Thank you Madam Speaker

Honorable guests- my teacher a pleasant morning to you. My name is Tasheka Jarrett and I take this
opportunity to present my views in favor of the motion “Jamaican music positively impacts the country.”
We, the government strongly back this motion. To address this, please allow me to start off by
specifying my role and role of my fellow members of the government.

I, as the Prime Minister, will begin by stating the motion, which was already done earlier. I will state a
quote then highlight some of the keywords and define the motion of today's debate. After this, I will
present the first point of the government in order to support our stand. The role of my subordinate here
is to rebut the points given by the opposition leader and go on to present two additional new points that
will further support the government's stand.

Bob Marley once said ‘One good thing about music, when it hits you feel no pain’. And with that ladies
and gentlemen let me define music, positive and impact. According to the Oxford English Dictionary
music is described as a vocal or instrumental sound (or both) combined in such a way as to produce
beauty of form, harmony, and expression of emotion. Positive is described by the Cambridge Dictionary
as full of hope and confidence, or giving cause for hope and confidence. And finally the word impact is
defined as a significant or major effect as stated by the Merriam Webster Dictionary. We the
government agree that Jamaican music has provided the youths an avenue of escape from poverty and
strife, consoles them, allows them to use it as a way of self expression, contributes to the nation building
of our country as it is a part of our cultural heritage, provide opportunities for the marginalized and
smaller entrepreneur and is seen as a quick way to earn income.

Allow me to make my first point, while I acknowledge the different types of music in Jamaica such as
gospel, rock steady, dancehall, reggae, calypso etc etc. The story of dancehall and reggae is often one of
tales of rags to riches for artistes of impoverished origins. It is no surprise that people turn to music as a
means out of poverty, as today it provides many income-earning opportunities. Using music as a means
out of the ghetto has been reiterative in the record of reggae and dancehall. Early reggae celebrity were
those from the inner cities, 'garrisons' and rural areas, who migrated far and wide to chase and gain a
career in music, convinced that it would better them from the lives they were living.

In the 1972 movie, The Harder They Come, Ivanhoe Martin played by Jimmy Cliff portrays the struggle of
a boy wishing to become a successful Reggae singer, he then finds himself tied to corrupt record
producers and drug pushers. The movie expresses the feel of music as 'quick money' as the youngster
hooks up with a producer and makes a hit song. This is evident now as more and more artist are signing
up to become part of something big in the music industry.

According to a study done by Michael Witter entitled 'Music and the Jamaican Economy', the music
industry creates incentives for the underprivileged and small business owners. Witter wrote that "like
bananas and coffee in the 19th century and ganja in the 20th century, the music industry was created by
the marginalized social groups of the society and has been used as a vehicle of their own development.
The typical artiste and musician in Jamaica, including the successful few, is from a poor economic
background".
  Even today, some people believe that dancehall is a way out of poverty and strife. In an
interview once, David Brooks aka Movado proudly proclaims himself the 'Gully God' hailing from
Cassava Piece, St Andrew as he constantly sings about his ghetto hardships and how he is
generating sufficient income through music to flee the ghetto lifestyle. In his song, Dreaming,
Mavado talks about making money as an accomplishment of the hopes and dreams of those
living on the streets. He sings about music providing his bread and butter as h sings "making
money and all is wel/ and I'm a gangster for life because my song can tell ... but the music give
me money". All in all, the industry has paved a way for artist to become financially stable and
who wouldn’t want to make money? I rest my case.

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Madam Speaker my opposition has said that dancehall only has acts of violence, misogyny and
homophobia and does nothing for the country's sustainability, however I beg to differ because dancehall
music has great economic value, many tourists come to Jamaica to engage in the dancehall culture such
as at events like Reggae Sumfest to see artistes new and old perform and in preparation for this they
stay at our hotels and book reservations which whether we like to admit it or not, tourist act as a
generator for both employment and income. Tourism boosts our country's economy by creating many
new job openings for the local people. They spend a lot money on a wide range of services such as
hotels, amusement parks, transportation, food and medical services. This is why tourism yields an
additional income supporting the country's economy. Another situation in which Jamaican music is
beneficial to the economy is that is helps boost employment in the entertainment industry as artist need
video directors, make-up artistes, camera men, managers, lawyers, editing staff, etc.

Another point to make is that young people such as myself use reggae and some dancehall songs as a
means of consolation, it has evolved into something more meaningful than just entertainment. It has
come to my attention that dancehall is under scrutiny for the government of Jamaica to use this popular
medium for political and social commentary. Reggae music posed a threat to Jamaica's government but
Are we a nation that tolerates the hypocrisy of a government system where our politicians use dancehall
and reggae as a way to boost their campaign during elections but consider them to be a breakdown of
the moral fabric of the country? Are we a nation that accepts the double standards of the politicians?

Before I take my seat, I would like to reaffirm our stand that is we the government, agree that the
Jamaican music does more good than it does more harm and we can go on and on about the positive
attributes but we suggest that you take a moment to see for yourselves that the good outweighs the
bad. With that I rest my case.