Spragga Benz Lucky Star, March 18
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Technically, anything played at dance halls can be called dance-hall music, but it’s popularly defined as sampled beats from R & B, reggae, pop, and East Indian tunes over a bass-heavy reggae rhythm with DJs toasting in Jamaican patois. This patois, a blend of English, Spanish, and west African languages, can be hard to understand. A recent dance-hall song, “Maga Man,” contains the line “maga man ‘ave some big piece a wood.” If you’re familiar with the sexual references of many dance-hall songs “big piece a wood” isn’t hard to figure out. But how many Americans know that “maga” means skinny?
Being a dance-hall DJ is something many Jamaican youths aspire to because it’s one of the few professions open to them where they can make money and become famous. They can start as young as eight, working for various sound systems, developing a unique voice and an ear for “riddims.” Competition is tough as hundreds of young people try to get to a handful of dance-hall producers.
Two Grammy awards, two gold albums, and international video and radio play brought Shabba more commercial success than any dance-hall star before or since. He moved to the U.S. and didn’t perform in Jamaica for three years, which helped alienate him from his Jamaican fan base. Then he publicly defended Buju Banton’s “Boom Bye Bye,” which details the shooting of gays, but when the media turned on him he backed down. Backing down is something the reputation of a “rude bwoy” cannot take.
“Body Good” was greeted with such enthusiasm that he just waved the mike back and forth as the audience sang the chorus: “Yuh body good, and it a show / Look how yuh skin just a glisten and a glow.” The “Arab riddim,” which incorporates East Indian music and throbbing drumbeats in the hook, drove the crowd to a grinding, sweating spectacle.
