Kids in the Dancehall

Hip-shaking Jamaican music is quickly coming to dominate Philly's after-hours club scene.

By Kate Kilpatrick
Add Comment Add Comment | Comments: 1 | Posted Oct. 20, 2004

PHOTOGRAPHS BY JEFF FUSCO AND KRYSTEN LITTLES

 

When Beenie Man, aka the "King of the Dancehall," flashes his joyful smile, women scream. When he circles his hips, they damn near faint. His energy is magnetic, his smile easy, his dancing finely tuned.

"A lot of men in here don't know how to make love to their women," the Jamaican artist tells the 1,100-plus dancehall fans who've come to Kahunaville, an open-air venue along the river in Wilmington, Del., on this Sunday night. "Don't come before your woman!" he scolds them before starting his performance.

Dressed in a black Louis Vuitton suit with logo-heavy lapels, his long dreadlocks pulled back, exposing the diamond rocks in his ears, the bean-sized Beenie Man steps his game up a bit.

"Only after she's wet, not outside but inside ... "

He slowly eases his waist forward to demonstrate.

"Halfway. Halfway."

Focusing on the make-believe female body bent over before him, Beenie slowly thrusts from the left. Then from the right.

"One time, two time. One time, two time."

A smile slips across his face as he moves in a circular motion.

"Then wind, and wind, and wind, and wind."

The women are jumping up and down, waving Caribbean flags and folded up phone numbers furiously in the air.

To the men in the audience, he adds one caveat to his instructions: "If you got a 3-inch dick, you got no chance."

Dancehall is winning Philadelphia fans faster than the speed at which padded bras and brightly colored thongs are tossed onstage at live shows--like they were in Wilmington, where Beenie Man set up his own lingerie section on the drums.

Born in the ghettos of Kingston, Jamaica, dancehall music originated in the dancehall--community performance spaces where people gather to hear the newest songs. Dancehalls have been at the heart of Jamaican popular music for the past 50 years.

Reggae went through many transitions in the dancehall, evolving from ska and rocksteady into Rasta-inspired "roots" reggae, and then morphing into spinoffs like dub and lovers' rock before arriving at today's dancehall sound--upbeat dance music where artists rap in Jamaican patois over digital reggae beats.

Dancehall continues to influence new musical genres around the world. Having spawned jungle and drum 'n' bass, it's left its mark on even newer genres like U.K. grime and reggaeton, a blend of hip-hop and dancehall with Spanish lyrics that's fast becoming essential party music.

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1. rasta15 said... on Jul 20, 2008 at 07:20AM

“i hope there is a radio station soon in the philly area”

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