The 90’s saw some of the best music being made, both in Jamaica and internationally. In my opinion, music was at its prime in the 90s, especially dancehall. Anybody who knows me, knows that I am a big fan of 90s dancehall, however, I was not old enough to enjoy the music at that time and as I grew older and was now able to enjoy the dancehall, those types of music were no longer being played or made. Therefore I had to either go to The Quad Night Club on a Wednesday night when Retro Wednesdays was being held there, or I had to listen to Zip 103fm on a Tuesday when they have throwback Tuesdays.
I just thought myself so unfortunate, that I could not attend the average dancehall session and hear the best dancehall music being played there. Recently, however, I have seen where dancehall is returning to its roots; dancehall has returned to the bass line in the beats. It was not until I heard songs such as “Bubble” by Konshens and “Wine up Me Body” by Cham that I realized that, the bass line was what was missing from the dancehall songs in recent times. The bass line just adds a bit of flavor to the music; a bit of uniqueness; it is what makes the music dancehall.
In the early 2000s, producers started playing around with the sound of the music, trying to get a sort of Hip Hop, cross over sound, so they can cross over into the main stream market. Ironically though, songs that have crossed over into the main stream market are songs with original dancehall beats. An example of this is Sean Paul’s “Jus Gimme Di Light”.
Though I still enjoy the new beats that are being made and the songs on them, I have to say that I very much prefer the original dancehall beats. Those are much closer to home, and nowhere is better than home.
Dancehall is back and I love it!!!
