Listen to this part 3: Intensity

luka

luka

Well-known member
droid said:
Having trouble articulating it actually. I guess I mean that if you are working in an environment where can say anything, then everyone will try and say the most shocking thing, and pretty soon, nothing is shocking - except restraint.
Click to expand...

Well, maybe. This is a question that has come up in art of all kinds over the last 100 years. I do firmly believe that the qualities you value in Jamaican lyricism are still intact though. It's not gone all crass and boorish. There's still lots of wit and cheek and charm and self awareness. Not to say there's not also stupid and objectionable things. Course there is.
 
T

thirdform

pass the sick bucket
luka said:
That doesn't sound totally mad and certainly there are plenty of people within Jamacia who feel dancehall has lost its identity but I think it's still unique. I don't think anyone else could make music like that and I don't thInk you could sell that music to a mass audience in America either. You might think it sounds American but I'm pretty sure it would sound weird and alien to them.
Click to expand...

Two words: Sean Paul.

He doesn't sound quintessentially Jamaican.

yes I know crowley talks about Terror Fabulous Action but that's an exception.

This isn't a diss of SP btw. it's just incontrovertibly true that his early 00s career played a huge part in internationalising dancehall. it's how stuff like Reggaeton and Latin Pop got popular in the middle east as well.
 
Last edited:
luka

luka

Well-known member
Sean Paul came out in the '90s. If he doesn't sound Jamaican who does he sound like? Don't answer that, I don't want to have the debate. I'm not in a debate club mood. Just bemused. I like Sean Paul. Gimme the light is all time. Infiltrate. Deport them.


Anyway doesn't matter.
 
T

thirdform

pass the sick bucket
luka said:
Sean Paul came out in the '90s. If he doesn't sound Jamaican who does he sound like? Don't answer that, I don't want to have the debate. I'm not in a debate club mood. Just bemused. I like Sean Paul. Gimme the light is all time. Infiltrate. Deport them.


Anyway doesn't matter.
Click to expand...

it's not a debate. it's just facts. and I love Sean Paul too. I'm not a nationalist. just observing a development. Infiltrate got played in my dads backyard Kurdish village for christ's sake.
He doesn't sound as rough and raw as bounty, buju or Spragga Benns. there's a Caribbean Latin thing to the way he presents his lyrics which made his stuff much more understandable to non-english speakers. noone would have a friggin clue what bounty killer was on about in Middle East.
 
Last edited:
luka

luka

Well-known member
Yeah Sean Paul was signed to Atlantic and ended up making music designed to cross over.
 
luka

luka

Well-known member
I'd just got back from a few years away. It was a pretty good time for dancehall. Light, breezy, fun stuff.
 
luka

luka

Well-known member
It's no secret. It's not some weird record no one likes either. It was a huge hit in the dancehall world and beyond. It's a record quite a lot of people like.
 
luka

luka

Well-known member
Never could have guessed there would be such a rabid anti Sean Paul faction. Didn't see it coming.
 
luka

luka

Well-known member
Gimme The Light a record which all of humanity loves and feels great fondness and Affection for is under attack. Is nothing sacred
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top