Contents - Beth Lesser

The Dancehall Explosion
“There was no stopping dancehall because it was a new form and
a new kind of music. It was crazy! The youth them a do some new
things, and everything was new. The original artists them, they
were kinda baffled.”
- OSSIE THOMAS
Yellowman was leading the new wave of deejay popularity. Yet, although
deejays had made huge headway, certain segments of society still wrote
them off as second class entertainment. Singers where the real thing. The
singers themselves also harbored resentment towards the intruders who were
poaching their musical territory. As U Brown recalls, “A lot of singers never
liked when deejays would deejay on their rhythm tracks. Singers were the ones
that always made the original rhythm. They are the ones that always go with
the musicians and make the tracks [in the studios]. And then the producers
might call the deejay to say something on the track. So, when the deejays
start to become popular, a lot of singers never liked it.” But producers couldn’t
ignore sales, and deejay records were hits. Especially after Yellowman showed
Jamaica just how big a local dancehall deejay could get.
With heroes like Yellowman, more and more kids began looking towards
a career in toasting. Sound systems began to fill their rosters with upcoming
artists. Gone were the days of the one man sound, where an artist like
General Echo might own the set, select the records and deejay the whole
night. Now, the sounds were manned by a whole crew consisting of operator,
selector, owner, deejays, apprentices, singers and the usual technical staff and
equipment handlers. Everyone wanted to break into a business where even a
‘dundus’ * from the ghetto could tour the world and record with a major label.
Sessions were becoming magnets for every little youth who felt he could
throw down two lyrics.
With everybody and his neighbor wanting to get into the entertainment
business, it became common for sounds to fill the invitation cards with names.
A Gemini session might feature Ringo, Squiddley, Sister Nancy, Welton Irie
plus special guests and apprentices. There were even more guests for clashes
and certain large venues. Lees Hi Power, for example, in ’84, held a dance
with Frankie Paul, Michael Palmer, Kelly Ranks, Papa San, Screecha Nice,
* Dundus was a pejorative term for Albinos in Jamaica
136 | RUB A DUB STYLE – The Roots of Modern Dancehall