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Dancehall is a genre of Jamaican popular music that originated in the late 1970s. Initially, dancehall was a more sparse version of reggae than the roots reggae style, which had dominated much of the 1970s.Barrow, Steve & Dalton, Peter (2004) "The Rough Guide to Reggae, 3rd edn.", Rough Guides, This music genre wasn't officially named until the 1980s, when the two words Dance and Hall (referring to the common venue) were joined to form Dancehall, which was then promoted internationally for the first time. At that time digital instrumentation became more prevalent, changing the sound considerably, with digital dancehall (or "ragga") becoming increasingly characterized by faster rhythms. Key elements of dancehall music include its extensive use of Jamaican Patois rather than Jamaican English and a focus on the track instrumentals (or "").
Dancehall saw initial mainstream success in Jamaica in the 1980s; by the 1990s, it became increasingly popular in Jamaican diaspora communities. In the 2000s, dancehall experienced worldwide mainstream. By the 2010s, it began to heavily influence the work of established Western world artists and producers, which has helped to further bring the genre into the Western music mainstream.
They began in the late 1970s among lower and working-class people from the inner city of Kingston, who were not able to participate in dances uptown.Carolyn Cooper9781403964243 ISBN 9781403964243 Social and political changes in late-1970s Jamaica, including the change from the socialism government of Michael Manley (People's National Party) to Edward Seaga (Jamaica Labour Party), were reflected in the shift away from the more internationally oriented roots reggae towards a style geared more towards local consumption and in tune with the music that Jamaicans had experienced when sound systems performed live.
Themes of social injustice, repatriation and the Rastafari movement were overtaken by lyrics about dancing, violence and sexuality.. Though the revolutionary spirit was present in Jamaica due to this social upheaval, the radio was very conservative and failed to play the people's music. It was this gap that the sound system was able to fill with music that the average Jamaican was more interested in.
– Alongside this music was the addition of the fashion, art, and dance that came along with it. This made Dancehall both a genre, and a way of life.
In contrast to roots reggae, which aimed for respectability and international recognition, dancehall did not hesitate in dealing with the day-by-day realities and basal interests of the average Jamaican—especially that of lower classes—and observing society in a provocative, gritty, and often vulgar manner. Since this put spreading via radio out of the question, dancehall initially gained popularity only through live performances in sound systems and specialized record dealing.
Dancehall's violent lyrics, which garnered the genre much criticism since its very inception, stem from the political turbulence and gang violence of late 1970s Jamaica.
In the early days of dancehall, the prerecorded rhythm tracks (bass guitar and drums) or "dub" that the deejay would rap or "toast" over came from earlier reggae songs from the 1960s and 1970s. Ragga, specifically, refers to modern dancehall, where a deejay particularly toasts over digital (electrical) rhythms.
Krista Thompson's book Shine further expresses the experience of this trendsetting movement and how particularly women were able to confront gender ideologies to enact change. The use of video light specifically was a way to express oneself and seek visibility in the social sphere in order to be recognized as citizens in a postcolonial Jamaican society.
At the onset of the dancehall scene, sound systems were the only way that some Jamaican audiences might hear the latest songs from a popular artist. Through time, it transformed to where the purveyors of the sound systems were the artists themselves and they became whom the people came to see along with their own original sounds. With the extreme volume and low bass frequencies of the sound systems local people might very well feel the vibrations of the sounds before they could even hear them, though the sound itself did travel for miles.Natal, B. (2009). Dub echoes. Soul Jazz Records, 1. This visceral sensory pleasure acted as an auditory beacon, redefining musical experience.
Jamaica was one of the first cultures to pioneer the concept of remixing. As a result, production level and sound system quality were critical to Jamaica's budding music industry. Since many locals couldn't afford sound systems in their home, listening to one at a dance party or at a festival was their entry into audible bliss. Stage shows were also an entry for exposing artists to bigger audiences.
Writer Brougtton and Brewster's book Last Night a DJ Saved My Life states that sound systems were a product of Jamaican social lifestyle. The success of music wasn't just in the hands of one person anymore, it was a factor of the DJ, speaking poetic words to the audience, the Selector, harmonizing beats in an aesthetically pleasing way, and the Sound Engineer, wiring the sound systems to handle deeper and louder bass tones. Music became a factor of many elements and the physicality of that sound was a strategic puzzle left for musicians to solve.
