‘Wild ways don’t come with genius’

murder charges as well as a host of other accusations.
As if that was not enough, Ninja Man was reportedly knocked unconscious by an inmate in a recent incident at the Horizon Adult Remand Centre in Kingston recently.

Ninja Man real name Desmond Ballentine has spent the last two years in the prison facility as he awaits his long-delayed murder trial, stemming from a March 2009 incident in which he, his 20-year-old son, Janiel and two other men are alleged to have been involved in the shooting death of 20-year -old, Richard Johnson.
Don Gorgon as Ninja Man is popularly known was walking back to his prison cell and was allegedly bashed with a stone on the head, which was hidden in a sock but did enough damage to knock the “Border Clash” deejay out cold.

I felt really bad when I finished reading the article and it got me thinking how a man like Ninja Man who had people at one time eating from his hands being treated like this.
For all the things Ninja has done to dancehall music I thought at least these young cats had every reason to give him the respect he deserves not treat him like a lump of dirt.
But when I started to think more and more about the trials and tribulations facing some of the big names in showbiz, I got this rude awakening that they have no one to blame than themselves.
Internationally and even locally music stars are known to act rather strangely and in most cases that’s rather accepted, as people believe wild ways come with genius, which I think is a wrong way of thinking.

If geniuses were really that wild then how come the likes of Albert Einstein were never in the news for all the wrong reasons but due to their positive contributions to society and sometimes nerdy and frivolous behaviours only.
Thinking deeper and deeper about it I also realised that many artistes especially the young ones even locally are always having many brushes with the law at the detriment of their careers.
Jah Rule, one of the best rappers of his generation and a role model to many youths worldwide is languishing in prison over a gun case incident, which should have been avoided if he had been level headed at all.

Ja, who I think was now a more mature and focused artiste than before shall be languishing in prison for the next two years and definitely it’s a big loss to the music industry as well as to his person and family.
But on careful analysis, I realised that it seems as if these guys on the rise in Showbiz are always the ones having many problems with the law as they believe they are the darlings of the masses and so can do as they wish.

Some think they are above the law and can do as they please with total disregard of the other denizens of this planet and at first people dismiss their antics with sniggers but when it gets worse that’s when people start to talk and in most cases it would be a bit late.
Delusional thoughts of grandeur would have set hold in these artistes’ mindsets that they feel they can do as they please and still remain the darlings of the people they are even wronging.

Just like the case of prominent American rapper C-Murder brother of No Limit honcho, Master P, who was given a life sentence for the murder of an autograph seeking teenager in a nightclub some years better.

Even locally we have seen many young artistes with very bright futures wrecking their careers with some rather naive moves. I still recall the Roki incident, Maskiri’s superman stunt, Dino Mudondo’s domestic violence accusations and I really feel something has to be done to protect and enlighten these youths about the dangers and risks of being a celebrity.
I don’t really feel these youngsters are bad guys themselves but are just victims of peer pressure as well as wrong crowds who they hang out around and who give them wrong advice and a distorted sense of worth.

First of all most people especially the no-gooders want to hang around major artistes as they feel their celebrity status will also rub onto them and also help to cut deals and make names in society.
That way they feel indebted to their heroes and stars and will do anything possible to please their bosses even being trigger-happy and unreasonable over petty things and act out of way that the big name artistes will be the ones blamed when things get out of hand.

Alick Macheso, the sungura great, is even boasting that some journalists are gonna get hurt if they ever set foot at his shows because he doesn’t like them at all and will urge his fans to attack the condemned duo.

Now that’s total irresponsibility from a role model who should know better that being a warlord and advocating for violence at his shows is not a good thing at all but a rather thuggish development.
If you still remember the Eminem hit song Stan about an obsessed fan that vowed to do anything just to please his hero and ended up murdering his wife over delusions you would understand what I am saying.

I still remember this other day at an urban grooves function this little boy, an aspiring rapper in fact, rushed up to this popular musician with the hopes of securing a record deal or even just a chat.
The boy didn’t even manage to reach the artiste as three hangers who shoved him aside brutally and when he tried to protest about the treatment he was getting he was thoroughly beaten.

However, the disturbing thing about the whole incident is that it was the artiste who was later interrogated by the police even though he didn’t do anything wrong.
That event showed me that musicians need to be aware of their crews, as some of their actions will ultimately destroy their images and careers.

Also, some promoters are not doing much to the careers of these musicians as they give them wrong advise and treat them with kids gloves ignoring the reality on the ground.
Some even go to the extent of giving these stars excessive amount of drugs and alcohol, which also helps destroy these youngsters.

Also, us the general public, I think we also have a duty to play to safeguard these celebrities by treating them with respect but also acknowledging that they are mere mortals rather than gods. Many a time I have seen people mobbing celebrities on the streets in very uncomfortable and frightening ways such that the artiste resorts to rude ways due to the treatment.
I still remember this incident in Gweru when Andy Brown got involved in a slanging match with a fan who thought he was being ignored, when in fact Brown who was going on stage was concentrating on his delivery and was fixed on that not anything else.