Busy Signal Takes Aim At Criminal Yeng Yeng Riders
The longstanding problem of marauding criminals using Yeng Yeng motorcycles to carry out murder, robbery and general mayhem across Jamaica, has come under scrutiny from Dancehall superstar Busy Signal, who has taken to the studio to address the matter and issue security tips to Jamaicans.
Yesterday the Stay So artist released the song Yeng Yeng, giving his own commentary on the problem of bikes featuring in criminal activities, which has been plaguing Jamaica for close to 20 years now, but appears to have intensified during the pandemic due to the easy access to the Chinese-made Yeng Yeng and in spite of major crackdowns by the police.
He shared a preview of the song on his Instagram page and sought feedback from his fans about the motorcycles.
“Can you relate? The amount of people nervous when dem see one on the road,” he captioned the post.
This morning Busy posted a message from a supportive fan, who said that he owned a Yeng Yeng but was not offended by the song as he did not like the bikes either.
“Yoo Busy. I own a yeng, but mi no feel no way still becaw MI HATE DEM TO lol. I converted by Yeng to look like a cafe racer, If you are going to do a video, just invite me Rasta,” was the fan’s comment, to which Busy replied: “Lol. Mi nuh hate dem, just don’t trust dem.”
Busy then captioned the IG post: “When a owner of a Yeng Nuh like dem 😂.”
In the song’s hook, Busy expresses his aversion to the bikes and disdain for the riders. Like many of his Jamaican compatriots, he emphasized the distrust and fear felt by many commuters and drivers upon reaching traffic stoplights, as these spots are used by miscreants to strike their targets.
“Mi nuh trust nuttin pon Teng, yeng/Worse di one dem weh keep up problem dawg/Too much criminal inna di place…,”
“Mi nuh trust di bike bwoy dem/Try run go tell di troublemekka dem dawg/Something nu feel right when them pull up ah di stoplight… mi nuh trust nuttn pon bike” Busy declared.
In his opening verse, Busy also outlines that he has had to be very vigilant whenever on the road, and ready to take both evasive and pre-emptive moves in case the criminals try to hijack him.
“Inna di heat ah di traffic/Mi just ah prip an ah watch it
Mi see some bike bwoy ah approach ah coulda di billionth of it/Any funny move/Me rеady fi drop it/A matic inna mi lap it/Extra mag in a mi pocket,” he deejays.
However, even as he points out that there were honest Yeng Yeng riders who were simply trying to make a daily living, the number of criminals in possession of the motorcycles, aiming to snatch phones and purses, was too much for comfort.
“Crime rate ah risе and it still ah skyrocket/Nuh drop nuh guard/No nuh drop it Yuh never know ah who ah knock it/ Nuff bike rider do dem work out ah street/And some ah criminal and just ah look food fi eat”.
“Criminal lifestyle me nah guh condone/Prip yuh mirror before yuh reach ah yuh yard/Dem pull up behind yuh car/No time fi call no guard,” he sang, revealing the modius operandi of the criminals.
Probox, AD Wagons and some other models of Nissan motor vehicles did not escape Busy’s attention, as these have been deemed by the police to be the vehicles of choice for criminals. Busy gave a caution to his compatriots to be on their guard.
“Next thing me nuh trust the probox and the AD Wagon/Some a dem a criminal so watch out fih dih pattern/Don’t get complacent like everything criss/
And watch out fi Some bad business some a di Nissan/ some go pon serious mission,” he adds.
Busy’s concerns have been long documented. From as far back as 2004, the Jamaica Constabulary Force expressed grave concern about the use of high-speed motorcycles believed to be owned by dangerous inner-city gangs, in a series of murders, extortions and carjackings.
Then Deputy Commissioner of Police, Lucius Thomas, had confirmed that the bikes were featuring in a series of number of “murders, shootings and robberies, especially in the Corporate Area and St. Catherine”.
He told The Gleaner at the time that the motorcycles are used by gang members in drive-by shootings, contract killings and quick getaway in high-profile robberies.
He had also said some of the motorcycles were being used to intimidate motorists at stoplights and that a “shipment of the motorcycles arrived in the island recently for one of Kingston’s most dangerous gangs”, which already had “a fleet of similar motorcycles”.
In a July 2019 letter which was published in The Gleaner titled Yeng Yeng yankers wheeling and stealing, Lavern King of Digiview Security, a Kingston-based security camera systems company, had stated that there had been a “noticed an increase in robberies committed by people on motor bikes, especially the Yeng Yeng model” and that her company was “often asked to retrieve security camera footage of crimes and have seen an uptick in these types of robberies”.
In September 2020, a petition was launched on the Jamaica House Petition portal, calling for the Andrew Holness-led Jamaica Government to ban the Yeng Yeng motorcycles.
The petitioner had argued, among other things, that law-abiding citizens were in constant trepidation whenever the bikes are heard approaching, and emerging use of them in criminal activities, including robberies and drive-by shootings.
“Law-abiding citizens of this great country are in constant fear whenever they hear the antagonising noise of these nuisance approaching,” the petition had stated.