- published: 01 Jan 2016
- views: 121202
Dancehall is a genre of Jamaican popular music that originated in the late 1970s. Initially dancehall was a more sparse version of reggae than the roots style, which had dominated much of the 1970s. In the mid-1980s, digital instrumentation became more prevalent, changing the sound considerably, with digital dancehall (or "ragga") becoming increasingly characterized by faster rhythms. In the mid-1990s with the rise of dancehall BoboShanti artists, such as Sizzla and Capleton, developed a very strong connection between dancehall and Rastafari.
Dancehall music has come under criticism from international organizations and individuals for its violent and sometimes homophobic lyrics, although the lyrical themes are more varied than simply dealing with slackness and violence.
Dancehall owes its moniker to the Jamaican dance halls in which popular Jamaicans recordings were played by local sound systems. These began in the late 1940s among people from the inner city of Kingston, Jamaica who were not able to participate in dances uptown. Social and political changes in late-1970s Jamaica were reflected in the shift away from the more internationally oriented roots reggae towards a style geared more towards local consumption, and in tune with the music that Jamaicans had experienced when sound systems performed live.Michael Manley's socialist People's National Party (PNP) government had been replaced with Edward Seaga's right wing Jamaica Labour Party (JLP). Themes of social injustice, repatriation and the Rastafari movement were overtaken by lyrics about dancing, violence, and sexuality.
Sean Paul Ryan Francis Henriques (born January 9, 1973), who performs under stage name Sean Paul, is a Jamaican dancehall and reggae artist.
Sean Paul was born in Kingston and spent his early years in Upper Andrew Parish, a few miles north of Kingston. His parents, Garth and Frances, were both talented athletes, and his mother is a well-known painter. His paternal grandfather was a Sephardic Jew whose family emigrated from Portugal, and his paternal grandmother was Afro-Caribbean; his mother is of English and Chinese Jamaican descent. Sean Paul was raised as a Catholic. Many members of his family are swimmers. His grandfather was on the first Jamaican men's national water polo team. His father also played water polo for the team in the 1960s, and competed in long-distance swimming, while Sean Paul's mother was a backstroke swimmer. Sean Paul played for the national water polo team from the age of thirteen to twenty-one, when he gave up the sport in order to launch his musical career. He attended the Wolmers High School for Boys, Belair School, Hillel Academy High School, and the College of Arts, Science, and Technology, now known as the University of Technology, where he was trained in commerce with a view to pursuing an occupation in hotel management.
She's a gypsy queen, real tall and mean
She's an airplane, no one's ever seen
She's a firecracker, real dancehall master
She's a hurricane when you walk past her
She's the morning sun in the midnight wind
She'd sell her soul for all her sins
She'll come right at you, real Cleopatra
You take all you got, and you give it to her
Did you see that lightning in the sky
A window to my mind
It leaves me hypnotized
Somewhere better
Did you feel that thunder hit last night
A poison in my mind
It leaves me hypnotized
Somewhere better
Verse 2:
She's a striptease, real hard to please
She'll cheer you up, bring you to your knees
She's a movie star, fast sports car
She's a razor blade, she'll take you far
She's the ocean's cool, and your midnight ride
She's a devil's church, and a preacher's wife
She'll come right at you, real Cleopatra
You take all you got, and you give it to her
Did you see that lightning in the sky
A window to my mind
It leaves me hypnotized
Somewhere better
Did you feel that thunder hit last night
A poison in my mind
It leaves me hypnotized
Somewhere better
I don't care for dancing
but thanks for asking
Did you see that lightning in the sky
A window to my mind
It leaves me hypnotized
Somewhere better
Did you feel that thunder hit last night
A poison in my mind
It leaves me hypnotized