Joshua Seemu­n­gal

One day be­fore lo­cal dance­hall artiste Kyle “Rebel Sixx” George was mur­dered, a group of Trini­bad artistes from op­pos­ing sides, some with al­leged af­fil­i­a­tions to the Ras­ta City and Mus­lim gangs, had come to­geth­er for a peace deal.

At George Street in Port-of-Spain on Sat­ur­day, nine artists, some among the most pop­u­lar in the genre, shook hands, call­ing for an end to long-stand­ing ten­sions be­tween mu­si­cians from op­pos­ing sides.

Ac­cord­ing to those present, it was a move to en­sure the genre ad­vanced, as well as to pro­vide a bet­ter ex­am­ple for the coun­try’s black youth.

Res­i­dents, most with phones in hand, gath­ered at the plan­nings at 54-56 George Street to wit­ness the truce.

In a tes­ta­ment to the enor­mous pop­u­lar­i­ty of the artistes, some res­i­dents called it his­to­ry in the mak­ing and a day they would nev­er for­get.

The artists present in­clud­ed Prince Swan­ny, Top­py Boss, Medz Boss, Law­less, Mag­ic, Siah Boss, Bra­vo, Leo King and Leroy.

A peace deal was made pos­si­ble by the en­tourages of Prince Swan­ny and Top­py Boss, who were al­so present at the Plan­nings.

Among the mem­bers of the en­tourage were Kevin “John­ny Bra­vo” Da Cos­ta, ra­dio per­son­al­i­ty Kwe­si “Su­pa Hype” Lee, so­ca star Or­lan­do Oc­tave as well as man­ag­er Dr V.

Pri­or to the meet­ing, the artistes had a long-stand­ing beef but on Sat­ur­day they swore to put that be­hind them.

“We are the voice of the ghet­to. It’s the right thing for the up­com­ing gen­er­a­tion. This is a big move right here. I hope it lasts and we do the right thing,” Prince Swan­ny, whose re­al name is Taryll Swan, said.

“It’s re­al­ly no gang thing or noth­ing but this is some­thing every­body was to agree with. Some peo­ple might not like it. Cer­tain peo­ple might not agree but we’ve come to one de­ci­sion and agreed.”

Top­py Boss, short­ly af­ter shak­ing hands with Prince Swan­ny, said, “It’s good for the coun­try. It good for the mu­sic. Trinidad in Trinidad, right now, is the move­ment.”

The agree­ment came days af­ter scores of young peo­ple from com­mu­ni­ties in East Port-of-Spain protest­ed through the streets of Port-of-Spain, de­mand­ing jus­tice for the killing of three men in Mor­vant on June 27.

While there have been claims that gangs have unit­ed to tar­get po­lice, there was no sug­ges­tion of any threats of vi­o­lence at Sat­ur­day’s meet­ing.

The mes­sage was uni­ty and peace.

“This is the right thing to do. The whole of Trinidad want­ed to see it, so we came out and rep­re­sent,” dance­hall artiste Mag­ic said, stand­ing next to Medz Boss.

Prince Swan­ny, whose video Dreams has 5.8 mil­lion Youtube views, urged dis­il­lu­sioned youth to stay pos­i­tive what­ev­er their cir­cum­stances. He said he him­self has sur­vived or­deals peo­ple would nev­er be­lieve, but through hard work he’s been able to carve out a suc­cess­ful mu­sic ca­reer.

“Pray. Stay pos­i­tive and do the right thing all the time. Be­lieve in your­self. In any­thing you do, do the right thing,” he said.

Sia Boss called for the youth to con­tin­ue fight­ing for their rights, even if it costs them their lives.

“Every youth has to make it at the end of the day. So it’s one love. One uni­ty. Let every broth­er push one an­oth­er. No more gang. No more war­fare, be­cause if you re­alise, at the end of the day, the sys­tem treat­ing we un­fair,” the Trini­bad artiste said.

Trini­bad, or Trinidad Dance­hall, is ar­guably now one of the more pop­u­lar mu­sic gen­res in the coun­try. Artistes with al­leged links to gangs have huge fol­low­ings on so­cial me­dia. In de­mand, Trini­bad songs play dai­ly on ur­ban ra­dio sta­tions, while some mu­sic videos amass mil­lions of views on Youtube.

How­ev­er, the genre has now lost two of its most pop­u­lar artistes in the last month.

On June 10, Kwin­ton “K Li­on” Thomas died from car­diac ar­rest in the Unit­ed States be­fore George was mur­dered in Bon Air, Arou­ca, on Sun­day night.