When Elephant Man and Spragga Benz combined to do Warrior Cause, the fifth song on the former's 2001 album Log On, it was long before the rash of don's detentions and deaths, from Donovan 'Bulbie' Bennett and Andrew 'Bun Man' Hope, that has marked more recent times.
By Mel CookeThe chorus made the intentions very clear, as the two chanted:
"Well mi come fi big up all di warrior from the present to the past
All who know dem fight fi a cause"
Several of those saluted in song were long dead by the song was made, among them the first four as Elephant Man chants "Whappy King and Rhygin was the start a it/Feathermop an Burry Boy was di class a it". Of the four, Ivanhoe 'Rhygin' Martin, who was killed by the police on Lime Cay on September 9, 1948, has the most longevity as he lives forever in the 1972 film Harder They Come, in which Jimmy Cliff plays the media friendly desperado. And Winston 'Burry Boy' Blake had probably the largest funeral; when he was buried on March 15, 1975, an estimated 20,000 to 25,000 people turned out for his funeral, including then Prime Minister Michael Manley, with chaos resulting all around.
Recent Vintage
Some of the dead are of more recent vintage, their names still having very bloody meaning to those who lived through their times although the fear invoked by those names not being transmitted to the generations after. Elephant Man deejays: "All Natty Morgan get a piece a it, Sandokhan come die by di teeth a it".
In strict chronological, if not 'badmanical', order Wayne 'Sandokhan' Smith was first, his most noted murderous deed being a mid-1980s attack on the Olympic Gardens police station in which three lawmen were killed and weapons and ammunition were stolen. The police did not have even the satisfaction of dispensing final justice, as Sandokhan was killed by gunmen in Tower Hill in 1989.
Natty's Short Reign
Another name, Nathaniel 'Natty' Morgan, came to prominence the same year, but his reign was very short. After escaping from the Gun Court in 1990 Morgan was killed by the police in Lakes Pen, St Catherine, eight months after his escape.
However, in the five years that have passed since 'Warrior Cause' made its album appearance, a number of those named in the song have died, tipping the balance in the song further in favour of the dead than the living. And they have not died by natural causes, unless high-speed, forceful lead and copper poisoning is classified as an illness.
Familiar pattern continues
"Andrew Pang from Grants Pen him a di street a it," deejays Spragga Benz. Not any more. Andrew 'Andrew Phang' Stephens was killed on October 23, 2001, by members of the now defunct Crime Management Unit which was headed by none other than Renato DeCordova Valentino Adams (who in turn gets a mention later on from Elephant Man with "now Adams come get introduce to it/shoot-out wid di youths an who refuse to it"). In a very familiar pattern the police claimed a shoot-out, residents claimed murder.
In a couplet late in Warrior Cause, Spragga Benz mentions two persons who have died since the song was released, deejaying "Chubby Dread from south nah splurt a it/Willie Haggart him bad from birth a it".
However, in the end Franklyn 'Chubby Dread' Allen from Southside did try to 'splurt a it', but as is always the case when humans try to outrun bullets the bullets are much, much quicker. He was killed in New Kingston on Friday, October 7, 2005. As The Gleaner reported the following day:
"Popular dance promoter, Franklyn 'Chubby Dread' Allen, Southside's long time area leader, was murdered outside a prominent New Kingston nightclub, early yesterday morning.
Reports are that he tried to outrun his attackers, but collapsed under a volley of gunshots to his back."
Dance seemed to be a main occupation of William 'Willie Haggart' Moore, leader of the Black Roses Crew which made going to dances a lesson in flashiness during the early 1990s. On Wednesday, April 18, 2001, Moore was killed outside his businessplace on Lincoln Crescent in Arnett Gardens.
Moore Opulence
Moore's funeral was a case study in opulence, as his funeral service was held at the National Arena, where he effectively lay in state. There was a then rare public appearance by famed Mandeville figure Kenneth 'Skeng Don' Black, who is not mentioned in 'Warrior Cause' but gets the immortal line "whe de don fe Mandeville name? Skeng!" in deejay Tiger's 1980s hit 'When'.
The number of dead men in 'Warrior Cause' who met their demise after its release could have been more, as George Phang was shot by gunmen in Jones Town in March 2003. Ironically, the line mentioning Phang comes after the one for Willie Haggart, Spragga Benz deejaying "George Phang an Tony Welch a dem a nurcha it".
Phang was shot in a drive-by involving (what else?) a white Toyota Corolla, and hospitalised at the Kingston Public Hospital (KPH) in critical condition. He recovered.
Still, in the end, Warrior Cause ends in peace, though not fear, as Elephant Man says "Big up di youths a stay clear a it/whe coulda do nuff tings an dem no hear a it" and Spragga Benz wraps up with "weh know di wrong from di right and dem aware a it, but dem still na no coward ar no fear a it".
A word from Natty Morgan
Hear are some words from a bible recovered by police shortly after the death of Natty Morgan:
This is coming from the lips of the outlaw natty. I am a lonely and upset man. My life is full with pain and misery. I ask myself continually why it have to be this way, but the answer seems vain. I search out my whole life to see if any better enough and a am getting more than enough, longing for some changing in my life.
