Dancehalls

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A dancehall in Jamaica is an open area, usually fenced in, where neighborhood parties are held by DJs and their sound system. DJ Kool Herc brought this form of entertainment to New York in the mid 1970s. Jamaican music is to many historians a predecessor to the hip hop music that developed in the United States in the late 1970s.

1 Jamaican influences on hip hop music
2 Dancehall DJs
3 Dancehall MC
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Jamaican influences on hip hop music

According to many music historians hip hop began with a Jamaican by the name of DJ Kool Herc in the urban neighborhoods of New York City. DJ Kool Herc arrived in the United States at the age of 12, according to him break-beats were created out of his understanding or belief that the bass and the drum were the elements of music that moved people to dance. In an interview in 1989 with Davey D, DJ Kool Herc says "Hip hop, the whole chemistry of that came from Jamaica".

Kool Herc was known in the Bronx for his sound system the Herculoids, which was a huge, heavy, and loud speaker system. He traveled around playing his "sound" for free outside in the neighborhoods and parks of New York City. However, this new American phenomenon was not just common in New York. Between the 1940s and 1960s in Jamaica, DJ's would make enormous sound systems or truck-fitted sound equipment and play American R&B, jazz, and the blues for their neighborhoods in Kingston, Jamaica.

The areas of the neighborhoods of Kingston that these sound systems provided entertainment for were referred to as dancehalls. However, the name dancehall is somewhat misleading because a dancehall was not a building. It was an open space. This is a direct parallel to the type of parties thrown in New York by Kool Herc and the Herculoid Sound System in the late 1970s. Now international dance culture including hip hop has now incorporated this practice which was once a uniquely Jamaican form of entertainment (Barrow 1997).

[edit] Dancehall DJs

Clemente Dodd was born on January 26 1932 in Kingston, Jamaica. Dodd received his nickname because of his batting ability in the sport of cricket. He began at a young age playing bebop and jazz records in his parent's liquor store for their customers in the late 1940s. He then moved to America to work as a cane cutter where he began to listen to R&B. After a short period of time he moved back to the island of Jamaica with his own PA system, turntable, and box of records. Dodd set up his first sound system, the DownBeat, in 1954 playing boogie-woogie, jazz, and R&B.

Prince Buster, "The Prophet", was born Cecil Campbell in 1938 also in Kingston, Jamaica. After working for Coxson Sound System, he created his own sound system in 1962 by the name of "The Voice of the People". Campbell, as the name on his sound system implied, dedicated himself to providing a voice for the African diaspora. He proclaimed himself a representative of the people and his voice was heard through the sound system he created.

[edit] Dancehall MC

Of course deejaying is not the only element of hip hop music. The MC or Master of Ceremoy is the other important element of the music. Count Machuki, a Jamaican born DJ, is generally agreed in Jamaica to be the first person to speak over the records he was playing. Machuki is known for using slang, jive talking, and telling jokes over the records that Clemente Dodd played at the dancehalls. For example Machuki would say

"If you dig my jive"/

"You're cool and very much alive"/

"Everybody all round town"/

"Machukis' the reason I shake it down"

Machuki is defintely a predecessor of today's rappers. Furthermore, Machuki was also known for making percussive sounds into the mic. This is what he referred to as peps. This is now known as beat boxing, another element of hip hop made famous by Doug E. Fresh, The Fat Boys, and Biz Markie.

[edit] References

Chang, Jeff (2005). Can't Stop, Won't Stop: A History of the Hip Hop Generation. St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0-312-30143-X.
Barrow, Steve. Peter Dalton (1997). Reggae: The Rough Guide. Rough Guides. ISBN 1-85828-247-0.

[edit] External links

Reggae
Reggae - Mento - Ska - Blue Beat - Rocksteady - Dub music - Dub poetry - Toasting - Lovers Rock - Dancehall - Ragga - Reggae rock - Reggaetón - Roots reggae - 2 Tone
Reggae genres - Caribbean music in the United Kingdom
Related topics
Jamaica - Haile Selassie - Marcus Garvey - Rastafari - Rude boy - Skinhead - Dancehall (venue) - Dubplate - Jamaican sound system - Sound system (DJ) - Riddim - Jamaican English - Studio One - Trojan Records - Island Records - Coxsone Dodd - Chris Blackwell - Reggae musiciams - Dub artists - Jamaican record producers