Talking about Jamaican music, maybe many people will be associated with reggae music, which can be considered as the popular music of Jamaican people during the 20th century. However, since the 1980s, reggae music is started to replace with the new emerged music from the deejay artists. Yes, this is dancehall music, or ragga, or dub, the new wave of popular music in Jamaica. This new genre becomes well known in Jamaica during the 1990s, and skyrocketed worldwide during the 2000s and achieve mainstream success. This is the starting line of the dancehall influences in western deejay artists. However, the history of dancehall music started more than 60 years ago, to be specific, around the 1940s.
Dancehall music is firstly developed around the end of the 1940s in rural areas near the Kingston city center, mainly created by the people who cannot attend the dance clubs. Who knows that this kind of lower-class people music becomes one of the faces of Jamaican popular music now, right? It started to alter during the 1970s when there are political turmoil and shifts from socialist-oriented to the government who supported the labor movement. After these governmental changes, the dancehall appears and disseminated throughout Jamaica and become famous. During this era, Sugar Minott becomes the pioneer of the later-called dancehalls music, with some of his works, for example: Live Loving. Vanity, Roof over My Head, and Jah Jah Children. If Sugar Minott can be considered as the pioneers, then Yellowman must be one of the most successful musicians in early dancehall eras. He is also known for his lecherous and lustful lyrics which are inserted in his songs. Yellowman's aims for his sexual lyrics creations are no other for criticizing the failure of socialism implementations during the 1970s. Also, Yellowman even becomes the first Jamaican DJ who obtained the contract with a major American label, and hence, he gained massive popularity within Jamaican citizens.
During the early 21st century, Jamaican dancehall becomes widely known not only in Jamaica but also in the United States and Europe. Thanks to the hard work of Sean Paul, one of his works entitled Get Busy, become the first single in dance hall single to get in the US Billboard Hot 100, even the song obtained the no.1! During this period, the form differs from the predecessors, as most of the dancehall music utilized the melodic structure similar to mainstream pop songs. The notable artist during this era is Beenie Man, who proclaimed himself as the ‘King of the Dancehall.’ The result is, the veteran dancehall artist Yellowman criticizes his self-proclamation. After the vast popularity of dancehall, many western artists utilize the dancehall style for their singles. For example, Work from Rihanna and Drake’s songs such as Controlla and One Dance. The popularity of dancehall re-appeared during 2016, with Popcaan, Alkaline, and Aidonia as one among the best musicians.
During this era, dancehall has become one of the renown Jamaican popular genres which already gained popularity worldwide. The artists that I mentioned can be considered as the best, which contributes toward the development of dancehall during decades. You can start listening to Sugar Minott and Yellowman as the introduction before exploring more. Happy listening!
