dancehall – Crasstalk

The Many Sounds of the Sleng Teng Riddim

In 1985, Wayne Smith and King Jammy teamed up to create what is quite possibly the greatest dancehall riddim of all time. They called it Sleng Teng. They released a song with it, called “Under Mi Sleng Teng.” The rest is history. Continue reading →

Boom Bye Bye: Buju guilty!

14 comments

Boh! Buju Banton: Dancehall artist/Hip hop collaborator/Batty mon killer/cocaine trafficer was convicted in Florida (Babylon) for conspiracy to traffic cocaine. It kinda dispells the whole Rasta image to get convicted of trying to buy 11 pounds of coke. What? You’re going to tell me that he eats meat and sugar and doesn’t just eat bannanas and yams? Buju’s gawn have to man up in prison, lest the battys get to him.

Here’s some vids: I didn’t embed them because it slows crasstalk.com down like crazy. Hah, what am I kidding, no one reads the articles!

Boom Bye Bye

I don\’t know why – Wayne Wonder & Buju

Damian & Ziggy & Buju – I know you don\’t care

Bob Marley is dead: Dancehall reggae of the 80s and early 90s

5 comments

Jamaica in the 80s and early 90s was a tough place. OK, I wasn’t there, but the country was certainly facing a lot of challenges. By 1982, the spiritual godfather of reggae, Bob Marley was dead. Peter Tosh would be brutally murdered in 1987. In 1980, after years of left-leaning governments, the Reagan-allied Edward Seaga took over as prime minister and the political violence would continue for much of the next 30 years. Meanwhile Jamaica’s economy was decimated by cocaine-related violence, high inflation and IMF-mandated austerity measures.

But despite all that misery, Jamaica, the tiny little island, truly grew into a world superpower when it came to music. Here are some tracks from the first post-Bob generation of Jamaican dancehall performers. This isn’t a canon, just a small selection of songs I like. So turn up your subwoofer…

“Diseases” by Michigan and Smiley – 1982