Sadeke Brooks, STAR Writer

PQ, aka Dwayne Reid, says he created the Handicap song at the request of the Montego Bay female dancer HQ who created the dance. - Tashieka mair

When the 'handicap' dance was highlighted in The WEEKENDSTAR a few weeks ago there were persons who expressed disapproval against the dance.

However, the creator of the song has come out in its defence.

PQ, whose real name is Dwayne Reid, says he created the song at the request of the Montego Bay female dancer HQ who created the dance. PQ says he was at an event in Falmouth where she asked him to do a song to complement the dance.

A few lines from Handicap, which is featured on Don Corleone's Artillery Rhythm, says:

"Waah yuh stage name... handicap

An' mi tell dem mi nuh like it ... handicap

But when mi walk pon di road dem seh ... handicap"

Mere fun

According to PQ, both the song and the dance are done for mere fun. He says the dance was done for disabled people, as even when they walk they look as if they are dancing.

"Wi not mocking the retarded people, wi jus' giving them a dance for themselves," said PQ.

He explained that he would never want to demean anyone as he, too, has disabled relatives and friends. This feeling also comes from the fact that he has been called 'handicap' as result of the songeven when he is not onstage.

"I love all disabled people. What I am doing now is my dance. I am not mocking them. It's all about fun. I am not dissing them. I am only bigging them up," said PQ, who hails from Glendevon in St James.

Dancing difficulties

He says he realises that disabled people have difficulties when doing dances like 'Rum Ram', 'Tek Weh Yuhself' and 'Paper Bag'. So he suggested that disabled persons either do his dance or do the other dances which he is sure they cannot do.

"Yuh set yuh hand like it fin then yuh foot dem look disabled like when people have polo (poliomyelitis). Then yuh can pretty it up on the end," he said.

While some do not support the dance or the song, PQ says it is getting heavy rotation on both radio and local cable stations. He says the video is also on cable stations in Bahamas, Canada and Japan.