Recording artiste and music executive CeCile has found herself clarifying statements she made several years ago regarding juggling rhythms in dancehall. This after being called out by a social media user following an OBSERVER ONLINE story on Thursday. Sharing his sentiments on what he believed would be an important step to making dancehall ‘great again’, renowned producer Notnice expressed that the industry needs to revive the juggling culture. Pointing out the importance of having multiple artistes voicing on one rhythm, Notnice said today’s music landscape has become too singles-driven. He expressed that artistes need to get back to a place of collaboration if the genre is to return to the level of prestige it once had. While joining scores of other readers in expressing support of the view expressed by the Billboard-charting producer, one Instagram user singled out CeCile, stating that the Woot Woot singer many years ago shared an opposing argument. Wess_branxx wrote, “people like @badgyalcecile nuh feel so. I remember watching an interview hearing her say she caa believe she come bak a Jamaica and a bag a people still bungle up pan a riddim.”  CeCile in her defense, responded, arguing that juggling rhythms are favourable to producers but not artistes.  She held her ground when contacted by the 

OBSERVER ONLINE, expressing that based on the lack of benefits to artistes, juggling rhythms shouldn’t be par for the course in dancehall music.  “My take on it is that it should be a novelty thing. It shouldn’t be the norm. One beat with eight or nine acts is stepping backwards in my opinion. The fans love it but they don’t see all the sides,” she shared. “As an artiste, juggling works mostly for the producer who wants to own the songs and the masters and the artiste really has no rights to his song, especially if it hits (of course unless they are signed and have that advantage to press the producers).” “Of course a novelty juggling every now and then can add ‘spice and flavour’ to the industry. But ask yourselves; has juggling stopped full time?” she continued. “Are singles doing well? Is Popcaan doing well with singles, is Koffee doing well with singles, is Chronixx doing well, is Protégé doing well? And ask them if they’d prefer to be on juggling. Does it make sense if they can do their own music and get their own acclaim and own more percentage of their creations?” She explained that with the global music industry moving towards a place where more and more artistes are seeking to own the masters to their life’s works, local artistes are simply just trying to follow the business model. “Artistes are in a better position when they own their masters, this is where the world is leaning towards. Everyday more and more we see artistes complaining when they find out they’ve not been getting as much as they should from their creations. ” Adding that with the advent of technology came musical liberation some artistes had only dreamed of, CeCile said the industry pivoted away from the producer and toward the artiste. She said that shift in dynamics also affected the industry’s ‘power structure’.  “With technology it became easier to form your own crew and not have to go to the most established person/producer/studio anymore…or stand outside at a studio for hours waiting to be noticed,” she said. “Technology is why we have so many producers now…so even the  new sound is because it’s easier for interested minds to experiment and make music based on what they like. You can’t force them to do dancehall the typical sound, and you can’t force them to go on a juggling. If they realise they making more money by doing it their way, it’s up to individuals to do what they think is best.” “And I believe the latter will only add to musical diversity. So I’d say let’s us all be creative and do our own thing. If one wants to juggle go ahead. If one wants to do trap go ahead. If one wants to do typical dancehall go ahead. Times have changed. There just not one way to do things anymore,” she shared.