the.com/dancehall
Jamaica's rawest export, where the riddim is shared and the bragging is not.
means A genre of Jamaican popular music that grew out of reggae, marked by sparse, hard-hitting digital riddims and a DJ or deejay 'toasting' or chatting over the top — also the venue or scene where that music is played.
from A plain compound of 'dance' and 'hall,' literally a hall where people dance — the kind of physical space, often makeshift, where Jamaican sound systems set up their speakers and DJs performed. By the late 1970s and into the 1980s the word had shifted from naming the place to naming the music made for it, as the genre crystallized around those venues. 'Dance' itself reaches back through Old French 'dancer' into murky roots, possibly Frankish; 'hall' is solid Old English 'heall,' a covered space — kin to words for 'cover' and 'conceal.'
- shared beats
- One riddim hosts dozens of competing artists
- birth year
- Emerged late 1970s from reggae's slowed roots
- dance moves
- Specific dances invented to match specific songs
- global reach
- Shaped reggaeton, Afrobeats, and pop hooks worldwide
- sound system
- Massive speaker stacks decide which song wins
shabba ranks — jamaican dancehall pioneer who dominated the genre in the 1980s-90s with hits like 'mr. loverman'
sean paul — jamaican dancehall artist who brought the genre to global mainstream with 'get busy' in 2002
popcaan — contemporary jamaican dancehall star from portmore, known for songs like 'intentions' and 'only your love'