Commentary

A very thin line

GENIUS OFTEN GOES ridiculed and even relegated to the category of foolishness, which the society reserves for those whom it cannot understand.

As highlighted in today's entertainment lead story, deejay LA Lewis is one person whose essential brilliance is often dismissed as annoying and even a public nuisance. But consider this ­ he has managed to do all by himself what entertainers normally have to pay a small army of people to do for them ­ get himself known.

And LA Lewis' name, if not his music, is known not only by the hardcore music fan, but also the general public who would normally not be interested in a deejay.

In addition, he has managed to do all this without the leverage of a major hit song ­ or any song of note, for that matter.

LA Lewis is a good example of the unrefined genius of the Jamaican people. He is a one-man (at least, as he admits in today's publication, that is how he started out) advertising firm, using unconventional methods to achieve his aim.

When LA Lewis writes his name on a wall, it is no more or less an eyesore than the politically related graffiti that litters Kingston's streets. And it is certainly far less dangerous, because LA Lewis is not involved in any clashes which have reached the public eye.

There is a thin line between a creative person 'making it' and not, a distinction that often comes through training and direction. LA Lewis, like many Jamaicans, has ideas and a goal, but not the wherewithal and the guidance to, as Bob Marley would say, turn his visions to reality.

It is a failing we as a society need to address, as too many of our untrained geniuses are crossing another thin line ­ the one into lawlessness.