Keda Fire and Baby Chris have released sexually suggestive pictures
by DHRW
(Jamaica)
Up-and-coming recording artistes Keda Fire and Baby Chris have released sexually suggestive pictures of themselves following the media attention garnered by fellow dancehall artistes Konshens and Raine Seville, only weeks ago for their semi-nude effort.
Dancehall music is a genre that has developed a reputation for feeding content with strong sexual messages to its listeners. However, not to be outdone, some artistes have been pushing the envelope a step further by merging sexual images with their songs in an effort to kick-start their promotions.
Vybz Kartel and Spice can arguably be credited as the persons who started the movement, after they released semi-nude pictures of themselves in 2008 promoting the Daggering Condom and hit song Rampin' Shop. The song later catapulted to the billboard charts where it debuted at 96.
According to Karl Durrant, who acts as publicist for Baby Chris and Keda Fire, controversy sells.
"Dancehall strives off controversy. People will say how it's the new generation that is pushing certain new things that never used to be popular in the '90s, but back then we didn't have Internet and such, so the artistes had to use other methods of controversy. We know that if certain things are placed on the Internet, the inquisitive nature of humans will cause them to view it and share it, so the artistes have found ways and means to capitalise on it," Durrant said.
The publicist claims that the music industry strives on negative actions as much as it does positive actions.
"Say, for example, Baby Chris and Keda had released a picture fully
clothed and below it they wrote 'Support our music', I can bet most persons would not share the picture. However, when Vybz Kartel releases a nude picture and attaches the name of his song to it, it spreads like rapid fire. Look at the Gaza/Gully feud or the Beenie/Bounty feud; those four artistes were able to become household names due to the lyrical warfare. The lyrics in the songs weren't necessarily positive; however, the growth in their career was a result of those feuds," he said.
Durrant also believes the future of dancehall promises to be even more X-rated.
"As a video director and a publicist, based on what I am seeing now, dancehall is going to get even more explicit in years to come because people are now more sexually liberal. There are avenues other than traditional media that can be used to promote certain material which are just as effective and artistes are making use of them. Music videos are being released with topless women and even without underwear, so you can just imagine what the future has in store," Durrant said.
As for Baby Chris and Keda Fire, Durrant could not confirm if the artistes were in a sexual relationship. However, he did say they were close companions.
Baby Chris was recently featured in Keda Fire's Body Mechanic remix in which he played her love interest. They also released a collaboration called On My Shoulder, produced by Seanizzle, which has also raised eyebrows. The sexually suggestive photos featuring Baby Chris and Keda Fire are currently being circulated on several websites.