I said it before years ago…2013 to be exact that the music out of Africa will be next to rise. I didnt say it because of their numbers, I said it because of their dedication , drive and attitude…Now, all of a sudden ”Afro-beats” are running the place..
What are Afro-beats? Afro-beats are bit of old school Reggae and Dancehall, mixed in with the sounds of Africa. The beats are catchy and so are the dance moves. And yes they are taking over because they have a different mind set. Whatever they are doing it is working for them.
Recently I had the pleasure of talking to a popular artiste from Nigeria and the conversation centered around his performance costs. He is not the most popular artiste but for him to perform he is asking for 85,000 USD, if one wants to use his complete set up. I wasn’t surprised , because a few years ago D’banj commanded a fee of 100,000 USD per show. And are they worth it? Yes they are! They have a very good command of the stage and their performances are remembered because they are that good!
After seeing that they were on the come up years ago, I saw that Dancehall was on the decline. Popularity in Jamaica does not mean popularity internationally , not only that, where there is money there are women and groupies have been on the decline. The long and short of it is ;- Dancehall artistes are not making their ”worth” and you can tell this by the amount of time they are spending in Jamaica. No one is booking them like that because they are NOT bringing in profits.
Before, if you were an established Jamaican artiste you would be booked for 12 shows every month, 16 shows if you had it going on. Jamaican artistes are saying they are booked when they have only 6 shows out of Jamaica per month. They have settled for what they are getting and are comfortable with the Dancehall’s steady decline, because people in Jamaica are crazy about their music…….
Surprise Surprise, the international audience is not feeling it! The songs are forgotten in a matter of months because of the wishy washy lyrics. By the time the song would have spun the globe, they are forgotten.
What has caused the decline?
Dancehall and Reggae music was the voice of the streets and the people. Men with vision wrote the beats. Now, beats are being copied from American producers and whatever un-thought-of nonsense an artiste wants to put on the ”riddim” is readily applied. The formula isn’t working! Every Jamaican artiste is now dreaming of crossing over, this is their new drive ……..BUT—-if you are already using American beats what is there to cross over with or to? There is no unique sound that the international audience hasn’t heard so what is being used to pull them?
Artiste are just putting themselves in a box where there are many to choose from and not in a unique setting where they are a part of the chosen few……….So….
Now they are saying that the ”Africans” are stealing their styles!
To be direct, Africans have made their style from ”Old Dancehall” beats before Kartel and NotNice crossed it over. Dancehall was given to the present artistes on a silver platter and they dropped the baton when they started glorifying one artiste and not try to produce their own sound and their own music..Yes! Africans have taken the style but they also know the formula which is to have an authentic sound and have a positive attitude behind it all.
Jamaican artistes are now stuck, not knowing what to do so now they are blaming the Africans. Don’t blame them, man up to the garbage you have been writing and putting on riddims. There is not one artiste presently in Jamaica who is worth 85,000 USD per performance. If the music was as good as thought, it would have appealed to the masses WORLDWIDE. The fact that it is steadily declining shows that there is a lack in the quality of the music and it’s not worth the time or the effort in dollars. Man up!
Other reasons for the decline
-Jamaican music studios are not much about making music, they are about a handful of men gathering everyday to eat, smoke, drink and talk about each other. Music is work! Put in the work
-Everyone wants to do music to be popular, there is no genuine love for the art. Art comes from the soul and once its being done just for the sake of doing it, it becomes a carbon copy. No originality.
– There is no love between artistes. Back in the day, multiple artistes could voice on a single riddim and every song would sound original and be a hit. Now, artistes are stopping producers from voicing multiple artistes on their riddim in fear of that artiste ”dimming” their light. Good music is good music and camaraderie is shown when people work together. If it worked then, it will still work now.
– Where there is no vision, the people will perish. The music is being written off international /American artistes’ vision and no one has a mind of their own. The music is perishing. No substance.
– Through one man, Dancehall came into the world (King Yellowman) through one man dancehall has seen its destruction ( Vybz Kartel). Yellow man came into Dancehall as someone who would have been otherwise ostracized from society but he came in with love and to date, no one has ever has a scuffle with the King. On the other hand, it is not bad lyrics that Kartel brought into Dancehall, it is the darkness that he tried to slide his music on. The abuse of women, the bullying of other artistes, the stealing of styles from younger artistes and the narcissism that came with him made it hard for promoters . This man had the nerve to want to bully Assassin only because Assassin is a great Dancehall artiste. His potential made him want to put Assassin in a box of fear so that he would be the only talent in the field.
The new wave of artistes have emulated this pattern and have thought that it was the formula and are now confused as to why it’s not working for them. Love always wins.
Regardless of how many selectors are pushing Kartel’s music on the masses, it is only keeping him popular on the island. Americans Hip Hop and Rap artistes are now looking to Africa because there is nothing much Jamaica has to offer them in terms of sound and the lyrics are wack.
So while Jamaican artistes continue to lament on Dancehall’s decline and not try to fix it. I am on board with the Africans whose music is reminding the world of ”old but glorious Dancehall’.
