Contents - Beth Lesser

of the Soca styles Byron Lee was playing must have rubbed off on the deejay,
for he came back to the dancehall with his new way of toasting he called
“Bubbling.” *
Peter Metro remembers, “His style was a little bit strange, you know? He
came and go on Metromedia. Whenever Metromedia plays Denham Town
area, Tivoli Gardens area, ** he would come and deejay beside me and Sky
Juice.” Massive stayed pretty close to home as he wasn’t just an entertainer, but
a community leader as well.
In 1993, Massive began working on a project called The Trench Town
Reading Centre with the aim of bringing literacy to children in the inner city.
The centre finally opened in December with a ribbon cutting ceremony and
“five banana boxes of new books.” *** Massive provided the entertainment at the
party that evening. Then, “Something happened,” Peter Metro reports sadly.
“Unfortunately he got killed because of some mix up down in his community.
Something went wrong with the guys them down there. He was shot and
killed by one of those same guys in the community.”
“CalypSo, CalypSo” – SoCa in The danCehall
In Trinidad during the 1980s, the calypso scene was giving way to the new,
disco influenced style called Soca. It was Arrow’s 1983 mega hit ‘Hot! Hot!
Hot!’ that helped popularize this new musical synthesis. It is reported that
four million copies of the song sold and that it appeared in twelve different
languages. The name Soca came from the combination of Soul and Calypso.
Whereas Calypso could be a little stiff, Soca was loose and rhythmic, infectious
and danceable, the ultimate party music. It successfully incorporated
influences from all over the globe, from the U.S. to India. Arrow became the
Soca ambassador and the only Soca artist to perform at Reggae Sunsplash in
both London and Jamaica.
Soca was so hot, at the time, that the influence began pouring into the
dancehall with hits like Johnny Osbourne’s ‘Calypso’, Echo Minott’s ‘Rock
and Calypso’, and Toyan’s ‘Calypso’. In his 45 ‘Reggae Calypso’, Sassafrass
successfully gave a classic rock steady rhythm, ‘Love I Can Feel’, a modified
Soca beat. Josie Wales borrowed a lot from foundation Calypsonian, The
Mighty Sparrow. “Do the Stur-Gav dance,” a Josie trademark lyric, came directly
from Sparrow’s, “Do the Dragon Dance” and Josie’s “Salt Fish” came
from one of Sparrow’s Road March songs by the same name.
In 1985, in recognition of the growing popularity of the new Soca beat,
Jamaican promoters held an event touted to be the clash of Dancehall music v.
* His unusual style can be seen in Jools Holland’s documentary on reggae. Massive appeared live
at a Valentine’s Day stage show/Dance, along with other current hot artists. Jools in Jamaica, 1986,
Tyne Tees Television His segment can be viewed on YouTube
** Two areas associated with the JLP
*** http://www.trenchtownreadingcentre.com
260 | RUB A DUB STYLE – The Roots of Modern Dancehall