‘TAKEN OUT OF CONTEXT’ | Shanti Dope’s management slams PDEA over call to ban song

May 24, 2019 , 12:09 PM

MAY 24, 2019 — The management of teenage rapper Shanti Dope slammed Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency’s (PDEA) Director General Aaron Aquino over its call to ban the “Amatz” song for allegedly promoting the use of marijuana.

The management said the song does not promote marijuana use and urged Aquino to listen to the whole song.

“While anyone is welcome to interpret a song or any cultural text, it is also clear that for an interpretation to be valid, it needs to have basis, and must be within the context of the cultural text as a whole,” his management said.

“To take apart a song and judge it based on certain lyrics that offend us is unfair to the songwriter; to presume that our reading of a song is the only valid one is offensive to an audience that might be more mature than we think,” they added.

Aquino said on Thursday the song runs contrary to the Duterte administration’s crusade against illegal drugs.

He cited the chorus in the song, which goes: “Lakas ng amats ko, sobrang natural, walang halong kemikal.”

At the same time, the lyrics also mentions: ”Ito hinangad ko; lipadin ay mataas pa sa kayang ipadama sa’yo ng gramo, ‘di bale ng musika ikamatay.”

Aquino also requested the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB), Organisasyon ng Pilipinong Mang-aawit (OPM), and the ABS-CBN Corporation to prevent the airing of ‘Amatz’ and its promotion in the different media stations throughout the country.

“We respect and appreciate our artists in the music industry, however, we strongly oppose the promotion of musical pieces or songs that encourage the recreational use of drugs like marijuana and shabu. It is contrary to our fight against illegal drugs,” Aquino said.

He also said the airing of the song that features the use of illegal drugs as harmless may mislead the vulnerable youth in their perception that it is all right to use illegal drugs.

Shanti Dope’s management, however, warned that the ban goes beyond the rapper.

“This ban sets a dangerous precedent for creative and artistic freedom in the country, when a drug enforcement agency can unilaterally decide on what a song is about, and call for its complete ban because it is presumed to go against government’s war on illegal drugs,” they said.

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