NEWS: Reggae Industry to End Homophobic Lyrics

MUSIC: Dancehall Reggae Industry to End Homophobic Lyrics

Following a campaign by activist coalition 'Stop Murder Music', dancehall reggae labels and promoters have made a verbal agreement to no longer release records with homophobic lyrics, or host concerts for offending artists.

Outrage.org has an extensive guide to the history of homophobia in dancehall music.

To be more specific: Dancehall, not Reggae.

I don't see how they're going to stop concerts by people like Beenie Man, Bounty Killer, or Yellowman. These are some of the biggest artists in the genre.

A.) Thanks. Corrected.

B.) Yeah. I think that's why this was a "verbal" agreement.

A) Cool...it's weird that the NME article that is linked only mentions reggae and not dancehall. Makes me wonder if this "verbal" agreement was even made with the correct labels and promoters. Dancehall (in general) has been pretty unwilling to change, and homophobic lyrics have not really hurt their album sales at all.

They stopped some in the UK. Visas were refused, and gigs were cancelled as the venues didn't want the hassle.

Although won't this just mean new artists 'hide' this side to their music - i.e. until they get involved with a big promoter there'll be no pressure to stop being a homophobe.

But it's a very, very good start. Well done Outrage.

Guardian article here explains more.

[Edited on Feb 09, 2005 4:42PM]

From Outrage:

Interesting. Although I think it's a pretty foul practice, and have thrown people out of a couple of my bands in the past for writing lyrics like this, I also think that some of the people who look at guys like Sizzla as leading an army of gay-bashers are the same people who think that gangster rappers are being serious. It's a metaphor that's derived from the unparalleled homophobia in Jamaican society as much as it comes from individual performers' prejudices.

[Edited on Feb 09, 2005 by aj]

They denied Sizzla a visa, and he's one of the biggest, and they got Greensleeves, the biggest dancehall label in the world, to agree ot it. I think they're well past the starting point.

I think I get it.

The deal looks like this: The call to ban these artists (and the guardian article lists a bunch: the biggest artists in Dancehall, in fact) will be stopped, and the industry 'promises' to knock off the Homophobic lyrics. A step in the right direction, i guess. But isn't a homophobe a homophobe, even if he's not shouting it from the rooftops?
This has always been a weird issue for me; on the one hand a lot of these lyrics are amazingly offensive, but I hate to see free speech (no matter how much i dislike it) curtailed. Dancehall is great party music, but so much of it is tainted by this kind of shit that I can't really get into it.

I think that cutting down on representation of a homophobic viewpoint in dancehall will definitely change the public discourse about homophobia, especially in a place like Jamaica that has long fostered a relatively accepting environment for even the most vile homophobia. That said, there's no shortage of homophobic lyrics from the US or other places, and there's always been an easy solution to that: don't buy those assholes' records.

You know that some label or artist is going to totally backlash and become "the most homophobic toaster around!" He'll probably sell, too.

They could make stickers that look like the Souljazz reissues- 500% HOMOPHOBIC!!

I didn't even know there were homophobic lyrics, but then, I can't understand a word they saypast I an' I.

Well some of the jamaican slang for "fag" is "chi chi men", "bugger man", "bingi man", "bow cat", "shitty", "shit-man", "batty-fuckers" or "battybwoys".

Dancehall music has lyrics now?

Am I being too much of a killjoy to announce my skepticism? I mean, nice gesture and all, but...ha! Like it's going to happen.

Its a good step, but I can't imagine much is going to change as long as there is a market for stuff like this. Homophobia runs rampant in Jamaica and until public perception changes, DJs are going keep it up. Unlike the broader reggae genre, dancehall's market is largely in Jamaica and it reflects the attitudes of the Jamaican population (in general) or at least their tolerance of such attitudes. More non-Jamaican public awareness won't hurt since most people don't have a clue what they are saying and therefore don't realize what they are listening, too.

I'm a big reggae fan, but I'll never be able to get into dancehall until they cut the fucking slackness.

[Edited on Feb 09, 2005 12:13PM]

actually, there is an actual reggae song against gay marriage
i don't know who sang it, but I did hear it the other night
"woman to man" or some shit


I agree that this won't do much
after all, on bob marley's birthday, they declared a "violence free day"
and like 4 peple got murdered that morning


oh, and I KNEW this would come up once dancehall started getting all huge again in the last year or so

[Edited on Feb 09, 2005 by KMFCM]

I think if labels are involved the power of the purse comes into play.

Well, at least they're trying. Maybe they'll make some progress.

Whoa, the lyrics on that site are just unbelievably crass and bigotted. I had heard about this kind of thing, but I had no idea it that blatant.

As much as I hate the homophobia in dancehall, I don't think groups like OutRage are on the right track.

For one thing, it's ridiculous to finger dancehall lyrics as inciting violence against gays. For the yardies, these beliefs come from the fact that Jamaica has the most churches per capita in the world, many of them the American imported, charismatic, fire and brimstone, type of churches.

And it is not necessarily against 'just' gays, its against sexual behaviour they deem as 'immoral' (as twisted and hypocritical as that can be). Sure, you'll hear songs about lighting gays on fire, but you'll also hear songs about a man having anal sex with a woman being a battybwai, fit for burning. There are songs by female artists talking about how they won't give or recieve oral sex, and a whole bunch of other acts they view as deviations.

It's interesting, because many Jamaican's actually view homosexuality as an 'import from Babylon'. Any DJ that caves into pressure from a group like Outrage (from Babylon), will instantly end his career. Beenie Man a few years ago tried to ease up on the homophobic lyrics, and found that to be a danger to his life and career.

The only way these DJ's can really promise to end these sort of lyrics is for them to retire. Dancehall simply cannot be exported without the respect and airplay it first gets in Jamaica.

I certainly don't agree with the homophobic message, but the right to hold unpopular beliefs needs to be upheld. Hate music NEEDS to be allowed to exist, because it is a slippery slope once unpopular ideas are 'banned', and this sort of thing fans the flames....

Nobody is proposing a ban on homophobic lyrics. That would imply either governmental collusion or outright censorship. When the three biggest dancehall labels in the world agree to voluntarily discourage homophobic lyrics, we're dealing in the economics of homophobia as much as common cultural beliefs. Even though it may be condoned in Jamaica, there's nothing preventing any progressive-minded label owner with his or her eye on foreign sales from cutting the slackness from future releases.

As for the rest, I agree, homophobia is a culturally ingrained belief in Jamaica, but the small resistance to it from within Jamaica is evidence enough that it is neither universal nor in danger of being stamped out by marauding gay rights advocates. Homophobia will live in Jamaica for generations, even as the country moves towards greater secularization.

what nonesense. i want homophobic artists to sing about it. that way i know who they are.

Yeah, foreign sales are the only way any of these DJ's can make a decent living. Last time I was in Jamaica, the only CD's I ever saw for sale were CDR's.

I've read some of the trials and tribulations of gays living in Jamaica, and I can't think of a worse place for someone to attempt to be openly gay in.

It's odd, because the stereotype of Jamaica and Jamaican's is that they are a warm and friendly people, which I largely agree with. However, it is not a place to be openly gay in, and not a place to visit during elections.

Oh, there are others that are worse, but they're all in the Caribbean.

Coconuts and palm oil aren't much of a natural resource. Gotta bring in them tourist dollars, eh?