Getting Past the Slackness: Avoiding Violent Lyrics in Reggae Music
Wednesday June 17, 2009
A few weeks ago, I had a conversation via Twitter with Andrew Collins, About.com's Guide to Gay Travel, regarding modern reggae and dancehall music. If you're not familiar with dancehall, it's an upbeat genre of music based on reggae rhythms (or, more precisely, riddims) that features a deejay toasting (rapping) over the top. Musically, it's really fun. Lyrically... well, not so much. There are plenty of dancehall artists whose lyrics are socially conscious and respectful, but the majority of popular artists tend towards slackness, specifically violent homophobia. I've got a pretty decent mental filtration system, and years of practice have put me in a place where I can listen to lyrics that I disagree with and see them as indicators of socioeconomic factors and cultures that are different from my own, but even I can't take some of the more hateful lyrics that directly advocate killing gays and lesbians. It's especially true because Jamaica is one of the most dangerous places in the world for homosexuals, where violent attacks are commonplace and offenders are rarely prosecuted.
Going back to my Twitter conversation with Andrew Collins, we both agreed that throwing the baby out with the bathwater is definitely not the solution on this one. My personal strategy is one of a reverse boycott (a girlcott?) - I do buy reggae music and support Jamaican artists, but only the ones who I feel are using their lyrics for good. This is where roots reggae comes in. Roots reggae became a distinct subgenre of Jamaican music in the late 1970s, just as dancehall began to emerge. In those days, roots reggae was the thing: Bob Marley and Peter Tosh were selling massive amounts of records throughout the world, and singing about spirituality, brotherhood, love, the struggles of the oppressed, and other things that, though sometimes controversial, were not directly offensive. There are, in fact, still artists around who are rocking these sorts of lyrics - one of my favorites is Burning Spear. All the reggae rhythms you could want, and nothing hateful or hurtful, unless you're offended by religious or liturgical music - many of Burning Spear's songs are about Rastafarianism, a nonviolent religion. Burning Spear is what I think of as a "legacy artist," though - he's been around since the good old days - there are modern roots reggae artists, as well: Cocoa Tea, Junior Kelly, and Ziggy Marley, just to name a few.
What are your thoughts on homophobia in modern Jamaican music? Should people who disagree with these lyrics boycott Jamaican music (or Jamaican exports entirely)? Should we support the artists who don't sing violent lyrics? Should we just go ahead and listen to the slack lyrics and view them a valid expression of an oppressed culture, whether or not we agree? What do you think?
Going back to my Twitter conversation with Andrew Collins, we both agreed that throwing the baby out with the bathwater is definitely not the solution on this one. My personal strategy is one of a reverse boycott (a girlcott?) - I do buy reggae music and support Jamaican artists, but only the ones who I feel are using their lyrics for good. This is where roots reggae comes in. Roots reggae became a distinct subgenre of Jamaican music in the late 1970s, just as dancehall began to emerge. In those days, roots reggae was the thing: Bob Marley and Peter Tosh were selling massive amounts of records throughout the world, and singing about spirituality, brotherhood, love, the struggles of the oppressed, and other things that, though sometimes controversial, were not directly offensive. There are, in fact, still artists around who are rocking these sorts of lyrics - one of my favorites is Burning Spear. All the reggae rhythms you could want, and nothing hateful or hurtful, unless you're offended by religious or liturgical music - many of Burning Spear's songs are about Rastafarianism, a nonviolent religion. Burning Spear is what I think of as a "legacy artist," though - he's been around since the good old days - there are modern roots reggae artists, as well: Cocoa Tea, Junior Kelly, and Ziggy Marley, just to name a few.
What are your thoughts on homophobia in modern Jamaican music? Should people who disagree with these lyrics boycott Jamaican music (or Jamaican exports entirely)? Should we support the artists who don't sing violent lyrics? Should we just go ahead and listen to the slack lyrics and view them a valid expression of an oppressed culture, whether or not we agree? What do you think?
Comments
I love reggae and dancehall. I hate that the talents of these young artists are marred by the content of their lyrics. I wish they would stop with the gay bashing.
But i would like to point out that probably 5% of jamaican artist make this kind of negative music. And that 5% only make these horribly negative violent songs about 50% of the time.
Though he made comments about gays in the past Buju’s new album is amazing… like many of his past works…
great article. Finally a balanced statement against reggae.
I agree with you, nappyroots – a tiny fraction of dancehall songs that are recorded are violently homophobic (or violently misogynistic – another endemic problem with these lyrics), but those songs are SO over-the-top heinous that it’s hard to ignore them.
At the same time, I think that all forms of personal expression are valid – people have the right to say whatever they want – and we need to look at the root causes of this hatred instead of just ignoring it altogether.
Hey, worldmusic. No one has the right to incite other people to kill any person, gay or not. There is not that right at all. No one has the right to make apology of violence. Where are you?
I’m by no means advocating violence, or lyrics that incite violence. I do believe in the right to free speech, though, and I also believe that instead of writing off hateful and murderous lyrics, we need to look at the root problems that cause people to write such vitriolic lyrics in the first place. Ignoring it is like putting a band-aid on an enormous infected wound – it barely even covers up the problem, let alone heals it.
I’m not apologizing for the violence, but I think looking the other way is not the solution, either.
My reply was about “all forms of personal expression are valid – people have the right to say whatever they want”. I say there is not that right when it means violence apology. Of course there are reasons, everything has a reason, sad reasons, but that does not give them the right to say what ever they want, if it attacks other people’s rights… We can’t justify that violence, whatever it is the reason. Anyway I am sure we agree in the deep down.
Thanks Megan, your are very kind.