Dancehall hardcore deejay Sharrie is promoting her latest single, Danger in Your Eyes, featuring Gyptian. Released on the Voiceful Records imprint last year, the song has been steadily gaining favour with disc jockeys and has popped up on a lot of reggae street mixes recently.
“The song just suddenly caught momentum is playing a lot on IRIE FM, RJR and Suncity Radio, on stations as far away as Europe, Gambia, Ghana and Nigeria. I am just overwhelmed at all the support and want to thank Gyptian for giving me this opportunity,” the artiste whose real name is Tamara Laoe, said.
The song is currently available for download on iTunes, Spotify, and all major music outlets. The song is the first track from her debut EP which will be released this Summer, and which feature a number of collaborations with artistes such as Half Pint, and others.
She will be doing a video for the ‘Danger in Your Eyes’ song in April.
In the meantime, Sharrie is devastated by the murder of 20-year-old Khanice Jackson and wants the Government to enact stricter legislation and dedicate more resources to protect the country’s women and girls.
She believes it is high time for law enforcers to give greater attention to sex crimes.
“I am a woman, so every time a woman or young girl is killed or hurt by a rapist, or paedophile, it cuts me deep,” Sharrie said.
“Jamaican society doesn’t support rape, but there are predators from every sector of society that walk among us. So I have to big up all the dancehall and reggae artistes and producers who are using their platforms to condemn the acts and raise awareness around the killings. Violence against women must stop now.”
Her comments come against a backdrop of heightened advocacy against violence meted out to women, especially high profile murders of women, and a rash of disappearances involving young girls. On March 24, Khanice Jackson left her home in Independence City, Portmore, St Catherine, for work and two days later her body was found in the vicinity of Dyke Road. A 50 year old man Robert Fowler was arrested.
Interestingly, the number of cases of rape reported to the police has been declining steadily over the last decade, but women’s advocate are concerned that the official figures do not reflect the reality on the ground.
The Ministry of National Security’s Research Evaluation Unit has compiled official figures which show rape leading a decrease in most serious crimes since 2013, with murders and shooting being the exceptions. The number of rape cases reported declined from a high of 863 in 2013 to 442 in 2017. The decline has continued steadily, and this year, there has been a 48.4 per cent decline in the reported incidents of rape in the first three months of the year, according to statistics recorded between January 1 to March 20, 2021.
There have been 82 rapes reported, a decline of 48.4 per cent when compared with the corresponding period of 2020 when there were 159 rapes reported. The St. Mary police division reported no cases of rape, while St. Andrew Central had only two rapes reported, a decline of 84.6 per cent.
Only three police divisions, Manchester, St. Catherine North and Kingston West showed marginal increases in rapes, with St. Catherine North leading the way with 14.
“I still feel that the number of reports of rape, incest and paedophilia is under-reported, especially with COVID-19 with a lot of girls, boys and women stuck at home with their rapists and abusers. The schools are closed, there is no safety valve. CISOCA needs more resources, a hotline, something, Khanice was an extreme case, but a lot of other abuses are happening,” Sharrie said. Sharrie grew up in the tough Park Lane area of Red Hills Road, St Andrew and attended St. Andrew Technical High where her musical talent began to blossom. Upon graduating, she voiced her first single, Champion Lover, in 2008 for Voiceful Records, and since that time, she has been building a steady social media following, penning songs that tap into the gritty vibe of dancehall music.
“Look out for Sharrie, I am the danger in your eyes,” she said.
