REGGAE IS NOT DANCEHALL AND DANCEHALL IS NOT REGGAE

It is not uncommon to find people who cannot distinguish reggae music from dancehall music. Reggae music is a genre that is said to have originated in Jamaica in the 1960’s though I am reluctant to believe that it wasn’t in existance before that time. That is totally false.

The word “Reggae” could have been first used in the early1960’s but the music existed way long before that.

The genesis of dancehall music is tracked shortly after that and it is said to have formed shape in the late 1970’s and had passed through fast forms of change by the 1980’s with the introduction of seductive chants of the dancehall deejays—part talking, part singing a style that had been commonly used in hiphop and rap. This style of talking over or under a “Riddim” is said to have been an art orchestrated by west Africans in countries like Gambia, Ghana, and Nigeria and still exists as of today. Dancehall would later take on the airwaves by storm featuring songs smeared with political lyrics and revolutionary messages. That however didn’t last long as by the mid 80’s computer-generated rhythms mechanized and sped up the dancehall beat attracting many artists to join a market that was selling like a nyanyambisi rolex.(Ugandan delicacy consisting of an omelette and fresh tomatoes in a chapati wrap) That attracted waves of change. From the mid 1980s to the mid-1990s, slackness and gun talk dominated the lyrics of dancehall deejays and artists. This was when reggae completely fell out with dancehall music. Reggae music is built on the foundation of consciousness and one love. Reggea music is based on a cliff of strong lyrics that encourage positivity and oneness. No particular words can well describe the bedrock and basis upon which reggae music structures. But when the bass takes charge, and drums as part of the melody to create a piece of reggea music, one expects to be uplifted spiritually and conciously. It is there for inappropriate for media houses, DJ’s playing at all kinds of events, advertisers of concerts and music shows to promise their audience reggea music / reggae artists and in turn deliver dancehall music / artists. it would also be inappropriate to promise an audience dancehall music only to deliver Reggea music. One who is ready to dance and sweat might not be ready to consciously feed their soul with spirituality at that particular moment. And the reverse is atrocious and imaginable. Let Reggae be what it ought to be. And let Dancehall take its own shape. There must be a clear distinction of the two genres that have since seemed to part ways on account of lyrical content and general influence on mankind.

The genre “Reggae Dancehall” does not exist not only in my book but in real sense too. Even when many might not know this. However, the phrase could be used next time as a scapegoat phrase by whoever plans to have a Reggae theme but won’t deliver reggae. The word “Reggae” might be appealing in one’s hidden narrative. I&I shall therefore overstand what is cooking in advance and shall not have to write a blog the following morning.