Sound Clash Jamaican Dancehall Culture at Large [Paperback]

Megawattage sound systems have blasted the electronically-enhanced riddims and tongue-twisting lyrics of Jamaica's dancehall DJs across the globe. This high-energy raggamuffin music is often dismissed by old-school roots reggae fans as a raucous degeneration of classic Jamaican popular music. In this provocative study of dancehall culture, Cooper offers a sympathetic account of the philosophy of a wide range of dancehall DJs: Shabba Ranks, Lady Saw, Ninjaman, Capleton, Buju Banton, Anthony B and Apache Indian. Cooper also demonstrates the ways in which the language of dancehall culture, often devalued as mere 'noise,' articulates a complex understanding of the border clashes which characterize Jamaican society, and analyzes the sound clashes that erupt in the movement of Jamaican dancehall culture across national borders.Introduction: Word, Sound & Power Border Clash: Sites of Contestation Slackness Personified: Representations of Female Sexuality in the Lyrics of Bob Marley and Shabba Ranks Lady Saw Cuts Loose: Female Fertility Rituals in the Dancehall 'Mama, is That You?': Erotic Disguise in the Films Dancehall Queen and Babymother 'Lyrical Gun': Metaphor and Role-Play in Dancehall Culture 'More Fire': Chanting Down Babylon from Bob Marley to Capleton 'Vile Vocals': Exporting Jamaican Dancehall Lyrics to Barbados Hip-Hopping Across Cultures: Reggae to Rap and Back Mix up the Indian with all the Patwa: Rajamuffin Sounds in Cool Britannia The Dancehall Transnation: Language, Literature and Global Jamaica

'Cooper makes compelling - and as usual - controversial arguments about the fundamental relevance of dancehall music to the critical understanding of Jamaican culture to claat.' - Colin Channer, author of Satisfy my Soul and Waiting in Vain

CAROLYN COOPER is a Professor at the University of the West Indies, Mona, Jamaica. She is the author of Noises in the Blood.