Sound systems such as Killimanjaro, Black Scorpio, Silver Hawk, Gemini Disco, Virgo Hi-Fi, Volcano Hi-Power and Aces International soon capitalized on the new sound and introduced a new wave of deejays. The older toasters were overtaken by new stars such as Captain Sinbad, Ranking Joe, Clint Eastwood, Lone Ranger, Josey Wales, Charlie Chaplin, General Echo and Yellowman — a change reflected by the 1981 Junjo Lawes-produced album A Whole New Generation of DJs, although many went back to U-Roy for inspiration. He utilized talking over or under a "riddim" which is now known as the deejay's seductive chant, part talking and part singing. Deejay records became, for the first time, more important than records featuring singers. Another trend was sound clash albums, featuring rival deejays or sound systems competing head-to-head for the appreciation of a live audience, with underground sound clash cassettes often documenting the violence that came with such rivalries. Yellowman, one of the most successful early dancehall artists, became the first Jamaican deejay to be signed to a major American record label, and for a time enjoyed a level of popularity in Jamaica to rival Bob Marley's peak. Yellowman often incorporated sexually explicit lyrics into his songs, which became known as "slackness." He did this to address his radical opinions on society through sex and politics due to the failed Jamaican experiment of socialism while under Prime Minister Michael Manley.
The early 1980s also saw the emergence of female deejays in dancehall music, such as Lady G, Lady Saw, and Sister Nancy. Other female dancehall stars include artistes like Diana King and in the late 1990s to the 2000s Ce'cile, Spice, Macka Diamond and more. Beenie Man, Bounty Killer, Mad Cobra, Ninjaman, Buju Banton, and Super Cat becoming major DJs in Jamaica.
With a little help from deejay sound, "sweet sing" (falsetto voice) singers such as Pinchers, Cocoa Tea, Sanchez, Admiral Tibet, Frankie Paul, Half Pint, Courtney Melody, and Barrington Levy were popular in Jamaica.
Nearing the end of the 1980s, Jamaican Dancehall artists gained a lot of appeal through their no-nonsense music. This expanded the genre's reach beyond the Jamaica's borders. The main appeal of Dancehall was the music, and so it gained a lot of popularity overtime. Back in Jamaica hand-made posters were used not just to pull in would-be attendees to parties and dances. This process of making vibrant and colorful posters soon became an icon of the genre. It had helped in providing visual aesthetic of how Dancehalls had taken up the space and grown in the country.
King Jammy's 1985 hit, "Sleng Teng" by Wayne Smith, with an entirely-digital rhythm hook took the dancehall reggae world by storm. Many credit this song as being the first digital rhythm in reggae, featuring a rhythm from a digital keyboard. However, The "Sleng Teng" rhythm was used in over 200 subsequent recordings. This deejay-led, largely synthesized chanting with musical accompaniment departed from traditional conceptions of Jamaican popular musical entertainment.
Dub poetry Mutabaruka said, "if 1970s reggae was red, green and gold, then in the next decade it was gold chains". It was far removed from reggae's gentle roots and culture, and there was much debate among purists as to whether it should be considered an extension of reggae.
This shift in style again saw the emergence of a new generation of artists, such as Sean Paul, Capleton, Beenie Man and Shabba Ranks, who became famous ragga stars. A new set of producers also came to prominence: Philip "Fatis" Burrell, Dave "Rude Boy" Kelly, George Phang, Hugh "Redman" James, Donovan Germain, Bobby Digital, Wycliffe "Steely" Johnson and Cleveland "Clevie" Brown (aka Steely & Clevie) rose to challenge Sly & Robbie's position as Jamaica's leading rhythm section.
The faster tempo and simpler electronic beat of late-1980s and early-1990s dancehall greatly influenced the development of Reggae en Español.
Unlike earlier Dancehall, this new evolution was characterized by structures of music commonly heard in mainstream pop music, such as repeated choruses, melodic tunes, and hooks. Some lyrics were cleaner and featured less sexual content and profanity.
At this point it was a part of the public consciousness. Cross-genre collaborations soon became normalized, with songs such as Beyonce and Sean Paul's 2003 hit "Baby Boy" and Beenie Man and Mya's 2000 single "Girls Dem Sugar." Alongside this growth many crews were formed by men, women or a mixture of both. These crews created their own dances which developed fame in the Dancehall scene.
Some of the artists who popularised this new era of Dancehall were Bounty Killer, Beenie Man, Elephant Man, Shalkal Carty, Popcaan, Vybz Kartel, Konshens, Mr. Vegas, Mavado, Ward 21, Marion Hall and Spice, some of whom saw international success. This success brought forward mainstream appeal toward Dancehall which lead into the genre's modern era.
