Ne-Yo

The directive for the censorship of Romping Shop is not simply an assault by the state on ‘slackness’ or Dancehall culture. In fact, its familiar rhythm, copied from Ne-Yo’s, Miss Independent, has brought international pressure on the Broadcasting Commission to regulate musical content and place a ban on the distribution and promotion of Romping Shop. It seems as if this situation has added fuel to a burning fire, as the ban was not limited to the ‘copyright offensive’ song, rather it sought to curtail many elements of the ‘socially offensive’ Dancehall culture.

Check out the following videos–the similarity of the rhythm is indisputable…

There is an important question to be asked in this situation of copyright infringement, Why was ‘Romping Shop’ awarded song of the year, publicized internationally, and promoted across the Jamaican mass media, if it was only a demonstration record (white label)?

Spice

Answers to this question may lead us to the source of the problem–a general disregard for intellectual rights and an absence of an effective classification, monitoring and regulatory system for creative content in Jamaica. Copyright protection is no joke, and the stakeholders of the Jamaican music industry simply ignored it in this case. This leaves us to wonder, Who is in charge of monitoring the use of intellectual property?

Vybz Kartel

So many things went wrong in this Romping Shop situation–necessitating such things like: artist development and education about a number of critical issues; reformation of the standards surrounding how we classify creative content; and the establishment of a regulatory system to monitor human (including intellectual) rights and government legislation and policies concerning such rights.

We cannot reform and get the best from our creative industries if we do not invest in its development–Better preparation is definitely needed.

Vybz Kartel & Spice

Intro:]
[Kartel:] Ah di techer
[Spice:] And ah spice
[Kartel:] Every man grab a gyal
[Spice:] And every gyal grab a man
[Kartel:] Man to man, gyal to gyal dats wrong
[Spice:] Scorn dem
[Kartel:] All wen a nite yuh pussy feel like sun hot; wen yuh come inna mi ramping shop
[Spice:] Mek sure yuh kno how fi wuk and ah nuh chat yah ah chat

[Verse 1:]
Hey, mi cocky longa than mi Nike
Tell mi wah yuh like
Yuh wah mi try or yuh wah fi ride it like a bike
Well, yuh haffi ram it hard
Di cocky nuh fi lie
Damage it fi spite
Not becah mi pussy tight
Suppose mi put it pon di lef
Gyal yuh tek it pan di right
Mi nipple dem a ripe
Sen it up inna mi tripe
Wah titi appetite
Every nipple get a bite
Mi man haffi go see it
Mi and him haffi go fight

[Hook:]
Cah me haffi wine pon di cocky like dis
Kartel spin me like a satellite dish
Deal wid yuh breast like mi crushing irish
Spice I neva love a pussy like dis
You ah my mista
You ah my miss
Kill me wid di cocky
Kill me wid di tightness
And when you a come
Whispa someting like dis
I can’t stop fucking you

[Chorus:]
Hey, cocky nuh play
Me will bruk yuh back
When yuh come inna mi ramping shop
Me will quint it up two time and pop yuh cock
When yuh come inna mi ramping shop
Me will mek yuh run out a mi house
Inna half ah frock
When yuh come inna mi ramping shop
A gyal eva ride pon it and gi yuh heart attack
When yuh come inna mi ramping shop

[Verse 2:]
Spice ah you mi love
Yuh kno how fi do yuh stuff
Yuh pussy buff
Plus it squeeze like handcuff
Kartel ah you mi love
See it deh mi cock it up fi yuh ramp ruff
Til mi belly cramp up
Shhh di climax begun
Bear sweat a run
Hold mi tight spice
Me feel like me ah cum
Mi nah let yuh go
So don’t let me down
Me two phone a ring and me nah ansa none

[Hook:]
Cah me haffi wine pon di cocky like dis
Kartel spin me like a satellite dish
Deal wid yuh breast like mi crushing irish
Spice I neva love a pussy like dis
You ah my mista
You ah my miss
Kill me wid di cocky
Kill me wid di tightness
And when you a come
Whispa someting like dis
I can’t stop fucking you

[Chorus:]
Hey, cocky nuh play
Me will bruk yuh back
When yuh come inna mi ramping shop
Me will quint it up two time and pop yuh cock
When yuh come inna mi ramping shop
Me will mek yuh run out a mi house
Inna half ah frock
When yuh come inna mi ramping shop
A gyal eva ride pon it and gi yuh heart attack
When yuh come inna mi ramping shop

[Bridge:]
[Kartel:] Ah di techer
[Spice:] And ah spice
[Kartel:] Every man grab a gyal
[Spice:] And every gyal grab a man
[Kartel:] Man to man, gyal to gyal dats wrong
[Spice:] Scorn dem
[Kartel:] All wen a nite yuh pussy feel like sun hot; wen yuh come inna mi ramping shop
[Spice:] Mek sure yuh kno how fi wuk and ah chat yah ah chat