Met
Why single out Sasco? Was he the only one bullied by Fartel? Look how many other names you could have called? Sasco held his own against badmine Kartel, what about who couldn’t and have faded away? What about those out of his Empire cult, that he banned from performing the hits he wrote for them, who weren’t able to recover or write new hits so their career FAILED? Don’t be biased. Sasco don’t even get 1/4 of Kartel’s fury. He is not a victim here.
You struggle with comprehension.
very well stated Met
Amen!!
Dancehall was dying before Kartel, he just brought it to its early grave. Afro beats to the world. I love it, the dancing is smooth and catchy. I am going to do some practice for next summer lol
Only thing on these entertainers hearts, is to go back to Jamaica and show off “Mi rich!”
A this morning Mi a listen and a build a playlists with some Afro beats. The author is right, Afro beats is taking ova from reggae because it has more global appeal, however, on balance, it remains to be seen if these new beats won’t go the same way as some of these latter dancehall music (quickly forgotten). Also I think there are other social factors that might be at play, Africans are scattered globally and with them many second and third generation Africans which means they have a much larger market share in places like Europe and Asia, besides, socially things have changed a lot in Jamaica since bob Marley and Denis brown time, the music is no longer an expression of the struggles that many people can relate to, it’s about hype which only few people that will hear the music can genuinely relate to. I still have faith in our music though, I don’t believe these computer generated beats can ever compare to the sound of the real instruments.
Big facts, old school dancehall will live forever because of the authenticity and vibes. Most of the Africans are singing patois too in their songs. Dem tek everything and a do good wid it. Even reggaeton did a gwaan wid a ting. Jamaicans don’t understand how loved and unique they are until they realized its not working for them anymore. ( The music, the fashion, and other things).
Kartel could never have destroyed dancehall it is the sean paul and shaggys with their cross over antics led to artistes wanting to cross over more than ever before also we as jamaicans love foreign things over ja ones and this spills over to the music most stations now play 75% pop and electronica music due to what is being demanded by the public maybe dancehall would be doing better if kartel were out dancehall died when kartel went to prison the quality of the music is nothing now
Only performer I see pulls huge crowds,and still going, is beres Hammond, he is truly an icon.
Most dem yute yah prefer fi rub out dem hand miggle and smoke and drink Hennessey all day long than work on their craft. The dedication and commitment required to master an art form dem nuh have di time fah. They couldn’t even converse with the likes of Sly and Robbie cause the mentality is completely different. Nuff a dem lack true passion for their art, dem mind ongle on eating a food and stroking dem ego cause they were on this or that show or get fi travel abroad. Afrobeats is actually fun, and I prefer it to Reggaeton. I have no problems with African artistes receiving their accolades and thriving cause we all one blood, like Junior Reid would seh.
Everything happens on cycles, Dancehall will come back, wedda we alive to see it or not, but it will for sure happen in the appointed time. Buju a come out soon and there is great anticipation to see what he is coming with. He may be the catalyst of change in dancehall.
I am shocked that Popcaan is not a bigger star than he currently is. I actually pegged him to be the next great dancehall celebrity, his discography is solid, so I am shocked that while he does have a thriving career he is not at that level of musical global renown like Beenie Man, SP, Shaggy, Shabba and others were at the height of their careers.
Whats holding back popcaan is he cannot travel to america so he is not able to make a impact on the american market.
Cho rahtid full up innu glass dis need a toast it write good. Like yuh affi go write chune gi dem eno. One ting i know for sure is that the music really dont last di songs dem get stale out quickly fi true. A peer fight dung tings a gwan fi real some producer naaa even put yuh on if yuh nuh have name or freaking ig follower like di f**k a wah dat afta ig follower s nuh mek di person music.
“Dunce-Hall” is on life support because of the very said current audience, its a reflection of the jamiacan society today, no vision, no morals, no ethics, no conduct,stand for nothing more than materialism and glamour and hype, the jamaican govt. is also to share some of the blame also, imagine you have a cabinet post of minister of sports, youth and culture, and i would want to think that post deals to some extent with our cultural attributes, music plays a pivital role in our culture and from time the government could’nt a take a more responsible role of advisor, mentor even consultant, yes, i will never say the govt. can DICTATE to artists, producers, managers etc. or DICTATE the direction of the music because we’re in a free market capitalist age, but if the govt. realized that we had a good thing going from the revolutionary and commercial era from shabba, supercat, papa san onwards, could’nt the govt. take a responsible pro-active approach of mentoring and guidance? advising all the impact players in the business and industry to solidify the music by foundating and structurizing it by invistmenting some of their earned money in it,all the govt. care about is collecting taxes from it to line their coffers as with anything and everything else they deals with in jamaica, and so we had something good, and its slipping away, look how may genres of music it influene and created.
The great Gargamel… Buju.. will be the actual to follow… Once he is set free…
This was a very good read Miss! I couldn’t wait to get to the end to see who the writer was. I think this deserves to be published! Ur writing style is phenomenal
Yes yes yes! Mi tyad fi hear bout gum the gum and similar rubbish. I call it audio-porn. In fairness, there has been a decline in music of all genres, specifically Rap/hip-hop, R&B and pop. Everything older just sounds better! Everyone gets a turn in life, so it’s time for Afrobeats artists to shine. Hopefully they will have more respect for the culture than Jamaican artists have shown. Too bad the baton wasn’t handed down from yellow man to Agent Sasco or Buju.