NEWS: Reggae Industry to End Homophobic Lyrics

As long as they don't think this is gonna work with rap.

Just thought y'all should read that again because it's spot on.

Hmmm....I just glanced at the Outrage site, read through a couple of the articles posted there and there seems to be a general lack of awareness on their part that dancehall lyrics are not meant to be interpreted by their literal (American or British) English meanings. dancehall DJs also frequently talk about "soundboy murder," "killing the soundboy," "soundboy burial," and, when they do, it doesn't mean they wish to commit homicide against--or hold funeral services for--the opposing crew of DJs. They just mean that they want to beat them in a soundclash in the same way that rival crew of b-boys, DJs, and MCs battle in hip-hop.

In fact, it often doesn't even imply any actual hostility toward the opposing crew. It's more like the kind of rivalry between sports teams where actual violence against members of the opposing team is the exception, not the rule.

This not to excuse, or condone, the homophobia which is endemic in Dancehall, but to point out that it isn't "incitement to murder" and this what the artists say when asked about it, but no one listens because what they hear in the lyrics is "burn the battyboy."

In the end, the crowds rule the dancehall--if a dancehall DJ plays an tune and the crowd doesn't respond well the chances of them playing it again are greatly reduced-I've see inexperienced DJs put the wrong tune on and had a whole crowd of Jamaicans stop and just stare at them looking fucking pissed and I've seen DJs throw records away after getting a particularly bad response. I've also been there when the DJ starts talking a lot of homophobic garbage and, as someone who once identified as gay, it can be pretty fucking disturbing to see a whole crowd sing a long to a particularly homophobic song-but not all crowds will do that. I've also dropped tune after killer dancehall tune and watched a mixed crowd of older Jamaicans and white lesbians go fucking crazy...it happens.

Not quite.

A "chi chi" is a bird, so a chi chi man is someone who flies away at the first sign of trouble. It also implies "light" or soft so unfortunately you will hear this term directed at gays.
A "bingi man" is short for Nyabinghi and is a reference to a Rastafarian practice and hence is another way of saying Rastaman and has nothing to do with sexuality.
Batty means butt and those other terms could be applied equally to anyone engaging in so called "immoral" sex acts.
"Murder" doesn't neccessarily mean kill. It can also mean defeat or rise above: such as in a contest between DJ's.
"Burn" can mean purify or teach.
"Slack" lyrics were all the rage 8-10 years ago and had thankfully faded into near obscurity until Dancehall started to garner some attention outside Jamaica.

It's important to understand what manual said in that "bowing down" (especially to a foreign culture, which infers slavery) or back peddling is a huge social faux pas in Jamica.
Despite the vast majority of artists having abandoned these types of lyrics for nearly a decade when Brett Lock and Outrage began their witch hunt, artists such as Beenie Man or Buju Banton (who hasn't written or performed anything even remotely slack since his Rasta conversion in 1994) were asked to explain or justify their earlier work. This despite clear references in their newer lyrics to forward thinking and stressing the importance, as reggae always has, of progress.
Right or wrong, there is no way these artists careers would survive if they formally retracted or bowed to pressure from those outside the community.
What has happened is the opposite. Enormous pressure is being put on Dancheall artists to perform these songs again and a whole new and much worse brand of slackness has ensued.
This has much more to do with concepts of integrity and fortitude that it does with homophobia.

What's really sad is that as a result of Outrage's sophomoric censorship campaign, Dancehall and names like Buju Banton are forever and wrongly associated as homophobic in many peoples minds right at a time when Jamaican music is/was about to see a worldwide audience for the first time since Bob Marley.





[Edited on Feb 09, 2005 by 1point6180]

I hate to point this out (again) to you guys, but we are not talking about a. censorship, as in the state-sponsored quashing of free speech, nor b. judging homophobic lyrics in terms of Jamaican attitudes towards homophobia. What this consortium of promoters and labels has realized is that, regardless of whether or not Buju Banton or Beenie Man or whoever are currently singing about homophobia, there is a widespread perception outside of Jamaica that homophobia is actively embraced in dancehall. Making a grand public gesture is a great way to fight that perception, and good insurance against future problems with DJs performing abroad.

