Valiant Wants To Build An Arts School
Dancehall artist Valiant may have gotten a bad rap for glorifying “dunce” culture, but he values the transformational opportunities offered by educational and vocational institutions. To this end, the Expensive hitmaker has a short-term goal of building an arts school.
“In the next five years, mi waan open a school like Edna Manley, but it woulda be like HEART fi people who really can’t afford it, so a dat a my aim,” Valiant recently told The Happy Hour podcast.
The Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts is Jamaica’s most prominent institution for the pursuit and development of artistic ambitions. The Human Employment and Resource Training/National Service Training Agency (HEART/NSTA Trust) is a state agency that provides free technical vocational education for programs up to the associate degree level. Tuition or admin fees are required for programs beyond level four.
Similar to HEART’s nation-building mandate, Valiant envisions his school as a developer of human capital and underserved youth.
“People who have talent, we get other teachers from all over the world weh really interested fi help other kids, nurture dem talent, so that woulda cause less violence and certain likkle things.”
Given name Raheem Bowes, Valiant’s scholastic ties are to Oberlin High School and St. Mary’s College. Though the “fully dunce” slang has been problematic since it gained popularity on social media in 2018, Valiant’s Dunce Cheque caught flak for embellishing the phenomenon. Among those scrutinising the lyrics was information minister Robert Morgan, which inspired the follow-up Scholar, that zoomed in on the underemployment issue faced by those with academic qualifications.
Valiant has further shown interest in academic development by offering to pay more than $300,000 worth of outstanding tuition fees for a Munro College student in 2023.
Pending his own training institution, Valiant is playing a hand in developing emerging artists in his circle, namely Saddious.
“Mi a manage a talent right now, but yuh done know, nah too talk bout it now, but him name Saddious. A mi cousin, yuh done know, big up yourself. Him a tek time nurture him talent like how me still a nurture my talent as well… Me feel as when you get the opportunity in life, no matter how small it be, you try fi help somebody else, even if yuh nuh have that much.”
Valiant had some underground time to nurture his musical capabilities while part of Popcaan’s Unruly camp. He got his big break thanks to a tilted hat and the viral nature of social media, before backing it up with hot tunes like Speed Off and North Carolina.
Watch The Happy Hour podcast below.