by Dave Rodney, CARIBBEAN TIMES Writer
On the heels of his last chart-topping video “Mad Love for You” where he was urging men in the Diaspora to fully embrace the partners in their lives, New Jersey area DJ Ras Emmanuel is back with a new message for his Caribbean people.
“Black is beautiful, so embrace the skin you’re in.”
Through his just-released video called U Want Bleach? Ras Emmanuel’s new message is in response to the popular and unrelenting trend in Jamaica, and even in some parts of Africa, to lighten a darker skin with chemical compounds. Sometimes these concoctions bring harmful effects upon the end-user.
“The concept of bleaching is an old epidemic that has been plaguing Jamaica for years”, Ras Emmanuel told Caribbean Times. “Melanated people have been taught that the lighter your skin is, the more opportunities will come your way for advancement”, he added. “But as we come out of Emancipation and Independence for another year, we have to move away from this unhealthy mindset that is plaguing both men and women. Black is beautiful and we have to emancipate ourselves from the scrouge of mental enslavement”, Ras chanted.
In his new video clip, Ras Emmanuel plays the role of a doctor. A beautiful young lady walks in his consultation room to complain that she feels uncomfortable being black as many of her friends are lighter. In a calming and convincing manner, doctor reassures the beauty that she is as gorgeous as everyone else in her black skin. “If Dem nut like dat, tell dem step back”, Ras suggests to his client as an option to bleaching, and the young lady embraces the advice.
U Want Bleach? was shot in Manhattan, New York City by African video director Joe Petta and the song has just been released on the Central Village Voice Records label.
and then 