When a music came of age
It is fair to say Jamaican dancehall music had its heyday during the 1990s.
After a steady burn during the decades of the 80s thanks to artistes such as Tiger, General Trees Lieutenant Stitchie, Papa San and Lady G, the genre would explode in the decade which followed.
This explosion was fuelled, for the most part, by the crossover appeal which the music had especially with young North Americans.
This resulted in a number of artistes being signed to major international music labels, and the spin-offs were huge.
Arguably the biggest artiste to emerge from this period was deejay Shabba Ranks.
In 1991, Shabba scored what has been described as a major deal with Epic record label; earned two Grammy awards (Raw as Ever in 1991 and
X-tra Naked the following year)and toured extensively. His duet, Housecall, with singer Maxi Priest raced up the charts on both sides of the Atlantic as did the follow-up Mr Loverman.
Other dancehall artistes to make an impact internationally include Patra, who was also signed to Epic. Corba, who inked a deal with Columbia, had the hit track Flex, which reached number seven on the US R&B chart and number 13 on Billboard’s Hot 100 singles.
Singer Diana King would also make it big in the 1990s. Thanks to a deal with Sony her 1995 project Tougher Than Love would spawn the hit single Shy Guy which effectively made it into the mainstream.
The single made it to number 13 on the Billboard Hot 100, number two on the UK singles chart and the top spot on the Eurochart Hot 100 singles. Shy Guy would receive additional visibility due to its inclusion in the soundtrack of the 1995 film Bad Boys starring Will Smith and Martin Lawrence.
The explosion internationally would have a profound impact locally.
Dancehall now not only became a genre, but spread its wings to involve fashion and a wide array of activities and events.
In the world of film, dancehall , its music and culture, would become the plot around which films such as Kla$h and Dancehall Queen were built. Dancehall culture also would give rise to Carlene the Dancehall Queen, designers Earl ‘Biggy’ Turner and the Ouch Crew.