[Chorus:]
Cocky nuh play
Me will bruk yuh back
When yuh come inna mi ramping shop
Me will quint it up two time and pop yuh cock
When yuh come inna mi ramping shop
Me will mek yuh run out a mi house
Inna half ah frock
When yuh come inna mi ramping shop
A gyal eva ride pon it and gi yuh heart attack
When yuh come inna mi ramping shop

Lyrics taken from www.6Lyrics.com

Vybz Kartel and Spice (Male and Female DJ 2008-09)

The Excellence in Music and Entertainment (EME) awards was held on February 5, 2009 at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel. The highlights of the night’s event were Vybz Kartel and Spice, who were awarded the coveted and highly competitive titles of: Male and Female DJs  of the Year (2008-09). Their combination song, Romping Shop, which has been at the nucleus of much controversy was awarded Song of the Year.

The popularity of the Romping Shop and Daggering, has apparently disgusted the Jamaican Government and has left media houses and personnel scrambling to put  acceptable rosters together for broadcast. For years sex and gun/ bad man lyrics have thrived on our airwaves. The artists who write, perform, and produce these songs have, for a long time, been rewarded by national entertainment bodies. They are highly sought after for commercials by corporate giants like Digicel and Cable and Wireless, and are portrayed as icons of ‘badmanism’ at annual events like Sting.

We have for many years, since I was a child in the 1980s and 90s, exposed our children, via the mass media, to songs which are dominated by themes such as sex and ‘badmanism’. We have therefore encouraged the development of the ‘evils’ that we are so hurriedly trying to exorcise from Dancehall culture. Indeed, the chickens have come home to roost! Oxy Moron in his Sunday Gleaner contribution, Hitching a ride on the daggering bus!, spoke about the popularity of public transportation as a means of conveying Dancehall culture to school children–This is not new information, in fact for years we have heard rumors of buses as hot spots for adolescent sexual activities, and we failed to effectively address it.

Spice- The Sex Goddess

Under heavy fire from all sectors of the society and way too late to be even slightly valid, the Broadcasting Commission published extended directives to:

“… prohibit transmission of any soca music content that displays, simulates or instructs about sexual activities or positions…[as well as] lyrics glorifying the gun and promoting killings and other acts of violence…immediate halt of:

• any live presentation, audio recording or music video from the soca, hip hop or other music genre, which promotes, contains references to, or is otherwise suggestive of ‘daggering’ or which publicly displays, simulates or instructs about explicit sexual activities or positions;
• any content from live coverage or recorded shows, dances or events which displays children participating in activities that simulate sexual activities or positions whether in street parades, stage shows or at any other event;
• any recording, live song or music video which promotes and/ or glorifies the use of guns or other offensive weapons;
• any recording, live song or music video which promotes or glorifies any offence against the person such as murder, rape, and mob violence or other offences such as arson.”

Vybz Kartel- The War Lord

The recent directives by the Broadcasting Commission will certainly affect the development of Dancehall music. Will the celebration of Vybz Kartel and Movado as war lords and Lady Saw and Spice as sex goddesses be things of the past? Can you picture Jamaica Carnival without public broadcast? Dancehall language is perceived by many Jamaicans as ‘evil’ and so are the accompanying dances and themes that emerge from the genre. As such, the attempt by the Broadcasting Commission to prohibit specific words, physical actions, and themes can be seen as an attempt by government to exorcise Dancehall of its culture.

Dr. Carolyn Cooper, in her Sunday Gleaner contribution: Is ‘Rampin’ Shop’ erotic in English? argued that the most problematic issues were concerning the way in which Dancehall presented sexual activities and intimate expressions in a vulgar and untamed way, compared to how other musical genres expressed it. Dr. Cooper said,

“Even in Jamaican, Rampin Shop is not poison; it’s not filth; it’s not debasement of women. The song is the tantric celebration of one of the fundamental pleasures of life. But some of us will never be able to see that. The language gets in the way. In English, ‘Playpen’ (Cooper’s English translation for the song title, Rampin Shop) could even be studied in school…with Chaucer. In Jamaican, bleeped or not, Rampin Shop is simply not fit for airplay; or literary analysis.”

The truth is, Dancehall culture is now international, and is becoming increasingly popular among young people in countries like Japan, Italy, and the United States of America. Dancehall queen competitions, and DJs are no longer exclusively Jamaican and it has retained many of its original essences–seen in the attire of patrons and the dances that they engage in at Dancehall events. It is rather ironic that at a time when most countries of the world are increasingly becoming more secular and embracing foreign musical genres like Dancehall, the Jamaican Government is exorcising its core.

