Ever since I saw her Tiny Desk concert last year, I have been kinda obsessed with Lila Iké. Her voice is so wonderfully smooth and smokey, and her songs are conscientious (as all good reggae...
Ever since I saw her Tiny Desk concert last year, I have been kinda obsessed with Lila Iké. Her voice is so wonderfully smooth and smokey, and her songs are conscientious (as all good reggae should be, IMO). This new single is also super intense and dark too, since it's about pedophilia and child sex trafficking. From a recent interview with her on BBC1 Xtra:
"I have been writing Batty Rider Shorts for over a period of 4 years. This song was inspired by a situation I observed within my community. An innocent child (age 10 or so) who I would often sit and speak with about life and give words of encouragement (even whilst I was a child my self ) eventually was taken advantage of by someone who should have been looking out for her. I was moved to tears on my drive back from the country as I thought about how her light became infiltrated by the dark energies that are hovering over children everyday, all over the world."
“I think it’s very important to speak about these things. The history of our music was a medium for bringing information to the people, especially reggae music. We can have fun, listen to party and dance music and songs about love, but we still have real issues that need to be addressed too."
And since her Patwah is strong, here are the lyrics for those who want to read along in order to better understand the song:
I see them dealin wid the youth dem like an asset
Selling out wi daughters fi put money inna dem pocket
Gun the yute dem lock it from before dem in dem teens
No English, Mathematics, just a ‘matic in them jeans
Say a that a di regime autocratic with the scheme
Cycle nah go stop it as dramatic as it seems
Our children they have dreams, In the eyes I see the gleam
We need fi make them know say them a King and dem a Queen
-Pre-chorus-
When the little girl a walk
Leave her make she pass
Every day you and you dirty big man friend a talk
‘Bout her batty rider shorts
How unnu wah fi take it off
A lurk inna the dark
A dem yah ting yah get me cross
-Chorus -
Mommy where is your daughter
Oh papa where is your son
What’s gonna happen to wi future
When we daughters dem lost
And we son a bus gun
Oh Mommy where is your daughter
Papa where is your son
What’s gonna happen to wi future
When we daughters dem lost and we son a buss gun
Now if you really check the pree
A from the yard you bend the tree
The youths first teacher is his immediate family
But Mummy haffi gone a work
Papa inna penitentiary
So what’s it gonna be
Whose gonna boil the baby tea
Well Uncle nah no work
Now him deh a yard a lurk
Somehow him find himself under likkle Nana skirt
Traumatize her now
Pin her future pon the line
Sharpen the lass dem, him cya too hard to find
-Chorus –
-Outro-
Mommy where
Where
Where is your son
Where is your daughter
What’s gonna
What’s gonna happen
Ever since I saw her Tiny Desk concert last year, I have been kinda obsessed with Lila Iké. Her voice is so wonderfully smooth and smokey, and her songs are conscientious (as all good reggae should be, IMO). This new single is also super intense and dark too, since it's about pedophilia and child sex trafficking. From a recent interview with her on BBC1 Xtra:
And since her Patwah is strong, here are the lyrics for those who want to read along in order to better understand the song:
p.s. https://jamaicanpatwah.com/ if you're still struggling with some words