Dancehall is a type of music from Jamaica that started in the late 1970s. At first, it was a simpler version of reggae compared to the roots style, which was popular in the 1970s. The name "Dancehall" was not used until the 1980s, when the words "Dance" and "Hall" (which refers to places where people dance) were combined. This name was then shared with people around the world for the first time. During this time, electronic instruments became more common, which changed the sound of the music. A faster style of dancehall, called "ragga," became more popular. Important parts of dancehall music include the use of Jamaican Patois instead of standard English and a focus on the instrumental parts of songs, called "riddims."

Dancehall first became popular in Jamaica during the 1980s. By the 1990s, it was widely enjoyed by Jamaican communities living outside of Jamaica. In the 2000s, dancehall became well-known worldwide. By the 2010s, it influenced many well-known Western musicians and producers, helping it gain more attention in Western music.

History

Dancehall is named after Jamaican dance halls where popular Jamaican music was played by local sound systems. It refers to both the music and the dance style. It faced criticism for negatively influencing Jamaican culture and for showing gangster lifestyles in a positive way.

Dancehall music, also called ragga, is a type of Jamaican popular music that began in the late 1970s during a time of political change in Jamaica. It became the most popular music in Jamaica during the 1980s and 1990s. It was first called Bashment music when dance halls started to become more popular.

Dancehall began in the late 1970s among lower and working-class people in the inner city of Kingston, who could not join dances in wealthier areas. Social and political changes in late-1970s Jamaica, including the change from the socialist government of Michael Manley (People's National Party) to Edward Seaga (Jamaica Labour Party), led to a shift from internationally focused roots reggae to music that focused more on local interests and the music people heard at live sound system performances.

Themes of social justice, repatriation, and the Rastafari movement were replaced by lyrics about dancing, violence, and sexuality. Though there was a revolutionary spirit in Jamaica due to these changes, radio stations were conservative and did not play the music that most Jamaicans wanted to hear. Sound systems filled this gap by playing music that was more popular with the average person. Along with the music came new styles of fashion, art, and dance, making Dancehall both a music genre and a way of life.

Unlike roots reggae, which aimed for respectability and international recognition, dancehall openly addressed the daily lives and basic interests of lower-class Jamaicans. It often described society in a bold, rough, and sometimes vulgar way. Because radio stations would not play this music, dancehall first became popular through live performances at sound system events and through selling records.

Dancehall's violent lyrics, which caused criticism from the start, came from the political unrest and gang violence in late-1970s Jamaica.

In the early days of dancehall, the recorded rhythm tracks (bass guitar and drums), called "dub," that deejays rapped or "toasted" over came from older reggae songs from the 1960s and 1970s. Ragga, a modern form of dancehall, uses digital rhythms for deejays to rap over.

Sound systems and other musical technology greatly influenced dancehall music. The music was needed to reach people who did not have radios, as many Jamaicans were outside without them. Over time, dancehall music spread into the streets. Because the audience for dancehall events was often lower-class people, it was important that they could hear music. Sound systems allowed people to listen to music without owning a radio, helping the dancehall culture grow as technology improved.

The Jamaican dancehall scene began with creativity and a focus on making music accessible. The term "Dancehall" now refers to a specific type of Jamaican music, but it originally meant a physical location. This location was an open-air venue where DJs and later "Toasters" (a precursor to MCs) performed their original mixes and songs for audiences using sound systems. The open space and mobile nature of sound systems allowed performers to bring music to people. Inner city communities gathered for fun and celebration, creating a vibrant and trendsetting movement.

Krista Thompson’s book Shine describes how the dancehall movement helped women challenge gender ideas and bring change. The use of video lights was a way for people to express themselves and gain recognition in postcolonial Jamaican society.

At the start of the dancehall scene, sound systems were the only way for some Jamaicans to hear the latest songs from popular artists. Over time, the people who ran sound systems became the artists themselves, and people came to see them perform their own music. The loud volume and deep bass of sound systems allowed people to feel the vibrations of the music before hearing it, even though the sound could travel for miles. This sensory experience redefined how music was enjoyed.

