Historical Texts...

Starting from the mid 80's and predominantly in the late 90's and 2000's Dancehall music has taken on a new persona, employing sexually explicit content, talk of violence and the creation of new dance moves, however things were different in the 1970's when the roots movement was in place.

Bob Marley's 'No Woman No Cry' released in 1974 was a major record of the decade and claimed worldwide exposure and success.

'No woman no cry

No woman no cry

Said - said - said: I remember when we used to sitIn the government yard in trenchtown,

Oba - obaserving the ypocrites

As they would mingle with the good people we meet.

Good friends we have, oh, good friends weve lost

Along the way.

In this great future, you cant forget your past;

So dry your tears, I seh.

I remember when we used to sitIn the government yard in trenchtown.

And then georgie would make the fire lights,

As it was logwood burnin through the nights.

Then we would cook cornmeal porridge,

Of which Ill share with you;

My feet is my only carriage,

So Ive got to push on through.

Everythings gonna be all right!

Everythings gonna be all right!'

The lyrics to one of the biggest Reggae songs of the 1970s not just in jamaica but on a worldwide scale, depicts the story of Bob Marley, it promotes a righteous message, addressing the poor political and economical state of the country at the time and delving into his religious beliefs and ethical morales to reassure and uplift people through music, quote 'Everythings gonna be all right!'

Another historicat text, that is more recent then the previous is Buju Banton's 'Boom bye bye' which was released in 1990 but is still one of the hottest tunes on a DJ's playlist. The songs outrageous lyrics calls for the shooting of homosexuals can clearly presents the artists disagreement with homosexuality. Similarly to the1970s hit by Bob Marley the song is a form of personal expression addressing current world issues, where Bob Marley addresses the poor political and economical state of Jamaica and offering an uplifting way out, Buju Banton addresses the boom of 'coming out' that had exploded during the late 80s and 90s and offered in from his own perspective a way out of this so called 'problem'.

However has the importance and purpose of the dancehall deejay been missused to promote Buju personal homophobic values in an attempt to persuade the rest of the world to think the same, to in effect; 'spread the message', to create reinforce a dominant ideology alreadt imprinted in the black community. Surely the freedom of speach that Bob Marley adopted was much fairer then the one taken upon by Buju Banton?

A short reminder of the lyrics to 'Boom bye bye'...

'Its like Boom bye bye

Inna batty bwoy head

Rude bwoy no promote no nasty man

Dem haffi dead'

A general picture of disaprovement at homosexuality can be gained just by skim reading 4 lines in the song that refers to homosexuals as nasty men, batty boys and ends with the words dead.

This was the breaking of the barrier, the innovative party seasons of the late 80s and the 90s lead to change in Dancehall, a cockyness about the genre emerged, deejays were saying and doing whatever they wanted and sex was the main thing on their agenda. A style of deejaying was created; slackness and it included 'ghetto violence' and the love of the 'splif' but was predominantly about the 'gyals dem', it didnt get as sexually explicit until the 2000 era however the love for women was a big topic for male dancehall deejay's but why?

The heavy influence of the USA on Jamaican music once again proved strong, as R'N'B and Hip Hop were booming in the music industry and Rappers like Snoop Dogg, Tupac, Biggie Smalls and even singers like R.Kelly were more often or not talking about women in their records, this was reflected in dancehall music, artists were becoming more famous and getting the most female attention they had ever seen, so the 'reality factor' that surrounds dancehall music surely allowed deejays to tell audiences about their new found interest in girls. This was a concept that would stick with Dancehall music to this very present day and reinforced the stereotypes that were given to black people by slave masters in the time of slavery as a very 'promiscous people'.

But what relevance does this have to Homophobia and homosexuality? Well it seems to be quite obvious doesnt it? With every big deejay on the circuit talking about the 'gyal dem', Shabba Ranks, Supercat, Nicodemus, Bounty Killer, Yellowman and Beenie Man' it was essential to keep up with the pace and to be the best deejay, you had to have to best lyrics and the most 'gyal dem'. This combined with the wider context of the 'coming out' phenomenon lead to deejays denouncing homosexuals to prove how manly they were, how different they were to homosexuals and how they were the ones that could please the 'gyal dem'. So the condemning of hoomosexuals began, but in addition the phenomenon of 'clashing' between dancehall deejays erupted onto the scene, with deejays having lyrical wars to prove who was the best and as this phase of masculinity was so important within the artists, it would be the 'ultimate diss' to call your rival deejay a 'batty bwoy' and getting one over on him, lyrically. So there you have it, the 'batty bwoy' phenomenon had begun.

More historical texts include Buju Banton's 'Batty Rider', Shabba Ranks 'Trailer Load A Girls' and 'Love Punaany Bad' are all major releases in the early 90's that summed up the sexual content that most deejays were promoting.

However the other dancehall deejay's such, mainly rastafari's such as Capleton were also speaking up about homosexuals. The rasts deejays provided most of the dancehall music explained poverty and politics and Jah and although they wid not talk about women and sex, they did condemn homosexuals and this is mainly down to the fact that they are a very religious people who have strong beliefs, as Capleton explains as justification for his lyrics 'Blood out di chi chi, bun out di chi chi' calling for the death of homosexuals he says 'it is his right and duty to speak out against issues that are abhorrent to the views of Rastafari', which also seems to be view of fellow deejay Buju Banton who released the controversial 'Boom bye bye'.