1st Draft...

“Reggay Boyz” [1] To what extent and why is contemporary Reggae music being used to promotes homophobic attitudes?

Homophobia has always been a “dominant ideology”[2] within the black community, with the slightest mentioning of homosexuality invoking sour faces and harsh words it’s no surprise that young black males are using their power and influence as musical artists to promote their own perspectives on the issue through the vessel known as the increasingly popular Reggae hybrid, Dancehall. However with songs such as Elephant Mans log on, Buju Bantons Boom bye bye and Capleton’s Bun out di chi chi all calling for the death of homosexuals surely these artists are conforming with the “Hypodermic Needle Model created by the Frankfurt School of theorists”[3], taking advantage of passive audiences who fall victim to “cultural homogenisation”[4] as they are being injected the homophobic attitudes of the dancehall artists.

“Dancehall, the scion of reggae”[5] and its creators are being “banned from the UK and threatened with prosecution under the public order act, for inciting hatred and solicit ting murder”[6]. Sizzla and Beenie Man, two of Dancehalls biggest stars have demonstrated prejudice and discrimination in their gay bashing lyrics and as the international exposure of dancehall increases and their fan base grows more and more people will adopt their ideologies and reflect them in their own personal values, resulting in the “widespread cultural bias against homosexuals and bisexuals”[7].

Homophobia as a dominant, worldwide ideology would lead to the alienation of homosexuals, which would lead to a “pathological situation of internal violence”[8] within society, which at its extreme often results in war. This shows the importance of censorship and a case where letting the high authorities control the media we consume a positive thing, as it intercepts a possibly damaging message reaching passive audiences. Outrage! And numerous other Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transsexual (LBGT) rights groups have taken major roles in discouraging the masses from consuming homophobic Dancehall artists, however its appeal seems to be irresistible. Its popularity seems to come from its associated rave culture and enthusiastic characteristics of the artists performing it.

So why are the black males who create this unique sound jeopardising their status as influential figures on mass audiences, by promoting anti homosexual attitudes? Why does dancehall have to be different to Pop and similar to Hip-Hop in the respects that it advocates violence towards homosexuals? It is not coincidental that the music genres that have been under criticism for “gay bashing”[9] lyrics are predominantly black industries. What is the link between black people and homophobia? Why does this particular community, generally hold so much hostility towards LGBTs.

“The Other”[10] theory seems to provide us with one interpretation of an answer to this question. ‘The Other’ is based on personal preference where an individual decides on their demographic and what makes them the person they are and anyone who opposes those certain characteristics can be classed as the other. Similar to “Levi Strauss’s theory on binary opposition”[11], the other is your complete opposite, everything you wish not to be. This results in one group opposing the other, putting them down, discriminating against them, showing hatred towards them, creating and reinforcing any stereotypical beliefs the group may have of them. In the case of black dancehall artists opposing homosexuals, the theory seems to fit as the, sexually confident yet extravagant alpha males of dancehall obtain stereotypically ‘fairy-like’, extrovertly gay characters as their opposite, their ‘Other’.

Furthermore “Ashis Nandy’s South Asian Cultural studies”[12], when referred to in the context of the black community offers evidence for creation of homosexuals as the other. Nandy’s theory addresses the dehumanisation of the colonisers and the brutalisation of the colonised, which reinforce the views of many that the reason behind the black community’s homophobia is slavery and colonialism. It can be implied that the black male slaves who were involved in both original slavery and the suppression the British empire were brutalised and reversed in personality, stripped of their original “sensitive masculinity”[13] characteristics: religious, intelligent, tender and caring men content with their sexuality and turned into males that projected over exaggerated, brutish characteristics known as “hegemonic masculinity”[14], which has been a character trait of the black male that has been passed on over generations and is now considered the common attitude of a black male concerning his sexuality. The characteristics concerning masculinity had been reversed due to cultural imperialism. The now stereotypically broad, hegemonic masculinity based black male has an other that is tender and caring displaying sensitive masculinity and the characteristics of a man described ‘in touch with their feminine side’, men who are often considered or questioned as homosexuals.

A completely contrasting interpretation as to why the majority of the black community carry such homophobic attitudes is based on the stereotype of black people being very strong in their religious beliefs. The majority of the black community is divided into to core religious faiths, Islam and Christianity, both religions strongly oppose homosexuality and the importance of these religions in the lives of black people is shown by the objection towards homosexuality in the black community.

