Tommy Lee Sparta Calls For End To Gun Violence After Rygin King Shooting

Dancehall artiste Tommy Lee Sparta is speaking out against gun violence for the first time in months as he addressed the shooting of Rygin King last week.

In a post on Instagram yesterday, the Top Shotta singer posted that “violence is not the solution. Unity will make our land a better place. Speedy recovery bro @ryginking.”

King was shot in Westmoreland as his entourage stopped to assess damage from an unrelated vehicular accident. His girlfriend and his manager, along with a second female, were also shot, with the latter dying.

Tommy Lee himself has experienced violence in his family when, in March, four people, including his 6-year-old daughter, were shot in the community of Flanker, St. James. A nine-year-old boy died in that incident. Since then, there have been several reprisal shootings, according to the Jamaica Constabulary force.

The violence seems to be at an all-time high across Dancehall.

Four members of Uptop Boss TeeJay’s camp were shot last month after they were attacked. Two of them, Romario ‘Grimmy Boss’ and Phillip Lewis, perished during the shooting on Rosalee Avenue in Kingston 11. The artiste has been emotional about their deaths.

The recent spate of killings has introduced scrutiny on the lyrics of music put out in Dancehall by some of the very artistes who have been affected. Fans and critics have called out the lyrics that they say is masked as music but, according to them, conveys a picture into the lives of the artistes, which includes murder and mayhem.

In Hard Ears, one of his recent songs, Tommy Lee’s lyrics are quite graphic and grotesque even without the accompanying video that shows the Sparta leader on the phone with a man presumably sending instructions to kill another.

In the past, Tommy Lee Sparta has denied being involved in criminal activity after the Jamaica Constabulary Force in 2015 claimed he was associated with gang violence in St. James. The artiste, however, responded, acknowledging that while he was associated with controversial entertainers in the past, he isn’t a person of interest, as those controversial artistes have misrepresented his image in the public domain.

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