Some Dancehall resources and the music of Yellowman...
Bob Marley probably remains the central gateway to the rich world of Jamaican music. He was certainly the first Jamaican artist I heard, and I weirdly have to credit the soundtracks of the games GTA 3, GTA: Vice City and GTA: San Andreas for further introducing me to some of the biggest names in reggae, dub and dancehall. Seriously, do check out the K-Jah West soundtrack from San Andreas if you haven't. Such a nice selection. GTA 3 simply featured the Scientist dub album Scientist Rids the World of the Evil Curse of the Vampires, which is also one of my favorites.
Anyway, I've been exploring the Jamaican dancehall genre more this summer -- seeking out tracks I've heard in past mixes from the likes of Paris DJs and indeed trying to get a good handle on what dancehall really is. While great artists tend to defy genre trappings anyway, it is helpful to situate it as post-roots reggae style that emerged out of the late 1970s and achieved mainstream success in the 80s and 90s before exploding worldwide in the 2000s.
Your best move, however, isn't to ready what I have to say about it, but to listen to the music itself. Fortunately, Pitchfork put out an excellent list in 2017: The 50 Best Dancehall Songs of All Time -- and they created a playlist to accompany it. I highly recommend it.
There's a lot of great music in there, though I have to admit that dancehall legend Yellowman stands out as one of my absolute favorites. Here's his classic track Strong Me Strong:
Yellowman is still active today, but his output from the 70s and 80s features some amazing work -- including his 1983 hit Zungguzungguguzungguzeng:
He's just a bawdy wizard of slackness. But Yellowman is just one of the many standout artists in the history of dancehall. I encourage you to jump in, explore and find some sounds that speak to you.
Dancehall and Murder Music
Now, one of the complicated bits about the dancehall genre is its longstanding relationship with homophobic lyrical content -- and even allegations of "murder music" that encourages homophobic violence. I can't do the subject justice in this post, but I've been wrestling with it personally as I explore the genre. As a person of LGBTQ identity, I obviously don't want to support homophobic speach, but its often hard for western ears to pick up on the key slang and the roots of the problem are historic and cultural. Plus, some of the more notorious tracks are also absent on major websites, so you're even less likely to hear some of it.
The Stop Murder Music initiative seems to have made headway over the years, but it has its critics -- and some of it boils down to changes that only effect artist output in European or American markets. Meanwhile, Jamaican organizations like J-FLAG are working for LGBTQ rights IN Jamaica. As far as I can tell, the organization is not currently accepting international donations, but I feel like supporting this organization is a great idea for anyone who feels conflicted over this. The Murder in the Dancehall website provides a great deal of information on the topic, as does this Southern Poverty Law Center article from 2010. I suppose I'm still educating myself about the issue, avoiding some of the more egregious and seemingly unrepentant offenders, but enjoying the musical output of others. There are some great ongoing discussions to be found on Reddit. And to be clear, there's plenty of dancehall that doesn't focus on homophobia and violence. But it's good to be aware.
Let's leave it on a positive note, though. Here's the most iconic dancehall song of all time, Bam Bam by Sister Nancy from 1973 -- one of the tracks that started it all:
Such a great track...
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