Jamaica was one of the first cultures to use remixing, which involves changing music to create new versions. Because of this, the quality of music production and sound systems was important for Jamaica’s growing music industry. Many locals could not afford sound systems at home, so attending dance parties or festivals was their way to enjoy music. Stage shows also helped artists reach larger audiences.

Writer Brougtton and Brewster’s book Last Night a DJ Saved My Life explains that sound systems were part of Jamaican social life. The success of music depended on many people: the DJ, who spoke poetic words to the audience; the Selector, who arranged beats in an appealing way; and the Sound Engineer, who connected sound systems to produce deeper and louder bass. Music became a combination of many elements, and the physical experience of sound became a challenge for musicians to solve.

If you look at the archives of the Jamaica Gleaner newspaper, you can see that there was a venue called "the lawns" where music was played. The style of the rhythms was different from what was called "Reggae" and had no name until Michael Tomlinson, head of InnerCity Promotions, and Lois Grant, his partner, held an event that changed the culture. Before this event, the phrase "Dance And Hall" was used in Jamaican language, but it described the venue, not the music. Through a series of concerts, they labeled the music "DanceHall" and created a platform for artists to be seen and heard. Starting in 1982, the team launched a series called "Saturday Nite Live" at Harbour View Drive-In, featuring Jamaican artists and a U.S. soul group. In 1983, Gladys Knight & the Pips headlined the first concert, which also included boxing presentations by Muhammad Ali. These events were so successful that the name "DanceHall" was officially launched. InnerCity Promotions helped establish the music’s recognition as a genre. Mr. Tomlinson’s work was important because he created space for a new art form to develop. The journey faced opposition from people who wanted to control entertainment spaces, including journalists, radio, and TV managers, who refused to promote the DanceHall series. The series continued into the early 1990s, with Michael "Savage" Tomlinson and Lois Grant playing a key role in supporting young talents from the inner city and sound system culture. Through their DanceHall live concerts, they helped shape the music’s future.

Musical characteristics

Jamaican dancehall music has three main features: the use of digital instruments, such as the Casio Casiotone MT-40 electronic keyboard and the Oberheim DX drum machine, the use of riddims, which are instrumental backgrounds to which lyrics are added, and the process of creating songs by combining these separate parts. Specifically, many riddims are made using digital instruments like the MT-40. This practice became popular in 1985 with the release of the song "Under Mi Sleng Teng," which showed how widely digitally created riddims could be used (Manuel-Marshall, p. 453).

A single riddim can be used in multiple songs with different lyrics. Likewise, the same set of lyrics can be paired with different riddims. Riddims and lyric sets are not owned by any one artist and are shared among musicians. For example, the riddim "Real Rock," first recorded in 1967 for a song of the same name, was used in at least 269 songs by 2006 over 39 years. In 2006, Peter Manuel and Wayne Marshall noted that most songs used one of about a dozen popular riddims, except for songs by individual, high-profile artists. In dancehall music, vocals are often recorded over riddims. Modern dancehall adds vocals to repeating musical patterns, called ostinatos, so the DJs who provide the vocals "carry the song," unlike older dancehall, where vocals were mixed with full songs.

The origins of these practices can be explained using the idea of "families of resemblance," a concept introduced by George Lipsitz in 1986. This idea refers to similarities between the experiences and cultures of different groups (Lipsitz, p. 160). In dancehall, this might describe how artists are connected through shared riddims, lyric sets, and common experiences reflected in their music.

Culture

Donna P. Hope describes dancehall culture as a place where people create and share symbols and ideas that reflect the lives of those who participate, especially people from inner cities in Jamaica. Dancehall culture gives both the creators of the culture and the people who enjoy it a chance to control how they are shown to others, challenge usual power relationships, and have some control over their cultural, social, and political lives.

Kingsley Stewart lists ten important ideas that shape the dancehall culture. These are:

• It combines beliefs about God and Haile Selassie.
• It helps people relieve stress and feel better physically and mentally.
• It provides a way for people to improve their economic situations.
• Taking the fastest way to achieve something is important.
• The goal is more important than the methods used to reach it.
• It tries to make things that are hidden visible.
• Things that can be seen outside the body are more important than things inside the mind.
• How a person looks is carefully created and shown to others.
• A person’s ideal self changes over time and is not fixed.
• It encourages people to go beyond what is considered normal.