Junko- Japanese native awarded Dancehall Queen in Jamaica

Daggering- The Dance

Until recently, Jamaicans celebrated February as Black History Month, following on the African American tradition, which is aimed at commemorating our history and achievement as Africans in the West. Now, we celebrate February as Reggae Month in order to mark the immense contribution of Reggae music to the development of Jamaica. At this time, Dancehall, which is currently Jamaica’s most popular genre and an offshoot of Reggae, has come under serious fire and is currently a hot subject on the lips of many as the Broadcasting Commission of Jamaica has banned songs containing the word “Daggaring/ Daggering” from the Jamaican airwaves.

“Daggering” is a term which has recently become popular in the Jamaican entertainment industry. It is commonly used as a noun or verb, bearing spellings such as: dagga, dagger, and daggar. The term refers to the engagement of a man and woman in aggressive dance imitating sex–both man and woman attempting to show their sexual prowess. There are a slew of songs and activities celebrating Daggering. Some songs are even done on popular Gospel, Calypso, Dancehall and even Kumina rhythms. The wildfire that Daggering has sent across Jamaica has made it the center of national discussion. Even today’s Sunday Gleaner is dominated by this controversial theme–It seems everyone has caught onto Daggering (like it or not)!

Like a lot of Jamaicans, I got very passionate before properly researching the issue. There are many themes, which emerged as I gathered information: the Dancehall sub-culture, identity, morality, religion, history, socialization, human rights, sexuality, gender, social stratification, poverty, power and politics. The artists, dancers and fans who promote the new dance certainly don’t perceive it as immoral. On the contrary, the actors always seem to be having a good time or are caught up in their protagonist roles. Critics are however, horrified by the physical movements and lyrics that popularize it–it’s unfit for the mass media, it’s promoting violent sex, it’s immoral for our children to see and hear, it defies our preservation of sex as a private act.

For me, the dance and songs containing the word “Daggering” represent another attempt to diversify and enrich the Dancehall culture, increasing its entertainment value and appeal. Erotic songs have emerged throughout the course of the development of popular Jamaican music, giving rise to popular acts like Lady Saw and Queen Patra. In fact, many of our artists debut as specialists in producing either or both “erotic” or “violent” songs.

Over my life I have experienced several bans on songs, because they drew such controversies as being disrespectful, overly sexual, or violent. Each time an expression is banned, another one emerges from the woodwork. Will it ever end–This endless ocean of controversial expressions? Our artists are banned and ostracized everywhere for their flaming or lusting tongues. Some Jamaicans have even led a public protest against those purveyors of the Daggering message, but what about the host of other stakeholders who should be chastised for permeating our airwaves with this ‘evil’.

It is full time that we lobby Government for the implementation of a standardized rating/classification system to guide the publication of information emerging from the creative geniuses of all Jamaicans. I believe the Jamaican Broadcasting Commission needs to dig deeper into its pockets and create a sustainable solution and human rights approach to the management of information available to the public. From my experience, censorship contributes to the growth of underground movements, and thus:

I believe it is important that we, as a society, assess the situation keenly, recognizing that the rating system X for erotic and V for violent content can be applied to songs, books, videos, and as such, restrict their use to private spaces, without encroaching on freedom of expression.

The truth is, we need to cap Daggering and other controversial (erotic and violent) content, but we must do so recognizing the rights and responsibilities of all stakeholders. However, we can’t stop eroticism by censorship, but we can certainly encourage social responsibility about sex and the use of  sexual content by: implementing a rating system; educating people about their human rights and responsibilities, especially children’s right to protection from harmful and exploitative content, freedom of expression and association, privacy, and safe environmental conditions; and put policies and legislation in place to guide  behavior, assess and monitor public spaces accessible to our children, such as public transportation and street dances.

The pornographic industry is very big in Jamaica, as elsewhere in the world, and therefore there is high demand for erotic songs and dances like Daggering. This might just be an opportunity for Jamaica to dominate a new sub-genre of music, continuing on its path as a major contributor and shaper of world music.

Dancehall Poster featuring Bounty Killa

I was inspired to write this article after watching the following video, which explores findings from Dr. Donna Hope‘s thesis and book about Dancehall sub-culture in the Jamaican society. The interview is presented in the colorful Jamaican dialect, which enables a wide cross-section of Jamaicans to share in and understand her work. The discussion is based on some of the core themes of the Dancehall sub-culture, including: masculinity, empowerment of the poor, and gender relations. The research is an important addition to Caribbean Sociology and I hope it will inspire writers, theorists and critics to see the Jamaican Dancehall as fertile ground for further research and the generation of other perspectives.

Beenie Man's Dancehall CD Cover