Barbados Today

A passionate appeal is coming from popular Jamaican musician Carlton Grant to Barbadians to stay away from violence.

His call comes as the country is experiencing a seeming increase in violent activities including robberies so far this year, compared to previous years.

“Please keep away from crime and violence,” said the artiste, who is better known as Spragga Benz.

The dancehall deejay, who is aware of high rates of crime and violence in his homeland and how badly it could affect the country, said his wish was for Barbados to remain as peaceful and loving as he has known it to be over the years.

The Royal Barbados Police Force is yet to present statistics on the crime situation in Barbados for this year. However, Spragga Benz told Bajan Vibes that passing through some familiar communities, he still “feel the love and energy” and hopes it would remain that way for many years to come.

“So mi ask them to keep it that way so every time mi come, it nuh be like when mi go Trinidad or Guyana and mi a hear say, ‘people head a chop off now down ya, we bad like Jamaica now’. Mi nuh want to hear that bout Barbados, mi want the people them to stay loving and just be good,” he pleaded.

Spragga Benz was in Barbados for the just concluded 2017 Digicel/FAS Promotions Barbados Reggae Festival.

Looking back on his music career over the past two-and-a-half decades, Jamaican entertainer, Carlton Grant, is so satisfied, overall, that he would do it all over again.

The Hotter Dan Dem dancehall deejay, better known on stage as Spragga Benz, told Bajan Vibes on the sidelines of last Sunday’s Reggae on the Hill show that he was pleased with the way his career has turned out so far.

“The good times and bad times, all of it help in building to make me me,” he said proudly, emphasizing that despite the fame which comes from being an entertainer, it was family which remained the most important thing to him.

Giving an update on his career, Spragga, who has done collaborations with a number of other well-known artistes including Alison Hinds, Lil Bow Wow and Machel Montano, revealed a number of exciting projects in the pipeline.

He said there was “a whole heap” of collaborations on the cards as well as music and new albums “in the making”, including the recently recorded The Journey Continues album, his first in about seven years.

That album is scheduled for a summer 2017 release.

The career of the dancehall veteran who is especially known for his early hits such as Boom She Wrong, She Nuh Ready Yet and Jack it Up, has also included some acting stints.

Spragga’s plans also include going to the United Kingdom later this year to spend about three months doing some writing and recording.