Member of Parliament for Central St Catherine Olivia 'Babsy' Grange agrees with incarcerated deejay Vybz Kartel being a nominee in this year's STAR Awards.
The Opposition Spokesperson on Information said, "I think Vybz Kartel as an artiste is talented. I don't feel like he should be excluded. Whatever may be the personal issue that he is involved in, he is serving his time. He is a talented artiste, and the talent should be recognised."
Vybz Kartel began gaining immense popularity in the early 2000s, which developed into a cult-like following by the time he left the Bounty Killer-led Alliance later in the decade, increasing even more subsequently.
Even though he is serving a life sentence for murder, Kartel has maintained his dominance in dancehall with producers constantly releasing new tracks that they say were recorded before his incarceration. However, there are persons who are upset about Kartel's continued impact.
This includes a number of nominations in various awards. In the recently held Youth View Awards, which requires young persons to nominate different personalities, Kartel had at least five to his credit.
Still, Grange believes that having Kartel nominated in The STAR Awards could have some negative influence on young people. However, she also believes that as an artiste he also has a positive impact.
"It could have some negative impact. I think that there are aspects of his creative expressions that have negative impact, but there are also aspects of his creative expressions that have a positive impact. I would hope that after this period of time in his life has passed that whatever creative expression comes from him would be positive, rather than a mixture of positive and negative," she said.
In April The STAR will be staging an awards function and since opinions are divided on this issue we are asking: Do you think Vybz Kartel should be nominated in this year's STAR Awards?
Register your vote on www.jamaica-star.com [3].