Tyrone Reid & Chaos, Staff Reporter/Freelance Writer
OVER THE years, dancehall music has evolved. It has graduated from being merely a genre to being a way of life. One that seemingly offers free passage to males from the inner city of Kingston to a better life.
It has been said by many, and been proven by even more, that music is a way of escape from the hardships of the ghetto. As a result, many a ghetto youth have been inspired by the 'rags to riches' tales of those who once filled their shoes.
Armed with their ratchet knives, they are determined to get their slice of the pie, a delicacy a few are not willing to share with others outside their social strata. This helps to breed an air of discrimination against artistes that hail from the so-called 'uptown' communities.
It is a no-brainer that the dancehall community is densely populated with male entertainers born and bred in the inner city. However, there are a few other minority groups in the mix as well, one of which is made up of artistes from 'uptown'.
There is an invisible line of demarcation that separates 'uptown' artistes from those from 'downtown'. One of the popular arguments that has surfaced is that it is quite selfish on the part of the acts from 'uptown' to try and cut a slice of the dancehall pie, since they were supposedly born with silver spoons in their mouths.
According to industry insiders, the bulk of the prejudice does not come from the fans but from people within the industry - artistes and other industry personnel. They argue that as long as an artiste is talented and has a 'buzz', most of the fans will lend a listening ear. This, however, is not the case with the people that control the day-to-day affairs of the industry, since they see the need to protect their empire from those they deem as being already rich.
Nonetheless, one fact that stands tall amidst all the uncertainty is that one can count on one hand the number of artistes from uptown that are currently creating a buzz within the aggressive realms of the dancehall, which has been the case for quite sometime now. Yet there are those that will deny that a bias exists within the industry. However, testifying to the fact that the bias does exist is popular producer and manager of Sean Paul, Jeremy Harding.
"Definitely there was prejudice but our love for the music overrides all of that. I mean, initially, they made fun of us, saying that 'You guys don't know anything about dancehall music,' but we just persevered with the love that we had for the music," reasoned Harding.
He further stated that after a while, the same individuals who poked fun at him and Sean Paul had to start taking them seriously after it was realised that they meant business. "The guts have a lot to do with it, and they (the new talent from uptown) don't want to come out of their comfort zones and go do the ground work, they don't understand that the process is necessary," uttered Harding as he reminisced about the struggles of old.
Sean Paul was hardly the first 'uptown' artiste to take a stab at making his living via dancehall. A few years ago Don Yute attempted to make a splash but barely managed to create a ripple, eventually sinking back into obscurity. It was not a matter of talent, but rather one of not being seen as a 'real' deejay due to his upper class roots and being ostracised as a result. Another example is Shaggy, who, if not from uptown, definitely had middle class roots. However, he never truly achieved recognition here in Jamaica until, much like Bob Marley and to some extent Sean Paul, he had achieved success overseas, in his case with the album Boombastic, with hits such as the title track and his reworking of the ska classic Oh Carolina. Harding's stance was bolstered by new sensation Wayne Marshall, who is currently one of the few top acts in dancehall who does not hail from the inner city.
According to Marshall, although he has not had firsthand experience with the prejudice, he knows that it does exist. "I am sure that some man get underrated because of where they are classified on the social ladder. That 'bad mind' is there, they will fight youths for that, but that is up to them," he said.
Marshall also believes that when the fat lady sings, the prejudice will have to take a back seat and watch talent 'rolling' out in the front seat. "It comes right back to the fact seh ah music we a deal wid and those with the ability will come to the forefront, whether it be uptown or downtown," said Wayne emphatically, as he campaigned for artistes to be judged based on their skill and not their socio-economic status.
In an interview Sean Paul did with The Sunday Gleaner in July 2001, he revealed that he had been at the receiving end of this sort of discrimination.
However, the deejay, who is probably the hottest Jamaican on the international scene currently in terms of being under the media's microscope, with the possible exception of sniper suspect John Lee Malvo, said he stayed strong. "Mi did ready fi di fight, some people don't criticise but rather try to hold you down, not the deejays but instead industry people and it never bother me at all."
It should be noted however that Sean Paul achieved his current status only after music video director Little X heard Gimme The Light and made a music video for the same. After an internet campaign that helped Sean Paul's song climb up Black Entertainment Television's (BET) programme 106 and Park chart, which brought attention to the song and the artiste, radio stations and other cable music channels noticed the same and, within a few months, Sean Paul was an international star. Prior to this transition, the artiste mainly had success via collaborations with more 'authentic' dancehall acts such as Mr. Vegas and Ce'Cile, his work with the 'Dutty Cup' crew going largely unnoticed and even scoffed at from time to time.
Notwithstanding, Jeremy Harding believes that the climate is much better now in comparison to what existed in the past. "It's getting there, it not there a 100 per cent but it getting there, some people will still be a little wary but it is getting there, it's changing," said Harding with a sense of hope.
Up and coming deejay Royden 'Royale' Lewis, who, if it has to be done, can be seen as coming from 'uptown', is none too sure about that. The artiste, who has penned a wildly inventive 'counteraction' to Gloria Gaynor's I Will Survive as well as deejaying on Mile High's For You, details the trials and travails he is undergoing while trying to build a career in dancehall.
"First of all there are the stereotypes, the so-called 'good hair', green eyes, the colour of my skin (brown) the whole pretty boy image works against you. The fact that I drive to the studios other artistes and producers say 'Yuh have it already', but it's just the fact that I have a job. I have a daughter I have to support, so I have to have a nine-to-five job. I can't be at the studio 24 hours a day, my daughter has to eat.