This change in music led to big changes in fashion, especially for women. Instead of wearing traditional, modest clothing as encouraged by Rastafari ideas, women began wearing bright, revealing outfits. This change happened around the same time that dancehall music included lyrics that treated women as objects for pleasure. These women formed groups called "modeling posses" or "dancehall model" teams and competed with other groups.

This focus on showing off wealth and appearance was not only for women. At dancehalls, how people looked was very important for being accepted by others. This included clothing, jewelry, the type of car someone drove, and the size of their group or "crew." This was important for both men and women.

A major idea in dancehall is the concept of space. Sonjah Stanley Niaah writes in her article "Mapping Black Atlantic Performance Geographies" that dancehall is a place where people express themselves. In her book "Kingston's Dancehall: A Story of Space and Celebration," she explains that dancehall is a space where people share culture. Norman Stolzoff writes in "Wake the Town and Tell the People" that dancehall is not just a place for people to passively enjoy music, but an active space where young Black people create culture and express their identity locally, nationally, and globally. Through dancehall, people from poor communities try to deal with problems like poverty, racism, and violence. In this way, dancehall becomes a place where Black culture is strongly expressed. Dancehall shows how music and dance in the African diaspora challenge the idea that people should just passively consume culture, instead creating their own.

Nadia Ellis discusses the mix of homophobia and queer expression in Jamaican dancehall culture. She explains that the phrase "out and bad" is important because it shows the ongoing tension between being queer and being gay, which creates uncertainty about sexual identity. She also writes that even though some dancehall music is homophobic, this can create space for queer people to express themselves. She describes groups of men who dress in matching, tight clothing, use makeup, and dye their hair—features often linked to queerness in Jamaica. These groups perform together, and their physical actions give queer dancers power.

Dancehall has also influenced dance moves that make parties and performances more energetic. Dancing is a key part of bass culture genres. As people felt the music in crowded dancehall venues, they created many different dances. Later, dancehall artists began writing songs that either invented new dances or made existing moves more formal. Many dances seen in hip hop videos are variations of dancehall moves. Examples include: "Like Glue," "Bogle," "Whine & Dip," "Tek Weh Yuhself," "Whine Up," "Shake It With Shaun" (a mix of genres), "Boosie Bounce," "Drive By," "Shovel It," "To Di World," "Dutty Wine," "Sweep," "Nuh Behavior," "Nuh Linga," "Skip to My Lou," "Gully Creepa," "Breakdancing," "Bad Man Forward Bad Man Pull Up," "Keeping it Jiggy," "Pon Di River," "One Drop," "Whine & Kotch," "Bubbling," "Tic Toc," "Willie Bounce," "Wacky Dip," "Screetchie," "One Vice," and "Daggering."

Criticisms

Dancehall music mixes ideas about material things and stories about the difficulties people in Jamaica face. This is shown in how some artists, like Buju Banton and Capleton, use gun-related words in their songs, or how other artists, such as Mavado and Munga, wear expensive jewelry. The term "Gangsta Ras" combines images of toughness with Rastafari culture. Some Rastafari critics say this mix has made Rastafari beliefs less clear and less important in dancehall music.

Kingsley Stewart explains that some artists feel a strong need to do things that stand out, like Elephant Man and Bounty Killer, who use unusual voices or bright pink hair while showing strong, masculine traits. Donna P. Hope says this trend is connected to the influence of market capitalism in Jamaica and the growing importance of media, where images help people in Jamaica gain attention and become famous in dancehall and popular culture.

Dancehall differs from reggae and from traditional Jamaican music by focusing more on material things. It is also popular in places like Ghana and Panama. In dancehall, men are expected to wear expensive, casual clothes that look like styles from Europe, showing wealth and status. Since the late 1990s, men in dancehall have competed with women to look stylish. Female dancehall artists often wear tight, revealing outfits that highlight their bodies. In the documentary It's All About Dancing, artist Beenie Man says that even if someone is a great DJ or dancer, wearing clothes that do not match the economic situation of most people at a party might make them ignored. Later, Beenie Man performed again as Ras Moses.

