Dancehall Autopsy

sadmanbarty

Well-known member
Everyone's got a grasp on why the hardcore continuum pegged it, but what happened to dancehall?

When did it die?

What killed it?

Who's responsible?

How did this happen?

(It'd also be nice if someone says that it's in fact not dead and then posts a few nondescript tracks that they wrongly feel signify it's continued health and vibrancy)
 

luka

Well-known member
i dont keep up one bit i havent got a clue but im lsitening to some random soundcloud mix and 10 minutes in it sounds the bollocks still
some tunes a few years old but not ancient
 

droid

Well-known member
After years of tapping Jamaica's vein for fresh blood, US pop and rap just said fuck it and took the entire body.

This diluted essence was then dripped back, corrupting & destabilising the chemical balance of an island already reeling from the digital breakdown of traditional music distribution and irreparably damaging the influence ecology that had allowed dancehall to continually reinvent itself.
 

john eden

male pale and stale
I think it took a dive for a while around 2007 when everything was autotune and songs about dance routines.

But that's just my personal taste really, not an objective take on it.

After that I got very old and boring and camped out at Cafe OTO. so I have no idea what is going on bar the odd car going past and my daughter banging out tunes which seem to be dancehall inspired but are probably some new thing.

There is also an economic analysis worth pursuing. Around the same time the income people could make from JA music plummeted because people just downloaded it or bought knock off CDs from a man. Which could be a macro reason for the lack of innovation (whilst recognising how subjective that term is).
 

luka

Well-known member
i think i just like the form and the voices so much i'll just like anything with very little discernment or discrimination
 

john eden

male pale and stale
Great

Tony Matterhorn - Dutty Wine
Gyptian - Hold You
QQ - Take It To Them
Beenie Man - Rum and Redbull


Rubbish

Busy Signal - These Are The Days
Mavado - On The Rock

These are about the last tunes I actually know and I can't really be arsed looking into what I have missed. I think Hold You was 2010 so that would be when I ducked out.

After this Rodigan mainly stopped playing dancehall on his radio show too, which I think is interesting.
 
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john eden

male pale and stale
i think i just like the form and the voices so much i'll just like anything with very little discernment or discrimination

Yeah I agree - it just great to hear the odd bit of it now and again but I have no desire to find out more about it than that.
 

luka

Well-known member
rodigan was only playing soft stuff for many years before that tho and the soft stuff is the most boring stuff
 

luka

Well-known member
i was saying to barty my inlet was radio ragga fm station fm al that but i dont know if those stations stll exist and anyway i dont have a radio
 

CORP$EY

no mickey mouse ting
Ed Sheeran PWNned the whole genre by effortlessly dropping the biggest dancehall banger of the decade

The shame of being outflanked by a ginger from the home counties destroyed what pride the scene had left

Sad!
 

CORP$EY

no mickey mouse ting
The club isn't the best place to find a lover
So the bar is where I go
Me and my friends at the table doing shots
Drinking fast and then we talk slow
Come over and start up a conversation with just me
And trust me I'll give it a chance now
Take my hand, stop, put Van the Man on the jukebox
And then we start to dance, and now I'm singing like
 

sadmanbarty

Well-known member
i think i just like the form and the voices so much i'll just like anything with very little discernment or discrimination

I have a lot of sympathy for that. I'm actually loving the mix you posted. My qualm is if that mix had come out in 5 or 6 years ago it wouldn't sound of out of place. That wouldn't have been the case in dancehall before which was constantly evolving.
 

CORP$EY

no mickey mouse ting
Ehhh isn't Drake ripping off dancehall these days? Or Afrobeats, but afrobeats is something like african dancehall

And let's not forget Buju Sheeran who will be playing at Sting Festival this year with his accoustic guitar, effects pedal and phalynx of rastafarian flag-bearers
 

luka

Well-known member
one of the quirks of london is how africans took over the scene by making pastiche dancehall
 
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