Reggae Discrimination? Ask Barrington Levy

After a recent performance in Jamaica, Stan Evan Smith, the music editor of Carribean Style newspaper, inteviewed Barrington Levy. According to Smith, Levy was "in very candid and frank mood. He had a number of issues he wanted to air publicly."

Levy said "It's not easy being in this business" and the reason he’s kept going over the years is "for the love of the music, not for the money or I would have given it up a long time ago." Levy contends that bias in the music industry seems only to favor light skinned artists like “Bob Marley, Sean Paul and Shaggy” access to the wherewithal to be successful. He expressed strong reservations regarding the perception and treatment of dark skinned artists like him, who “look too much like Marcus Garvey.” Barrington noted that despite his obvious track record of success and enormous talent he has never been given the same label support as his lighter skinned peers who have succeeded. He believes that artists like Shaggy and Sean Paul could benefit from collaborations with him and expressed surprise that this hasn’t already happen given his proven success with P. Diddy on Rapper Shine’s “Bad Boys.”

Levy also hinted that he is contemplating retirement from the recording business. If true, this would be a devastating loss to reggae music. Levy is completing, what he say is his final album, and is seeking a record distribution deal. He says he isn’t interested in a major label deal because he feels record labels only “sign you then shelf you.” His children have taken active interest in the music business, so his retirement would allow him the time to guide them.

Finally, he lamented the fact that white audiences are far more supportive of him and his music than blacks, especially Jamaicans. This constantly amazes him when he plays new places and the all-white audiences sing every word of all of his songs. He complained of feeling betrayed and saddened of being let down by Jamaicans and his peers in the music business whom he feels are not supportive of each other. This last point, seems especially regrettable, Bob Marley complained that after being in Jamaica all his life and not getting the respect he earned, and that it was only when people in Europe, Canada and America recognized him, Jamaican chose to follow suit. Levy’s broadside suggests it seems that not much has changed thirty years after Bob complained in the now famous 1975 ‘Talkin Blues’ interview to Dermot Hussey about this.