Carolyn Cooper, in her 2004 book Sound Clash, notes that dancehall music has been criticized for using gun and violence themes in songs. She argues that these references are more about showing power than showing real violence. This connects to the idea of the "badman," a strong and rebellious figure who uses a gun to show respect and fear. Cooper says these ideas come from historical resistance to slavery and from copying movies, especially North American action films with characters who use guns.

The use of gun sounds in dancehall has also become a way for audiences to support performers. This led to people flashing lighters, showing glowing phone screens, or using spray cans to create light. The phrase "pram, pram!" has become a general way to show approval.

Cooper does not completely support the idea of guns in dancehall music. She discusses Buju Banton’s song "Mr. Nine," which she sees as a warning about gun culture becoming too extreme.

Some criticism of dancehall comes from people who do not fully understand the music or its culture. Scholars like Bruno Nettl have written about how people inside and outside a culture might see the same music differently. Nettl also questions who benefits from studying music. Timothy Rice, in May It Fill Your Soul, says even people who are part of a culture need to step back to study it properly.

After Buju Banton’s song "Boom Bye Bye" became popular in the 1990s, dancehall music faced criticism from international groups because of anti-gay lyrics. Some artists had their concerts canceled, and some were investigated by groups like Scotland Yard for lyrics that encouraged violence against gay people. For example, Buju Banton’s 1993 song "Boom Bye Bye" promotes violence against gay people. Another example is T.O.K.’s song "Chi Chi Man," which encourages the killing of gay men and women.

Some artists believed that being punished for their lyrics was an attack on free speech, often blaming racism in the international music industry. Over time, many artists apologized for their anti-gay lyrics and agreed to stop using them. A movement called "Stop Murder Music" aimed to reduce homophobia in dancehall music. It was started by a UK group called OutRage! and supported by groups in the UK and Jamaica. Some artists signed the Reggae Compassionate Act. Recently, artist Mista Majah P has created music that supports LGBTQ+ people.

Some artists stopped using anti-gay lyrics in certain countries because their concerts were protested and canceled. However, some people say this does not fix the harm caused to LGBTQ+ people in Jamaica, where dancehall music is most popular.

Tavia Nyong'o, a cultural critic, argues that criticizing homophobia in dancehall music is sometimes linked to anti-black attitudes. He says this criticism is still important for Black communities, even if the international community ignores it. He believes this attitude tries to erase the identities of Black LGBTQ+ people.

Mista Majah P says that artists who never used anti-gay lyrics or support gay rights are sometimes excluded from dancehall spaces because of the genre’s connection to homophobia.

Dancehall music has had a big and complex effect on many LGBTQ+ Black people, especially those connected to Jamaica. This is shown in the film Out and Bad: London's LGBT Dancehall Scene, which talks about how a group of LGBTQ+ Black people in London enjoy dancehall music for its rhythm and beat, even though many songs have openly homophobic and transphobic lyrics. One person in the film says, "we still enjoy ourselves to these kinds of music because [what matters to us is] the rhythm of the music, the beat, the way the music makes us feel."

Scholars have studied the meaning of anti-gay lyrics in dancehall music. Donna P. Hope says these lyrics are part of a larger discussion about masculinity in dancehall culture.

Women's message of power and control

Dancehalls are used to show messages about women's strength and control in protests against how women are treated in Jamaican culture. Danger, a dancehall queen and winner of the International Dancehall Queen Competition in 2014, shares how she uses dancehalls to show her strength. She says, "We are queens. We are not afraid to do what we want, ask for what we need, and live the way we choose. We represent women worldwide and show others it's okay to be themselves and not hold back." Raquel, also called Dancing Princess, explains how she uses dancehall to share her experiences. She says, "Put your life and feelings into the dance. That's what dance is—using your body to show how you feel and who you are. Dancehall is how women say, 'No, I am a woman. Respect me.'" These examples show that dancehall gives women a place to feel strong and express their freedom from limits others have set for them. By making their own choices, controlling their bodies, and showing their strength, women in dancehall ask for respect from people who don't think they deserve it.