Yasus Afari wants a reasoning on Rastafari - Asks for calm over latest squabble involving dancehall song

Poet Yasus Afari proposes that entertainers formally meet to reason out concerns about lyrics involving the livity of Rastafari.

This comes after Reggae Grammy winner Kabaka Pyramid and a producer traded words on Twitter implying that the movement is being appropriated for entertainment.

"We should come together and reason. Just like the Christian Soldiers in the '90s, we link up the man dem and reason. We never had a squabble, we came together and reasoned respectfully and I would like suggest the same approach to this. So we need to gather and reason and talk so that at the end of the day, things become a bit calmer and more habitable."

In the '90s, several dancehall entertainers came together to speak with members of the Christian community.

Yasus Afari added, "We use this opportunity to invite all the artistes to come together ... and reason and invite the media to ask questions and guide discussions. If we talking about democracy and not 'demo-crazy', then any consensus building must come through community consultation."

On Monday, Kabaka Pyramid tweeted "When we seh we wah inspire di next generation, dis is NOT what we meant. Rasta a joke ting a Jamaica now apparently. Aright." Though not mentioning any particular artiste or song, Countree Hype, the producer of the song Rasta by Valiant responded to the tweet.

"It's simple Grammy kid, no beef, no passa is making references to some Rasta who believe in peace and unity but the other parts of the song is clearly not for Rasta. Look how many things me see Rasta a do? And Unuh nah talk on that, we respect you G but this never have to post maybe a you PR post it still anyway blessing No Beef!! No Passa!!!" his response read. The discourse continued with several persons chiming in.

Yasus Afari said Rastafari has also been dealt with a level of insensitivity, but those who live according to the spirituality and principles must continue to educate to alleviate the ignorance from which the ridicule stems.

"While I can agree with Kabaka Pyramid obviously, I mean if you listen to the public discourse on social media and elsewhere, people are critical of people who are critical of other people. So we just have to be true to ourselves and to the cause and be fair in our thought," he shared.

He cautioned artistes to look carefully at the history of the movement before talking about it.

"If you want to speak on Rastafari, understand the sensitivity and the injustice and don't become an enemy of your own self and your own people and do it in a respectful way. No disrespect and no violation," he explained.