In addition to the concept of the other, Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytic studies also offer an explanation for the objection for the objection of homosexuality by males. “The Projection theory”[15] works in unison with the other concept and suggests that the characteristics we oppose and dislike about the other can be often found within ourselves, implying a subconscious hypocrite who projects hatred at the characteristics they hold, onto others holding similar characteristics. This displays relevance to Nandy’s cultural studies and black male homophobia as the original sensitive masculinity aligned with the black males before colonialism and brutalisation has been subconsciously kept by the black male and is now being used to project hatred to homosexuals, holding similar characteristics.

Exploring the depths of masculinity also provides evidence for the celebration of the heterosexual and the condemnation of the homosexual in society. “Publicly defining oneself as heterosexual seems to be a means to male legitimacy”[16]. The sexually explicit content of dancehall deejays with lyrics such as “pump up her pum pum”[17] objectifying women seems to advertise this so called badge of “male legitimacy”[18]. The parading of the badge in Dancehall started in the late 80’s and early 90’s, where dancehall carried a certain cockiness about it, 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 its content included “ghetto violence”[19] and the “love of the spilff”[20] but was predominantly about the “gyals dem”[21].

“Americanisation”[22], America’s hegemonic dominance in the music industry proved yet again to be a major influence on Jamaican music. Where jazz played its part in the creation of Ska, Hip-Hop was partly responsible for the birth of the “slackness”[23] period in dancehall. Hip-Hop artists such as Snoop Dogg, Tupac Shakur, Biggie Smalls and even RnB artists such as R. Kelly were more often or not sexually objectifying women in their records, which were then inevitably reflected in Dancehall music. As dancehall expanded in popularity, the male dominated genre and its artists started acquiring more female attention and with the reality factor attached to dancehall, artists started to focus their lyrics on their new found experience of ‘groupies’ and females in general. This stigma has stuck with dancehall to the present day.

With big deejays on the dancehall scene, like ‘Supercat, Nicodemus, Bounty Killer, Yellow Man and Shabba Ranks all talking about the ‘gyal dem’, the only way to be the best deejay was to have the best lyrics and of course parade your badge of masculinity by having the most females. However the objectification of women was not enough, with the explosion of homosexuality and the “coming out”[24] phenomenon deejays found a new way to display their hegemonic masculinity, the discrimination of homosexuals through their lyrics. Deejays would target homosexuals for abuse and distinguish how different they were from homosexuals and how they were the only real men around as they could satisfy a woman’s sexual needs. So the condemning of homosexuals began, but at the same time deejays were lyrically challenging each other to showcase their talent and become the best in the industry, this was known as “clashing”[25] and at a time where masculinity was so important within the artists community it would be the ultimate diss to call your rival deejay a batty bwoy and gain an advantage over him in the lyrical war.

However the birth of slackness was not solely to blame for dancehall promoting homophobic attitudes. As many Dancehall deejays are practising Rastafarianism, they take their religion extremely seriously and as Capleton argues to justify his lyrics “Blood out di chi chi, bun out di chi chi”[26] 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“[27] even if that means to condemn homosexuals. In a way, Capleton’s statement links to the “Proppian Hero/Villain theory”[28]. In Dancehall, the artists are portrayed as the heroes using their power and influential voices to exterminate the homosexuals who are seen as the villains. The artists can then further be seen taking on the role of the rescuer, saving society from these villains known as homosexuals.

But dancehall was not always like this. The 1970’s were the real beginning of Dancehall, as an independent genre, its unique sound that fused together instrumentals called riddims and songs by artists called deejays. The deejays were not just vocal ling the riddims at raves they were cutting songs in studios. The deejays were determined to “take it a bit further stylistically”[29] and use the music to communicate their dissatisfaction with life in general to their peers. This was the start of the “Roots n Culture”[30] movement and the deejays were at the forefront of promoting the movement and with their strong religious and spiritual beliefs and righteous perspectives on life, many Rastafarians soon became deejays. Dancehall at this time was all about “reaching the people, to educate them on what was going on around them”[31], it was all about spreading the word and telling stories that would entertain but also educate, but most importantly be projected through each individual deejays perspective, which in many cases would be very similar as the Jamaican youth were all going through the same struggles.