I don't think Outrage literally believe that every dancehall lyric about killing batty bwoys is a direct instruction to some hypothetical army of gay bashers, but it's certainly an effective rhetorical tactic. Why they would pick out some of these people is a bit of a mystery, but then again, Tipper Gore took on Snoop Dogg for saying "bitches ain't shit but hoes and tricks," while giving Johnny Cash a pass on "I took a shot of cocaine and shot my woman down."

ack

never mind.......

[Edited on Feb 09, 2005 by 1point6180]

Ahhh, I don't know. I think that OutRage is utilizing the state laws to stop entrance and performances of DJ's. I believe it was Buju that they attempted to have arrested if he performed, which apparently would violate UK hate-speech laws. Most people that attend dancehall shows, parties, bashments, etc, are West Indians. West Indians that don't care about the public perception of a music they claim ownership of. Hell, even Sean Paul got a lot of flack for toning down the patois to make it easier for western ears to understand, and some of the yardmen got pissed over even just that. Similar criticisms have been directed towards Beenie Man for the same thing.

I do support alot of the efforts by gay rights activists, but like alot of political causes, some tend to swing a little too far, which I believe actually hurts their cause. There are some gay activist's that would love to see the Bible outlawed under hate speech laws, but doing so would give more fuel and resolve to the Bible-homophobes. Just like some laws that prohibit "white power" music. These prohibitions on freedom of speech only justify the neo-nazis belief that they are a persecuted minority.

To someone really concerned about political correctness in all music, there is plenty of criticism that could be applied to dancehall (and many other types of music). There are lyrics that can be contrued as racist (every Chinese person in Jamaica has the name name: Mr. Chin), East Indians are coolie-men. It can be sexist, and hyper-sexual. Beenie man even sang that he would still fuck Lady Saw even if she was a cripple (what's wrong with cripples?). Some can be contrued as anti-american (although it don't take much to earn that label anymore), or anti-babylon in general. Some lyrics diss Muslims, and many lyrics make strong statements about refusing to cave in to babylonian influence.

"Certain things wah gwan a foreign, can't gwan a Jamaica
Nah support no chi chi and we nah support no raper
Nah support no bwoy, wah bruk we foot and tek we paper
Dat can't gwan a Jamaica, that can't gwan a Jamaica
Certain things wah gwan a foreign, can't gwan a Jamaica
Man a worship Allah, like dem forget di Creator
How you fi diss we up and you nuh greet di undertaker
Dat can't gwan a Jamaica, that can't gwan a Jamaica"

Interesting note about Snoop and Cash, as I believe (classic)country and rap are very close cousins.
And country shares alot of simularities with reggae too, its apparent in the alternating bass notes, and 'chugging'.
However, the reason that Cash got a pass is simple: he's white.

I know man... I've only listened to like 4 or 5 of Sizzla's 30 or so albums, but the only bashin' I hear is against Babylonians

Like I said, this isn't about whether or not people in the West Indies care about homophobia; if it were, nothing would have been done, because homophobia receives de jure and de facto support throughout the Indies. OutRage has simply leveraged existing UK hate-speech laws to effect some change, and they've succeeded. If the "Dancehall Hate Speech Act of 2004" were passed tomorrow, then we could talk about censorship, but this is hardly a case of the UK singling out inidivual musicians or genres via some organized campaign.

I think that the aim is generally to encourage a plurality of beliefs, not a single agenda. This is concomitant with hate speech laws, which are highly specific as to what sort of speech they effect, so it is outlawing speech, but I don't think gay rights org's are the censorship-mongers you're thinking of.

very well said...

6 year bump!

7 year itch!

CRABS!