A variety of western artists have spoken of being inspired by Dancehall music, including Major Lazer, whose commercially successful singles Lean On (2015), Light It Up (2015) and Run Up (2017) all heavily rely upon dancehall music. Several hip-hop and R&B artists have also released material inspired by dancehall music, including Drake, who has cited Vybz Kartel as one of his "biggest inspirations."
In 2014, Drake took an interest into Popcaan and linked him up with MixPak producer Dre Skull to release his debut album 'Where We Come From'. This saw huge commercial success and went on to receive a UK MOBO award for Best Reggae Album in 2015. The year of 2016 saw Popcaan's rival-artist Alkaline release his debut album 'New Level Unlocked' under DJ Frass Records, which topped the charts in Jamaica, as well as being well received in the US and UK.
Popcaan and Alkaline have always been rival music artists in Jamaica and it is much debated who is the new Dancehall King, since Vybz Kartel was incarcerated in 2011. It has been said that Popcaan's success is largely due to early support from Vybz Kartel(KOTD) and more recent support from Drake.
By 2016, Dancehall had re-emerged into global popularity, artists such as Alkaline, Popcaan, Spice, Aidonia and Rygin King are known as some of the most profound and active artists of this period to date. There have also been prominent global collaborations with dancehall artist such as Beyonce & Shatta Wale's 'Already', Davido & Popcaan on 'Story', and Stefflon Don & French Montana on 'Hurtin' me'.
Since 2017, Dancehall artists from Jamaica have been frequently collaborating with UK acts such as Chip, Stefflon Don and J Hus. This is well in-tune with the boost of urban acts in the UK rising up, and the rebirth of Grime in 2014. The second coming of grime , The Guardian, 27 March 2014
In the late 2010s, a new wave of artists rose to popularity in Jamaica. These artists come from rural parishes, especially Montego Bay, outside of the commercial center of the Jamaican music industry. They are influenced by American trap music, and sometimes refer to in their lyrics. Some of the most popular artists in this style are Chronic Law, Rygin King, and Squash.
These practices' roots can be described with the concept of families of resemblance as coined by George Lipsitz in 1986 – similarities between other groups' experiences and cultures (Lipsitz, p. 160). Here, the term might describe the links between different artists via shared riddims and lyric sets and through common experiences incorporated into the music.
Kingsley Stewart outlines ten of the major cultural imperatives or principles that constitute the dancehall worldview. They are:
Such a drastic change in the popular music of the region generated an equally radical transformation in fashion trends, specifically those of its female faction. In lieu of traditional, modest "rootsy" styles, as dictated by Rastafari-inspired gender roles; women began donning flashy, revealing – sometimes X-rated outfits. This transformation is said to coincide with the influx of slack lyrics within dancehall, which objectified women as apparatuses of pleasure. These women would team up with others to form "modeling posses", or "dancehall model" groups, and informally compete with their rivals.
This newfound materialism and conspicuity was not, however, exclusive to women or manner of dress. Appearance at dance halls was exceedingly important to acceptance by peers and encompassed everything from clothing and jewelry, to the types of vehicles driven, to the sizes of each respective gang or "crew", and was equally important to both sexes.
One major theme behind dancehall is that of space. Sonjah Stanley Niaah, in her article "Mapping Black Atlantic Performance Geographies", says
In Kingston's Dancehall: A Story of Space and Celebration, she writes:
These same notions of dancehall as a cultural space are echoed in Norman Stolzoff's Wake the Town and Tell the People. He notes that dancehall is not merely a sphere of passive consumerism, but rather is an alternative sphere of active cultural production that acts as a means through which black lower-class youth articulate and project a distinct identity in local, national, and global contexts. Through dancehall, ghetto youths attempt to deal with the endemic problems of poverty, racism, and violence, and in this sense the dancehall acts as a communication center, a relay station, a site where black lower-class culture attains its deepest expression.Norman Stolzoff, Wake the Town and Tell the People: Dancehall Culture in Jamaica Durham: Duke UP, 2000. pp. 1 & 7. Thus, dancehall in Jamaica is yet another example of the way that the music and dance cultures of the African diaspora have challenged the passive consumerism of mass cultural forms, such as recorded music, by creating a sphere of active cultural production that potentially may transform the prevailing hegemony of society.Norman Stolzoff, Wake the Town and Tell the People: Dancehall Culture in Jamaica Durham: Duke UP, 2000. pp. 14–15
In Out and Bad: Toward a Queer Performance Hermeneutic in Jamaican Dancehall Nadia Ellis explicates the culture of combined homophobia and unabashed queerness within Jamaican dancehall culture. She details the particular importance of the phrase "out and bad" to Jamaica when she writes, "This phrase is of queer hermeneutical possibility in Jamaican dancehall because it registers a dialectic between queer and gay that is never resolved, that relays back and forth, producing an uncertainty about sexual identity and behavior that is usefully maintained in the Jamaican popular cultural context." In discussion of the possibility of a self identifying homosexual dancer performing to homophobic music she writes, "In appropriating the culture and working from within its very center, he produces a bodily performance that gains him power. It is the power or mastery, of parody, and of getting away with it."
