Many of our entertainers are like prisoners in their own country. They can't perform anywhere else but here. Why? Because nobody wants to hear the crap they're singing (if you can call it that) or deejaying.

Everything that comes out of the mouths of some of them are either extremely violent or just nasty. Yet, people flock to them like flies to excrement. Have we really got that bad that we don't know what's good from what's garbage? Years ago when I was growing up I used to hear songs with beautifully crafted lyrics that spoke of love and making love and in some instances obsession, and the lyrics stayed with you forever because they were so memorable.

That was a time when it was the quality of the vocal that counted and not the image. Not that the image of local entertainers has changed that much over the years. They have always been difficult to look at but the entertainers from yesteryear sounded so much sweeter and their lyrics were smarter and wittier. They sounded so much better.

great lookers

Overseas, the entertainers from back in the day were not great lookers either but boy did they sound good. Who, for example, could sing as well as Nat King Cole or who could perform like James Brown? Both men though, would have needed to sneak up on a glass of water just to get a drink.

These days almost everyone is pretty. It's all about the image. However, most of them can't hold a note to save their lives. That is why someone invented auto-tune because without it most of us would flee for the hills the second we heard the opening strains of a song.

In Jamaica today, there are so many great performers and singers who are not being afforded a chance to make their voices heard and these are the truly talented ones. I believe there is something wrong with that. I have heard people singing at small social affairs that have a thousand times the talent that our so-called stars possess but we don't pay attention to them.

But I hear people using adjectives like great and 'wicked' when referring to some of the most untalented entertainers that we seem to be cursed within recent times. I would love to see us return to a time when we let the voice do the talking and not the image. If you have a great voice I really don't think it matters all that much what the owner of that voice looks like.

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In Jamaica today, there are so many great performers and singers who are not being afforded a chance to make their voices heard and these are the truly talented ones. I believe there is something wrong with that. I have heard people singing at small social affairs that have a thousand times the talent that our

so-called stars possess but we don't pay attention to them.