Those struggles projected in the 70s by dancehall artists through their music confronted the “deep social and economic mire”[32] that Jamaica found itself situated in. In its early days of independence, Jamaica was facing a decline in the economy, as economical super power like the UK and the USA were finding business elsewhere, they were no longer seeking Caribbean sugar cane as their was a European kind that could be purchased for much cheaper, this was a major blow to the countries economic state as sugar cane was their biggest export at the time. Jamaica was now faced with high unemployment and increasing trade deficits. Policies introduced by the newly formed, American influenced Labour party lead to further problems in the country: inflation, food shortages and a poor welfare system, which resulted in civil unrest and infamously the Kingston riots. Therefore it was only a matter of time the Jamaican peoples dissatisfaction with life made its presence felt through the countries most popular form of personal expression, music.

Dancehall really shined its brightest in the raves of Jamaica, where their was no form of censorship so the genuine passion and feeling of discontent could be clearly expressed to enormous crowds that were moved and inspired by what they were hearing. But if Jamaicans wanted to send a message worldwide, Dancehall had to become more organised, artists had to start making records instead of performing one offs at raves and most noticeably a face with mass appeal and superlative talent was needed to lead the revolution that was the roots and culture movement.

The worldwide exposure of the film “The Harder They Come”[33] in the early 70s was the first steps towards promoting the roots and culture movement. The films protagonist, Jimmy Cliff and fellow reggae artists Dennis Brown and Bob Marley were peaking and reaching the climax of their musical careers, reaching unimaginable poetic heights and providing audiences across the world with intuitive performances, Jamaica had finally found a voice to display there story to the rest of the world, uplifting them out of their depression.

However economic conditions worsened and although roots and culture seemed to make so much social sense and appeared to be strong as both a movement and a music, after gaining so many followers the 80s were emerging and roots and culture started to disappear. The death of Bob Marley was thought to be the main cause for the downfall of the movement, but the actuality of it was that the same reason for its creation is the say reason for its demise, a new age of Jamaican youth who had grown up with the poor conditions of the country and were fed up of hearing about it, the people were ready for a change, this generation wanted to entertain not educate as they had already experienced “ten years of roots culture and they were still asking what’s it done for me?”[34]

A demonstration of how the events described above influenced the lyrical content of reggae artists can be found in a comparison of lyrics between two veteran deejays that are famous on a global scale for their contribution to reggae music. Bob Marley’s No woman no cry released during the roots and culture period in 1974 was a major hit in the world of music and claimed worldwide exposure and success. The lyrics to this song depict the story of life from Bob Marley’s perspective; it looks at the reality of life “I remember when we used to sit in the government yard in trenchtown/ And then georgie would make the fire lights/ As it was logwood burnin through the nights”[35] addressing the poor political and economical state of the country at the time. Marley delves into his religious beliefs and ethical morals to reassure and uplift his people “Everything’s gonna be alright!”[36]

In contrast to this Buju Bantons big hit, Boom bye bye, came well after the roots movement and in the maturing stages of slackness. The songs outrageous lyrics “Boom bye bye in a batty bwoy head/ Rude bwoy nah promote nah nasty man dem affi dead”[37] calls for the shooting of homosexuals and clearly shows Bantons disagreement with homosexuality. Similarly to the 1970s hit by Bob Marley the song is a form of personal expression addressing current world issues, whereby Bob Marley addresses the poor political and economical state of Jamaica and offers motivation as a way out of his peoples depression, Buju Banton addresses the coming out the closet phenomenon that boomed in the late 80’s and early 90s as a result of the Aids epidemic and offers his own perspective on a way to solve the so called problem.

Many agree that the original purpose and unique importance of a dancehall deejays ability to express themselves through music has been misused by Buju Banton to promote homophobic attitudes to persuade the rest of the world to think in the same way, creating and reinforcing homophobia as a dominant ideology in society. So surely the freedom of speech adopted by Bob Marley was much fairer then the one taken upon by Buju Banton?

There are those, who would answer no and dismiss the suggestion that reggae music is being used to promote homophobic attitudes as rubbish. Firstly contemporary reggae music, Dancehall, has acquired an enormous fan base outside of the Caribbean, most noticeably in Europe. Germany, along with Denmark and France have all welcomed controversial artists Capleton, Buju Banton and Sizzla to perform to large audiences on numerous occasions without any problems. It is also significant that “European sales account for 69% of Reggae music sold outside of the Caribbean”[38]. The relevance of this lies in the truth that these European countries have a higher homosexual population and are a lot more accepting and progressive in their attitudes towards homosexuality and would surely protest against any homophobic artists promoting their ideologies, which suggests that the random condemning of homosexuals is seen as light hearted banter and purely for entertainment purposes.