Ellis not only examines the intersection of queerness and masculinity within the Jamaican dancehall scene, but suggests that the overt homophobia of certain dancehall music actually creates a space for queer expression. In general, homosexuality and queerness are still stigmatized in dancehalls. In fact, some of the songs used during dancehall sessions contain blatant homophobic lyrics. Ellis argues, however, this explicit, violent rhetoric is what creates a space for queer expression in Jamaica. She describes the phenomenon of all male dance groups that have sprung up within the dancehall scene. These crews dress in matching, tight clothing, often paired with makeup and dyed hair, traditional hallmarks of queerness within Jamaican culture. When they perform together, it is the bodily performance that give the homosexual dancers power.Ellis, Nadia, "Out and Bad: Toward a Queer Performance Hermeneutic in Jamaican Dancehall."
Kingsley Stewart points out that artists sometimes feel an "imperative to transcend the normal", exemplified by artists like Elephant Man and Bounty Killer doing things to stand out, such as putting on a synthetic cartoonish voice or donning pink highlights while constantly re-asserting hypermasculine attributes. Donna P. Hope argues that this trend is related to the rise of market capitalism as a dominant feature of life in Jamaica, coupled with the role of new media and a liberalized media landscape, where images become of increasing importance in the lives of ordinary Jamaicans who strive for celebrity and superstar status on the stages of dancehall and Jamaican popular culture.Donna P. Hope. Man Vibes: Masculinities in the Jamaican Dancehall. Kingston: Ian Randle Publishers, 2010
Another point of dissension of dancehall from reggae, and from its non-western roots in Jamaica, is on the focus on materialism. Dancehall has also become popular in regions such as Ghana and Panama. Prominent males in the dancehall scene are expected to dress in very expensive casual wear, indicative of European urban styling and high fashion that suggest wealth and status.Donna P. Hope "The British Link Up Crew – Consumption Masquerading as Masculinity in the Dancehall" in Interventions: International Journal of Postcolonial Studies Special Issue on Jamaican Popular Culture, 6.1: April, 2004, pp. 101–117. Since the late 1990s, males in the dancehall culture have rivalled their female counterparts to look fashioned and styled.Donna P. Hope Man Vibes: Masculinities in the Jamaican Dancehall. Kingston: Ian Randle Publishers, 2010 The female dancehall divas are all scantily clad, or dressed in spandex outfits that accentuate more than cover the shape of the body. In the documentary It's All About Dancing, prominent dancehall artist Beenie Man argues that one could be the best DJ or the smoothest dancer, but if one wears clothing that reflects the economic realities of the majority of the partygoers, one will be ignored, and later Beenie Man returned to perform as Ras Moses.
Adding to the concept of gunfire as theatrical element is the use of gunfire as a way to show support for a performing DJ or singer, which eventually gave way to flashing cigarette lighters, displaying glowing cellphone monitors, and igniting aerosol sprays. Gunfire as a form of cheering has extended beyond dancehall culture with the phrase "pram, pram!" becoming a general expression of approval or support.
However, Cooper's assessment of the presence of guns in Jamaican dancehall is not wholly uncritical, with a discussion of Buju Banton 'Mr. Nine' interpreting the song as a denouncement of what Cooper describes as gun culture gone out of control.
Part of the criticism of Jamaican dancehall appears to be the product of cultural clash stemming from a lack of insider knowledge on the nuances of the music's content and the culture surrounding said music. This struggle is something ethnomusicologists struggle with, even within an academic setting, with Bruno Nettl describing in The Study of Ethnomusicology how "insider" and "outsider" viewpoints would reveal different understandings on the same music. Indeed, Nettl later mentions growing questions of who ethnomusicological studies benefited, especially from the groups being studied. And even then, in May It Fill Your Soul, Timothy Rice mentioned that even insider scholars required a level of distanciation to scrutinize their own cultures as needed.
