Dancehall icon Papa San, revealed publicly for the first time, that threats on his life and a refusal of State authorities to grant him a firearm licence, were the circumstances that led to illegal gun possession charges being leveled against him in 1994.
According to the Animal Party deejay, who is now a Minister of the Gospel, he did everything necessary including the requisite arms-training on the firing range, in his bid to obtain a firearm legally, following the murder of his brother Dirtsman in 1993, but to no avail.
“That was a next stumbling block because yuh grow up in an environment dat teach you dat is the way to protect yourself. But we try to get license firearm. I went to training school for (firearm handling) training and they didn’t give it (gun license) to us,” he told YouTuber Teach Dem.
“If your bredda get killed and you’re being threatened that you gonna get killed – because is a threat me get that day when mi get hold wid di gun enuh. I was told I wasn’t to go to Fort Clarence beach for the show – because I have a show di day. And they said, they wanna kill you too. An I seh ‘no mi naw guh guh dung like dat’”, he added.
Continued Papa San: “Suh mi have mi ting, an mi have it paa mi an mi mother-on-law tell mi ‘don’t leave di house’. And mi push it an leave di day. Just to get myself secure a likkle bit more. And I was trailed an it just get ugly.”
According to Papa San, the incident tainted his ‘good-boy’ image which had made him the darling of corporate Jamaica. As a consequence, he lost numerous endorsements which were in the making, including a lucrative contract with Pepsi, and was also banned from at least one country.
“It was a lot of stuff that has been lost because of that. I was banned out of Grand Cayman for five years. I have to go to Canada with a police record. I lost a Pepsi contract becaw mi did suppose to do a Pepsi commercial,” he revealed.
Papa San, whose given name is Tyrone Thompson, said that despite losing the endorsements, the demand for him to perform at stage shows globally never waned.
“Sharon Burke know about all these things because she was the manager at the time. The name get smeared – you couldn’t represent suppm with that kind of a name anymore. But it never stopped the flow of concerts and demands of the fans. It neva stop dat,” the I Will Survive artist said.
“It was tough because here you are yuh have a career at the time, you come outta poverty; I’ve been touring all over the world, from Japan all over this place and right inna di miggle a dat, dis happen. And we just leave Curacao from a major concert… so the pulling of the Caribbean was extremely big at the time,” he added.
Papa San was one of the hottest Dancehall artists of the late 80s and early 90s and is regarded as the genre’s most lyrical.
Papa San’s elder brother Dirtsman, was gunned down on December 21, 1993 by four assailants on his verandah in Spanish Town, St. Catherine. The deejay, whose given name was Patrick Thompson, was 27 years old at the time.
For months following his death, a distraught Papa San pleaded publicly to witnesses to come forward with any leads they had in relation to the murder. He even offered a monetary reward. However, no information was forthcoming.
Dirtsman, who had been recording since the mid-1980s was known for hits such as Thank You, which was produced by Steely and Clevie in 1989 and Hot This Year which was produced by Bobby Digital in 1991.
Among his other songs were Mi Gun Nah Stick in 1991 as well as Caan Flop and Galong Bad, which were released shortly before his untimely death.