Supporting this idea is the rising sensation that is ‘gay raga dances’. A number of LBGT clubs in the UK have devoted entire nights to the particular theme of reggae. The irony of gay bashing dancehall lyrics being played in gay clubs seems to make fun of the situation and dismiss any threatening power dancehall artists have to promote homophobia, as one gay raga dance goer stated “a new generation of dancehall fans, just love hearing their music in a gay context”[39], referring to sexually explicit lyrics found in many dancehall songs. This reflects the reception theory, where different groups decode media texts themselves, resulting in the “received meanings differing the intended meanings”[40].

The final nail in the coffin, burying the suggestion that contemporary reggae music promotes homophobic attitudes is audience analysis. “The two step flow theory assumes audiences are more active than passive and will discuss media texts they have consumed with each other”[41] and if the text is discussed with someone well respected within society, an opinion leader, we then become passive enough to accept and embrace their interpreted views on the text. Discussing the issue and gaining a variety of perspectives on the issue equips the dancehall audience with the tools to become pluralists and either “embrace or reject”[42] that underlined homophobia being pitched to them through dancehall music.

In conclusion, although there is evidence that disagrees contemporary reggae music promotes homophobic attitudes the ultimate impression gained through the study of the history of reggae as a music genre and the origins of homophobia in the black community, Dancehall is being used to promote homophobia. The fundamental reasons for Dancehall advocating homophobia are consequence of social, economical and political altering. The development of the black male from slavery to colonialism provides evidence for the present “crisis in masculinity”[43] that the majority of dancehall artists are facing and the “Boom bye bye in a batty bwoys head”[44] is merely a defence mechanism used by the artists to publicly display their badge of masculinity and conceal any insecurities they possess about their sexuality, this does not however make it acceptable as there is no place for prejudice or discrimination within our society and it is up to the fans of to stamp this out of dancehall and the artists to think more carefully about what they are saying. What if the next big dancehall hit was titled, ‘Boom bye bye in a white mans head’? Would we overlook it as purely entertainment or expose it for what it really was?

Word Count: 3,168

[1] The Observer, Monthly Magazine, The Gay Issue p24
[2] Clark, Vivienne and Baker, James and Lewis, Eileen Key Concepts and Skills for Media
[3] http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/students/ota9902.zip81=1
[4]
[5] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/dancehall
[6]
[7]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/reggae#social_issues
[8]http://www.colorado.edu/conflict/peace/problem/prejdisc.htm
[9] http://www.queertheory.com
[10]
[11]
[12]
[13]MacKinnon, Kenneth (2003) Representing Men: Maleness and Masculinity in the Media
[14]MacKinnon, Kenneth (2003) Representing Men: Maleness and Masculinity in the Media
[15]
[16] MacKinnon, Kenneth (2003) Representing Men: Maleness and Masculinity in the Media
[17] Sizzla (2003) Pump Up Her Pum Pum
[18] MacKinnon, Kenneth (2003) Representing Men: Maleness and Masculinity in the Media
[19]
[20]
[21]Ranks, Shabba (1992) Trailer Load Of Girls
[22]
[23] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/dancehall
[24]Wilton, Tasmin Sexual (Dis) Orientation: Gender, Sex, Desire and Self Fashioning
[25]
[26] Capleton (2003) Blood Out Di Chi Chi
[27]
[28]
[29] Bradley, Lloyd Reggae: The Story Of Jamaican Music
[30] Bradley, Lloyd Reggae: The Story Of Jamaican Music
[31] Bradley, Lloyd Reggae: The Story Of Jamaican Music
[32] Bradley, Lloyd Reggae: The Story Of Jamaican Music
[33] The Harder They Come (1972)
[34]
[35] Marley, Bob (1974) No Woman No Cry
[36] Marley, Bob (1974) No Woman No Cry
[37]http://www.jamaicancaves.org/boom-bye-bye-lyrics.html
[38]
[39] The Observer, Monthly Magazine, The Gay Issue p25
[40]
[41]
[42]
[43] Archer, John and Lloyd, Barbara Sex and Gender
[44]Banton, Buju (1990) Boom Bye Bye