Some of the affected singers believed that legal or commercial sanctions were an attack against freedom of speech, often blaming racism, claiming that the response to their lyrics resulted from anti-black attitudes in the international music industry. However, many artists have over time apologized for their mistreatment of LGBTQ+ communities, particularly in Jamaica, and agreed to not use anti-gay lyrics nor continue to perform or profit off their previously anti-gay music. "Stop Murder Music" is/was a movement against homophobia in dancehall music. This movement actively targeted homophobia in dancehall music and was partially initiated by a controversial UK based group OutRage! and supported by the Black Gay Men's Advisory Group (UK based) and J-Flag (Jamaica based). It led to some dancehall artists signing the Reggae Compassionate Act. Dancehall artist Mista Majah P has created dancehall music more recently that celebrates and advocates for LGBTQ+ people.
Some artists agreed not to use anti-gay lyrics during their concerts in certain countries internationally because their concerts kept being protested and cancelled. However, some commentators claim this fails to address the most serious effects of the anti-gay lyrics in dancehall music, which are on the LGBTQ+ people of Jamaica, where this music is most present.
The Progressivism cultural critic Tavia Nyong'o argues that the criticism of homophobia in dancehall is simply an anti-black association of homophobia with blackness. At the same time, however, he argues that such criticism is still important to black communities, and that the international community acts as though it is not. To N'yongo, this represents an anti-black and anti-gay attitude that works to "erase" intersectional black LGBTQ+ identities.
Mista Majah P has claimed that artists who have never used anti-gay lyrics, and even write music advocating for gay rights, are often excluded from certain spaces due to the association between the genre and homophobia.
Dancehall music has had a significant and complex impact on many LGBTQ+ black people, particularly with connections to Jamaica, both in terms of cultural importance and at times deeply violent lyrics. This is demonstrated in the film "Out and Bad: London's LGBT Dancehall Scene" which discusses the experience of a group of LGBTQ+ black, and mostly Jamaican, people in London. Dancehall is important to their culture, both in connection with Jamaican heritage and in how social interactions are constructed around dance and music. However, the film discusses how many dancehall songs contain blatantly homophobic and transphobic lyrics. One interviewee comments, "we still enjoy ourselves to these kinds of music because what the rhythm of the music, the beat, the way the music makes us feel."
Scholars have theorized around the significance and meaning around the use of anti-gay lyrics in dancehall music. Donna P. Hope argues that dancehall culture's anti-gay lyrics formed part of a macho discussion that advanced the interest of the heterosexual male in Jamaica, which is a Christian society with strong Rastafari movement influence as well. Dancehall culture in Jamaica often included imagery of men dressing and dancing in a way stereotypically associated with gay-male style. However, the cultural, religious, and social gender-norms continued to advance the ideal man as macho and heterosexual, any divergence from this would be identified as inadequate and impure portraits of true masculinity.Donna P. Hope "From Boom Bye Bye to Chi Chi Man: Exploring Homophobia in Jamaican Dancehall, Culture", in Journal of the University College of the Cayman Islands (JUCCI), Volume 3, Issue 3, August 2009, pp. 99–121.Donna P. Hope. Man Vibes: Masculinities in Jamaican Dancehall. Kingston: Ian Randle Publishers, 2010.
Some authors have suggested that this duality, the presentation of "queerness," in dance style and dress, and the violent homophobia, in dancehall spaces can be explained by the ritualistic "doing away with 'homosexuality'." Scholar Nadia Ellis suggests that when songs with homophobic lyrics are played, the environment of dancehall spaces can become serious and individuals can use the opportunity to reinstate their allegiance to heteronormativity. These songs thus act to "consecrate" the spaces as straight and masculine. In the safety this ritualized hetero-normativity creates, the space may be opened to more free expression and participants can then more openly engage with styles and dancing that might have been seen as queer. Ellis writes: "The songs are played; no one is 'gay'; everyone can turn a blind eye."
The backlash to Banton's violently anti-gay "Boom Bye-Bye", and the reality of Kingston's violence which saw the deaths of deejays Pan Head and Dirtsman saw another shift, this time back towards Rastafari and cultural themes, with several of the hardcore slack ragga artists finding religion, and the "conscious ragga" scene becoming an increasingly popular movement. A new generation of singers and deejays emerged that harked back to the roots reggae era, notably Garnett Silk, Tony Rebel, Sanchez, Luciano, Anthony B and Sizzla. Some popular deejays, most prominently Buju Banton and Capleton, began to cite Rastafari and turn their lyrics and music in a more conscious, rootsy direction. Many modern dancehall Rasta artists identify with Bobo Ashanti.
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