Justin Timberlake, Britney Spears, & West Indians

We West Indian people are a trip. We are a wild close-knit group with personal and cultural idiosyncrasies that make us the lush tree that we are. We have the power to close-knit America too, as we are loyal, hardworking, and honest—all of the traits necessary to build an excellent workforce, as we need the money, a whole lotta money because we got a whole lot at foreign to feed!

We’re always trying to get ahead and improve, and this is the perfect set of people for your companies. They work fast, they save time, they are good at their jobs, they get along together—especially when well-led and they are generally “good for the company.” They will save/prevent mistakes. They stick to the rules, they are calm and cautious, although they are notoriously known to be a rowdy bunch, and they are “high earners.” They can also do a lot of things at once, which makes them ideal CEOS/managers and ideal for rich white beings at play with days off from the company.

Anyway, you can imagine OUR ire. Yes, I can be assured that I am speaking for the whole community when I learned through an article that raggedy Justin Timberlake had the nerve to “escort” Sean Paul from his studio one time. The audacity of him! JT, as this bum is called, is no more of a star than Sean Paul. Today, the latter is still making hits with his collaborators (I love his bounce and hop on Stuntin’ Remix with Spice and Stylo G.) Sean Paul is a stellar dancehall artist. Indeed, he is one of my longtime favorites, and it’s nice to see him evolving to stay fresh and keep it fly. From my perspective, his career is plagued by colorists, as some have complained that some of his opportunities have been more about his light skin color rather than his rhymes, which was likely true. But these days, it is an even playing field, with the venerable Mister Adidja Palmer, lazily at the top, with rhyming skills throughout each set, a sense of humor, and a divine acumen as the conscious bar of the people. Even in that, these are the skills that are up for grabs, though it is to be certain who the only is that can earn it. It’s already been the taskbar, and Adidja came along and took it out of the air. He’s been running away with it ever since, and some of us are destitute, waiting for his return, wondering why he’s running so long.

Dancehall music is the savior of the people and for our whitest player to be rejected by a white man is the ultimate disloyal, unChristian slap in the face we were hoping to avoid. You just have to conclude that Sean Paul wasn’t white enough, which must be a slap in the face for some, maybe even Adidja, whose complexion is unknown at this point.

Sean Paul even performed ‘Gimme The Light,’ but Justin was not interested in its vibes. Who knows if he heard its beats or not, but the rhyming was not enough to bid him a welcome to Justin’s lair. Maybe it was just that the rhyming was not up to par, and the complexion, more sallow...either way, the reason for his scathing welcome does not matter. We want to let Justin cry us a river AND bring Britney back.

Then maybe he can know again what hit-making is like.

Love,

Odetta