Staff writer – Kerran Monroe
There has been a lot of talk about older artistes or dinosaurs in dancehall recently. Younger artistes complain that the older artistes need to give them a chance to survive in the business, as they (the older artistes) already had their chance. However some of these older artistes such as Lady Saw, Bounty killer and Beenie have managed to maintain their relevance, despite the increased competition they are faced with.
Some of the feuds between older and new artistes, include, Lady Saw and Spice and Bounty Killer and Tommy Lee. In most of these cases, the younger artistes claim that the older or more seasoned artistes do not give the respect that they should to new artistes; and they will not just sit back and respect their elders when the elders do not know how to show respect themselves.
Ninja Man who is arguably, the dinosaur of all dinosaurs who is still relevant in dancehall, has along with Specialist a fresh artiste on the dancehall scene; have chosen to take a different approach in this war of the ages. The two, who are signed to Downsound Records, have voiced a new track, tackling this issue of older artistes vs younger artistes.
Papa san. Photo courtesy papasan.fourfour.com
In the track Ninja Man of course represents the older artistes, while Specialist represents the younger generation of artistes. In the track, entitled “Dweet”, Ninja Man makes mention of the godfathers of dancehall such as Papa San et al; while Specialist refers to the nowadays giants such as Mavado and Vyzbz Kartel. Additionally in the song, Specialist calls for the old artistes to retire and give the younger generation their time to shine. Ninaj Man, argues however, that these young artistes cannot perform their own songs, as a result, the older folks in the business have to remain. In a recent interview Specialist and Ninja Man have said that the track is to show that both sets of artistes can coexist and work together.
The track has an original dancehall sound; so it kind of takes you back to the days when dancehall was in its original state. Have a look at other stories like this here http://ow.ly/jAz4A
