affected us," he said. "There are some songs, I hear them now and they just bring back all the sweet memories..."

He continued, "You could think about, similarly, the gangster music, the music that is encouraging disrespect for our women, disrespect for law enforcement, preaching violence as a way of life – it has (an) impact."

He said TT is already facing major issues with firearms trafficking, even though "we don't produce or manufacture one."

Recently, the US has pledged its willingness to assist the region with this issue.

Hinds also questioned the role of Hollywood and the movie industry and what it teaches children, as there are many movies that are "violent from the start to the end.

"Pure violence and obscenity...So when you hear children spouting out obscenities, it is almost like normal, you know? They hearing it in the music and they seeing it even in the movies."

He said in recent overseas travel, he had to ask a driver to turn off a movie that had too much violence and obscenity for his liking.

To deal with this, he said, "You have to create other pathways for young people so that they will give expression to their energy, their skill (and) their talent – because they're very skilled, they're very talented – in positive ways rather than in terms of violence that bothers us all."
The Jamaica experience

In 2022, the Broadcasting Commission of Jamaica (BCJ) banned audio and video recordings that promote illegal drugs, scamming and illegal guns in that country.

It said the ban applied to "any audio or video recording, live song, or speech which promotes and/or glorifies scamming, illegal use or abuse of drugs, illegal or harmful use of guns or other offensive weapons, 'jungle justice' or any other form of illegal or criminal activity.

“This includes live editing and original edits (eg edits by producer/label)" as well as similar-sounding words substituted for "offensive lyrics, expletives, or profanities.”