"Music should be judged and based on quality. The song should stand for itself and not just because mi name 'Beenie Man'. Producers should be garnering new talent and letting people hear something fresh. If you don't know somebody or a line somebody pocket, it come in like yuh nah get nowhere," he explained.
Another example is former Wailer member Andrew McIntyre, who in an interview with The Sunday Gleaner previously mentioned the fact that as a youth from uptown, he had to struggle for acceptance from the rest of The Wailers band, most of whom had grown up in the more depressed areas of Kingston. The fact that he eventually left the band despite its success may be seen as an indicator that he was never truly comfortable.
The person who probably best exemplifies the dichotomy between uptown and downtown is Damian 'Junior Gong' Marley. The split, he has said, led to the name of his Grammy Award-winning album Half-Way Tree. Born to beauty queen, entrepreneur and singer Cindy Breakspeare and reggae legend Bob Marley, Junior was definitely seen as an 'uptown boy'. This he overcame by virtue of his adoption of the Rastafarian faith and his association with the Ghetto Youths Crew, which, with the Marley name, helped give him credibility. He has referred to himself, and perhaps justifiably so, as the bridge between downtown and uptown. However, it should be noticed that he too received most of his acclaim after his Grammy nomination and win.
FEMALE ENTERTAINERS
Another minority group within the dancehall are female entertainers. Similar to their male counterparts from 'uptown', the women are outnumbered in the dancehall and this has been the case for a good stretch on the calendars. Ironically, women make up a large majority of dancehall's fans.
This leads one to wonder if it is a case of women not wanting to support their own sex. To add to the ante, most of the men that these women 'jump up and rail' for speak nothing but filthy and deragatory things about them.
However, this time around the brunt of the blame for the shortage of 'skirts' on the performing stages of the dancehall is borne by the rigours that are a prerequisite to getting the 'buss' in the music industry here in Jamaica, coupled with the usual cry of sexual harassment.
With regards to the rigours involved, as hinted at above, most artistes try to break into the music industry by hanging around production studios practically 24 hours a day not a safe or comfortable situation for women, who are much more likely to be overlooked by producers regardless of how much time they spend at the studio. Factors such as pregnancy also play a role, with deejays such as Lady G, although a known dancehall act, who took time off to care for her family and has now found it difficult to 'get back in the game' since.
The lack of 'girl power' in the dancehall is a fact that annoys popular producer Rohan 'Snow Cone' Fuller, who is saddened by the situation especially because he believes that there is not much he can do to fix it.
"Me woulda love and wish fi have some more woman inna di business, but me nuh have no control over it," he noted. "They play a major role in the music industry and we need them," stressed Snow Cone.
He supported the thought that the long hours and dedication that dancehall music demands of its practitioners may prove too burdensome for many females. In addition, he also pointed to sexual harassment as a major deterrent for many aspiring female artistes.
He was backed by Mr. Harding, who stated that this sort of behaviour is not foreign to other professions. "Every man they meet want to have sex with them producers, promoters and artistes but it is not just as music thing, it happens in most professions."
Paradoxically, this popular school of thought that has transcended through the different eras the genre has experienced was counteracted by dancehall diva, Marion 'Lady Saw' Hall.
Quite frankly, the risque Lady Saw is fed up! "I am tired of hearing this. All my years I never deal wid nuh sexual harrassment... dem mek it look bad pon we producer dem, if it ah happen a mus' some mongrel producer weh jus' come inna the business," emphasised Lady Saw.
She was not through. "Some a dem don't have nuh talent either, mi nuh care who waan vex or contradict," said an unapologetic Saw, who spoke to The Sunday Gleaner from her mobile phone at an airport in Miami, Florida while in transit to Boston in the United States (U.S.).
The raunchy Saw, a year-to-year deejay, reasoned that at the end of the day, it all boils down to possessing the talent coupled with the willingness to make sacrifices. "If you feel this is what you want it's up to you." "Weh dem seh?," she asked rhetorically and almost immediately supplied the answer: "You nose affi run if you waan reach weh you ago."
Although they did not see eye to eye on the sexual harassment issue, Snow Cone concurred with Saw that the women have to be iron-willed if they truly desire to make it. According to him, it is as if they would, in a sense, have to lay their feminity aside and replace it with aggression, take up the microphone and 'represent'. This is also supported by the reality that the women that usually climb the dancehall charts are the ones that push the envelope to its limit.
Lady Saw represents an interesting aspect of the issue involved here. She rode to fame and continues to sit at the top of the heap by virtue of her no-holds barred lyrics in songs such as Stab Out Mi Meat. This being the case, many producers expect something similar from any female who wants to make it in the music industry.
Although not a dancehall act, Jamaican-born rapper Nadirah 'Nadz' Seid told The Sunday Gleaner of some of the problems she had while trying to establish herself. She was lucky in that she was actually 'discovered' in a studio while designing a CD cover she is also a graphic artiste and rapping to herself. Someone liked what they heard and before she knew it, she was recording for Sly and Robbie's Beam Entertainment. However, the issues arose when she was approached by certain producers to perform more 'hardcore' rap. "They thought that that is what would sell outside of Jamaica he wanted to know how could I be a rapper and not do hardcore using profanity and so on. That's not me... I chose not to. I was approached by quite a number of people but held back because of my principles," she stated. This may be the case of other female artistes who want a music career but have no desire to walk that route.
Snow Cone also encouraged the industry people to seek out new female talent and give them opportunities. If the dancehall was anywhere close to utopia, it would not be riddled with social or sexist prejudices. However, this is the real world, and the prejudices will exist for a long time to come - unfortunately.
