Sound System Dancehall
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Dancehall as it lives on the sound system: singers and deejays 'voicing' live and on record over recycled riddims and exclusive dubplates, in the rub-a-dub style of bass-forward, sparse beats around 90-100 BPM. Arrangements leave wide open space for the deejay's toasting and the singjay's melodic riding, with heavy low end tuned for outdoor 'string' speakers. The mood is communal, competitive and live, shaped by the selector's pull-ups and the clash tradition. Signature elements include one-riddim juggling, custom dubplate specials and call-and-response with the crowd.
History
Dancehall was born on the sound systems, and by the early 1980s producers such as Henry 'Junjo' Lawes recorded the deejays and rub-a-dub singers who had built their names on rigs like Volcano and Gemini. Barrington Levy and singjays voiced over Roots Radics riddims while deejays including Yellowman, Josey Wales and Brigadier Jerry, and later Admiral Bailey and Super Cat, dominated the sessions; the dubplate 'special' and the sound clash became central rituals. This sound-system-first ethos—riddim reuse, live voicing, selector culture—remained the organizing principle of all dancehall that followed.
Defining artists
Essential listening
Sources
- Norman C. Stolzoff, Wake the Town and Tell the People: Dancehall Culture in Jamaica (Duke University Press, 2000)
- Beth Lesser, Dancehall: The Rise of Jamaican Dancehall Culture (Soul Jazz Books, 2008)
- Sonjah Stanley Niaah, DanceHall: From Slave Ship to Ghetto (University of Ottawa Press, 2010)
- Kevin O'Brien Chang & Wayne Chen, Reggae Routes: The Story of Jamaican Music (Temple University Press, 1998)