Many have cast the nation of Jamaica as a dark and crude place to be, with violence and hardship and the lack of compassion for a fellow brother and sister living right next door. However this notion can be shattered as the celebration of International Free Hugs day was conducted with just a small amount of nation builders and changers, in one of the nations most busiest areas, Half Way Tree.

The Free Hugs Campaign is a social movement involving individuals who offer hugs to strangers in public places. The campaign in its present form was started in 2004 by an Australian man known only by the pseudonym "Juan Mann". The campaign became famous internationally in 2006 as the result of a music video on YouTube by the Australian band Sick Puppies, which is one of the most popular on the site, having been viewed over 69,000,000 times. The hugs are meant to be random acts of kindness - selfless acts performed just to make others feel better.

Jamaican Henry Robinson took the project on in London and with a huge success he had decided to take it to his home country Jamaica, with the help of his family and friends he got the Free Hugs movements going in Jamaica by the social media Facebook where they posted a video as well as created a Facebook group FREE HUGS – Jamaica Leg. The group has gotten a good amount of traffic since its inception. The attention the campaign got locally was a success for the little media hype the group created in making the project as simple as it could have been so persons would see them and you guessed it randomly given them a hug without prior knowledge of what was going on.

Local television and radio personality and former host of Digicel Rising Stars Lady Renee has broken her silence to her fans in a recent post on her social media page, as several of her fans have asked her why shes no long the host of Digicel Rising Stars and seeked her response.

This Carimac graduate has had three years working experience at ROOTS 96.1 FM as a presenter and producer. And these days,she's figured out a new way to utilize her talents – Rennae was the host of Reggae Entertainment Television’s (RETV) programme ‘DI SHOW’ from January 2007 – December 2008. Now along with hosting live events & pre- recorded broadcasts, she's the host of RE TV School Tour and RE TV's upcoming Saturday LIVE Show. She’s also been a presenter on FAME FM for the E-ZONE and OUTSIDE BROADCASTS since March 2007, and most recently she has taking over the popular morning magazine show . Indeed Lady Renee is not slowing down anytime soon.

In her response in several media interviews she has expressed faith and courage in the 2011 cast of judges as well as new host Terri-Karelle Reid as she stated, “The show is taking a new direction with new host/judges and format and I have new shows in the rise! Congrats to Terri-Karelle Reid, Tessanne and Bambino for being a part of the stellar talent show” also in a release from the Jamaica Star on May 13 she stated, “I have to say thanks to the title sponsor, Digicel, the producer of the show, Mr Mike Hogan, and other members of the team, including Sharon Schroeter and others who gave me this wonderful opportunity to explore a new dimension not only of my personality, but also my skill sets as the host of this colossal show. I also have to say thank you to all the families and viewers who shared in this wonderful venture with me during my tenure on Rising Stars."

International Dancehall recording artiste Vybz Kartel recently held a lecture at the University of West Indies, Mona campus, in St Andrew, Jamaica, to a large crowd of young influential minds and curious ears who ventured on the university's campus to hear the views of the dancehall artiste.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmmZC_wGsdQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQ-kFmP5AAg

Just a few months ago, the Jamaican Entertainment and more closely the dancehall industry was rocked by a series of deadly attacks leaving one member of the popular and leading dancehall groups without its front man. This attack was later followed by the attack of a veteran dancehall member followed by a popular dancehall selector. All this in the same breath of a civil unrest, loss of travel documents by the leading males in the industry, and then the arrest of so many months before. The industry was in trouble and some argue is still in trouble. The dancehall family has not or never allowed that to stop the music or to damper spirits as hits after hit from those indirectly affected could be heard on the airwaves and the ladies industry finally got a break to spread their wings and be heard.

Over the past couple months, shows have been postponed, canceled, and some remain uncertain to the extent millions in revenue have been lost and the artistes struggle to make ends meet, allowing for some to lose luxurious vehicles. Some may argue the point that these artiste are finally waking up and understanding they too are a part of a volatile and corrupt society with values and morals in fast decay, but as several artiste have said in the past the values of a nation must never be left to a nation's creative industry to fix or mend as parents and the church has a responsibility in that regard to fix. The national tradition of blame has seen a sharp decline when the same dancehall artiste who often dismiss responsibility have taken the task in assisting to revitalize the nation with its roots.

With the death of Oneil Edwards and the civil unrest, artistes such as Mr.Vegas, Voicemail, TOK, To-Isis, Alaine, Busy Signal, Chris Martin, Bounty Killer and others have all penned motivational songs of change and have created the ‘vibes’ to go along with it. It’s the first time in a long time that the dancehall community has moved in one accord at the same time all for one cause. Do we have to argue that ever so often a close member in the dancehall community must die to awaken these men and women? The dancehall fraternity was commended for this year Reggae Sumfest Dancehall Night 2010 as the most peaceful as well as no profanity used on stage indeed there is a “new dancehall” being born.

The new dancehall has also seen less violent articles being sent around the world portraying the dancehall artiste and their images with the new agents of change these artiste are indeed making an international mark with conscious lyrics, party music, and music that just calls for peace. One must sit back and notice this positive change over the past few month a change long in the making but coming, must we shake the hands of the Broadcast Commission (Jamaica), the court systems, or the promoters who all stand for a clean show and family oriented music? But one must never want change that the identity of the music is lost.

STATEMENT FROM SHARON SCHROETER REGARDING BERES BROWN’S DISQUALIFICATION

“Over the 4 weeks since Mr. Beres Brown has been a contestant in the Digicel Rising Stars’ competition, he has displayed behaviour that, in any context, would be considered intolerable. Mr. Brown has been rude, disrespectful, abusive, intolerant, and confrontational. The contestants and members of the Digicel Rising Stars' team felt continuously intimidated by Mr. Brown due to his verbal abuse and threatening behaviour towards fellow contestants, crew members and the Producers.

“Despite numerous warnings since the first week of the live shows, Mr. Brown’s behaviour escalated. By the second week of the live shows the producers had to re-read the relevant sections of the contract that speak to behaviour and decorum with him. At that time he professed that he understood these warnings and knew the consequences if his behaviour continued. Last week (July 25) the decision was initially taken to remove Mr. Brown from the competition but the Digicel Rising Stars team felt that he should have another chance to redeem himself; a chance which he has now squandered.

“The flood of profanity and threatening remarks unleashed by him during rehearsals on Sunday August 1 was unforgiveable and was yet another episode of Mr Brown’s reprehensible behaviour which had been getting worse weekly. His refusal to rehearse directly jeopardized the quality of the production. The producers had to make a decision to protect the contestants, crew members and the show.