The issue of the extent to which music content effects the community has re-surfaced in light of singers Nicci Gilbert and India.Arie’s comments about rapper Yung Miami’s “ratchet” hit Spend Dat. While Gilbert went all in stating calling the song that many are hyping as the “song of the summer,” “ratchet-a**, ghetto-a**, low vibrational-a** music” is plaguing our communities, Arie advised, not only listeners but also streaming platforms, to be “mindful” about their content. She also pointed implicated music executives in light of mogul Clive Davis’s death. (1)

These views inevitably met with pushback. Isaac Hayes III, founder of Fanbase social media platform called the criticism “fake outrage” and “hypocritical and goofy,” citing a litany of popular songs with explicitly sexual/violent themes going back decades. Others just considered it “entertainment.” (2)

We see these issues play out elsewhere in the Afrikan such as Dancehall in Jamaica and Grime in the UK. For example, a 2022 poll revealed that “a cumulative 82 percent of all Jamaicans believe that there is a connection between Dancehall music and the incidence of crime.” Although the survey was criticised for the way the questions were posed and that weighting of older people in the respondents. Nevertheless, there remains strong advocates for the causal link including industry strategist Cordell “Skatta” Burrell. (3)

Opponents of this view like Senator Damion Crawford argue that criminals gravitate to violent music because they were already ‘criminal in their intent’. Moreover, “experts in psychology and psychiatry like psychiatrist Professor Fredrick Hickling and clinical psychologist Vanessa Paisley have attributed the levels of violence in Jamaica, not to the music, but to the fact that the island has a large number of psychopath and sociopaths.” They cite 40 percent of the Jamaican population with a personality disorder compared to the international rate of 15 percent. (4)

In the UK thing have arguably gone even further where the Metropolitan Police instituted drastic initiatives against Grime and Drill Music “to tackle what they viewed as a threat to the established order.” While some regard these genres as a glamourisation of violence, others suggest it merely reflects bleakness of everyday life but within this “lies a blueprint for cultural resistance” where new, independent organisational formations can be developed. An additional perspective posits that these are essentially exaggerations (e.g. catering for the market), or in other words, entertainment. (5)

What India.Arie hinted at but is often absent from such discussions is the role of the music industry not only dictating but manufacturing negative content. (6) Another striking undercurrent relates to how different generations approach the content such as the conjunction of ‘respectability politics’ versus free expression. Indeed, younger people may see it as aspirational in that it can provide a way out of a deprived existence while contending that the music causes violence notion is too reductive. (7)

The influence of capital within the industry notwithstanding, it may also be the case that strong emphasis on linking music and crime may divert from other, entrenched, structural factors impacting Afrikan life that exists within deeply Criminogenic societies, even where the population is mainly Afrikan. (8)

(1) Ariela Anís (01/07/26) Nicci Gilbert Slams Yung Miami’s “Spend Dat,” Hopes She Can Stop It From Winning A Grammy: ‘Ratchet A**, Ghetto A**, Low Vibrational A** Music Is Plaguing Our Communities.’ https://hollywoodunlocked.com/nicci-gilbert-slams-yung-miamis-spend-dat-hopes-she-can-stop-it-from-winning-a-grammy-ratchet-a-ghetto-a-low-vibrational-a-music-is-plaguing-our-communiti/; Autumn Wingate (08/07/26) India.Arie Urges Mindful Choices Amid Calls to Boycott Yung Miami’s ‘Spend Dat’. https://foxy99.com/2026/07/08/india-arie-urges-mindful-choices-amid-calls-to-boycott-yung-miamis-spend-dat/; Joe Price (03/07/26) India.Arie Doubles Down on “Spend Dat” and Music Executives Criticism: ‘Make Wise Choices Y’all’. https://www.complex.com/music/a/backwoodsaltar/india-arie-yung-miami-spend-dat-clive-davis

(2) Source Staff (03/07/26) Let’s Discuss Hip Hop’s Double Standard When it Comes to Yung Miami’s Hit ‘Spend Dat’. https://thesource.com/2026/07/03/lets-discuss-hip-hops-double-standard-when-it-comes-to-yung-miamis-hit-spend-dat/

(3) Claudia Gardner (19/08/22) Poll Shows 82% Of Jamaicans Believe There’s Connection Between Dancehall And Crime. https://www.dancehallmag.com/2022/08/19/news/poll-shows-82-of-jamaicans-believe-theres-connection-between-dancehall-and-crime.html

(4) Ibid.

(5) Mark Savage (12/02/20) Does drill music cause crime, or offer an escape from it? https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-51459553; Charlotte Watson (24/05/20) How Grime’s Origins Show a Path to Cultural Resistance. https://novaramedia.com/2020/05/24/how-grimes-origins-show-a-path-to-cultural-resistance/

(6) Dan Runcie (11/12/19) Why Hip-Hop’s Lean Problem is Deeply Rooted. https://www.trapital.com/memos/why-hip-hops-lean-problem-is-deeply-rooted. When challenged about why he signs artists that promote drug taking, Music executive Lyor Cohen replied: “I got a family to feed.”

(7) Trace William Cowen (05/07/23) India.Arie Criticized for Suggesting Megan Thee Stallion and Janelle Monáe’s Performances Are Too Sexual. https://www.complex.com/music/a/tracewilliamcowen/india-arie-megan-thee-stallion-janelle-monae-remarks Savage. Op. Cit.

(8) Amos N. Wilson (1990) Black-On-Black Violence: The Psychodynamics of Black Self-Annihilation in Service of White Domination. Afrikan World Infosystems

What impact does “Slack/Ratchet” Music really have?

1) Should there be more focus be on the executives’ role rather than the artists?

2) What is the role of the community?

3) Is it more a generational difference than anything else?

4) Does focus on the music distract from larger structural issues?

Our Special Guest:

Bro. Tafadzwa ShakaRa Mbandaka: the son of Bro. Ldr. Mbandaka, Father, Partner, Universal Afrikan Nationalist, Organiser, Spoken Word Activist, Writer, Cultural Scientist, Educator, Sema Tawi and graduate of the UNIA-ACL’s Course In Afrikan Philosophy (ShakaRaSpeaks.com). Bro. ShakaRa is also director of Kimbunga Media, the UK’s number 1 conscious platform (https://kimbungamedia.com/).

*******

Apologise and hold inquiry into ESN schools in the 1950s to 1980s: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/769015 – 49
Set up an independent inquiry into West Indian children placed in ESN schools: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/760415 – 292
Support the T21 Alchemy campaign: https://www.gofundme.com/f/t21-alchemy-raising-consciousness-around-around-disability
Support the Black Child Down Syndrome Project: https://blackchilddownsyndrome.com/about-us/
Afrika Speaks Archive: https://www.mixcloud.com/AfrikaSpeaks/