Well the original front teeth, gold teeth Don Gargon, Ninja Man has been found guilty on the charge of murder. Of course, with a name like that, things were always going to be tricky as there is life and death in the power of the tongue. The deejay, real name Desmond Ballentine had his freedom taken away from him yesterday as a 7 person jury found him guilty at the home circuit court.
This case raises a few questions that need to be answered. Let’s explore them because we keep seeing this happen over and over again. We have not heard any serious evidence that Ninja Man is the victim of a conspiracy to lock up an innocent man, a matter of fact the star witness was one of his intended targets apparently. As someone who has been entertained by the Gargon for years, I cannot help but ask these questions…….
what was he thinking?
Ninja Man is 51 years old but in reality, he seems like 151 years old. That is because he has been around forever. It seems, the Gargon was already a dancehall icon before alot of people reading this article were even born. What was he doing shooting after people at his grand age? He was such an accomplished man, who escaped poverty through his talents and he threw it all away over a dispute? We Jamaican men have real ego problems, alot of these incidents happen over a “diss”. No matter what the issue was, Ninja Man did not have to resort to murder to solve it.
who takes their son on a murder mission?
This is one of the strangest parts of this story. How did this work? did he call his son “hey son it’s daddy, wanna go blow someone brains out?”. The son then goes “sure dad, that’s a great way for us to bond”. Seriously this is insane, most countries would be shocked but this is Jamrock and these things happen all too often.
Normal fathers take their sons fishing, play football, teach them how to ride a bike, our children get taught how to buss guns and kill people. Incredible.
will dancehall artistes ever wise up?
Dancehall artistes are targets, we know this. They are routinely used as scapegoats for all society’s problems, it seems Jamaica was a peaceful, united, crime-free nation until Beenie Man and Bounty Killer turned up. Politicians love to throw dancehall stars under the bus as they are soft targets. How often do you see politicians get thrown in jail for their robbing and pillaging of Jamaica since “independence”? name 5 off the top of your head, go on, I’ll wait.
Despite this fact, dancehall artistes still put themselves in the position to get sunk like the Titanic. Do not be fooled, the average dancehall artiste is a talented ticking time bomb. They are blessed with extreme talent, which can help not only them escape poverty, but also the people around them. Instead, alot of them use the money they make and try to become these pseudo-don characters as if they think life is a movie.
Sometimes the artistes are not even the problem, it’s the 120 men entourage that they walk around with. All you need is one clown from the crew to do something stupid and now you are on the police watch list. How can you get up every day, saying the system is fighting you and then go right ahead and do things to fall into the hands of that very system.
So many dancehall artistes end up in deep trouble because of their ego. Most of the drama can easily be avoided. A responsible person would think, I have a family and friends/employees who are depending on me so let me just avoid this nonsense. When an artiste goes to prison, not only his loved ones lose out but also radio, producers, stage show promoters etc. are also affected. We need dancehall artistes to wise up for the good of the music and the country.
