Dancehall is under heavy fire around the globe these days for use of anti-gay lyrics in what they are calling “murder music”. Bounty Killer was recently dropped from the Krakrock Festival in Belgium and gay activists are taking aim at the industry as a whole. Recently, Beenie Man and Capleton, were only allowed to perform at Brussel's Couleur Cafe Festival after they promised not to use homophobic lyrics. Both were threatened with arrest under Belgium's hate crime laws if they broke their word, according to a representative from the UK gay activist organization known as Outrage.

An article in the Jamaica Observer further noted that a serious effort to hit Dancehall artists in the wallet is rippling throughout Europe with attempts to stop Elephant Man from performing in Paris, and TOK and Capleton in Amsterdam. Buju Banton, who is noted in the Outrage report as “notoriously anti-gay”, is in jeopardy of losing a booking in Amsterdam after a Dutch segment of Amnesty International has reportedly begun pressuring the promoters. Amnesty International, a well-established human rights organization is concerned that anti-gay sentiments result in increased violence against the world’s gay and lesbian population.

"We are confident that our campaign to stop this murder music will spread right across Europe," Outrage's Peter Tatchell is quoted as saying. "These hate singers will soon find it increasingly difficult to perform their incitements to kill lesbians and gay men. Facing the prospect of financial ruin, they will dump their homophobic lyrics. By penalizing them financially, our aim is to force homophobia out of dancehall music," Tatchell said in the report.

Dancehall music has long been called the voice of the common man, and the Caribbean has never hidden its disdain for homosexuality. However, in this day of ‘money over moral code’, will Dancehall bow to an economic embargo in its second home? Now that the big Dancehall names have sold themselves to the large American record labels, will their new label bosses force their hand on the lyrical content issue? Record sales aside, the most consistent supporters of Dancehall music’s live performances have been in Europe. And for many artists doing stage shows provides their daily bread more so than record royalties.

Admittedly, Dancehall has picked up some nasty habits from its distant cousin, Hip Hop, like sexually degrading women in lyrics and videos, promoting violence against one another, and falling victim to the bling. But should Dancehall artists be prevented from voicing their opinion when so many other genres thrive on equally questionable lyrics?

While it’s hard to argue that these artists should be allowed to call for the murder of any group of people because of their lifestyle, there is another issue here. The question is not gay or straight, the question at hand is: Can our Dancehall artists be bought? Were their lyrics really an expression of their beliefs or was it just bad bwoy posturing? Food or principle is the choice before them. Let’s see who runs for cover when the protesters tek aim pon dem pocket.