Short Ghad wants an end to killing

Dancehall singjay Short Ghad has an urgent message for the Jamaican society which is plagued by chronic high rates of homicide and domestic violence - don't kill.

The message is encapsulated in his single, Nah Kill, which defends the principles of righteousness and non-violence.

"The inspiration behind the song was my thoughts of how I could inspire the youths not to kill. The feedback has been great ... and this is important because we have to change the badman culture in the island. It is the only way to get a better society for all," said the artiste whose given name is Conrad Williams. Nah Kill was released on October 13 on Short Ghad Entertainment label.

The artiste grew up between St Thomas and St Elizabeth; he attended B.B Coke High School in the latter. As a teenager, he began to take music seriously when he started to livestream on Facebook, playing songs. He migrated to Sweden where he started to work on his craft.

He was dubbed Short Ghad by artiste-producer Delly Ranks and started to release music. Short Ghad scored a radio hit with the song, Feel Nice, from the album of the same name which was released in 2022.

"This Nah Kill was supposed to be on the album, so I feel the time is right to promote it as a single," he said.

Short Ghad has become a popular TikTok personality over the last nine months, amassing several thousand followers on the platform where he streams live and plays music from his catalogue and those of other artistes. He has been promoting his singles and performing at local events such as Boom Box Fridays and Weddy Weddy Wednesdays.

He will be releasing a five-track EP titled One ah Mi.

"It's an EP for the females, with '90s style dancehall beats, original dancehall style with one crossover song, a mix of Afrobeats, hip hop and dancehall that has an international vibes," he said.