Editing Dancehall (section)

==Criticisms==
===Cultural elements===
Dancehall combines elements of materialism and stories of hardships of Jamaica.<ref>Kingsley Stewart "So Wha, Mi Nuh Fi Live To?: Interpreting Violence in Jamaica Through Dancehall Culture", Ideaz Vol. 1, No. 1, 2002: pp. 17–28</ref> This is seen in the use of gun talk by artists like [[Buju Banton]] and [[Capleton]], or the sporting of [[bling-bling]] by "Gangsta Ras" artists like [[Mavado (singer)|Mavado]] and Munga.<ref>Donna P. Hope "I Came to Take My Place: Contemporary Discourses of Rastafari in Jamaican Dancehall" in Revista Brasileira Do Caribe, Volume 9, No. 18, January–June 2009, pp. 401–423</ref> The term ''Gangsta Ras'', which combines thuggish imagery with Rastafari is according to Rasta critics, an example of how in dancehall, "the misuse of Rastafari culture has diluted and marginalised the central tenets and creed of the Rastafari philosophy and way of life".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://jamaicaobserver.com/lifestyle/html/20070729T200000-0500_125731_OBS_RASTAS_BLAST_MUNGA_S__GANGSTA_RAS__IMAGE_.asp|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070513102312/http://jamaicaobserver.com/lifestyle/html/20070729T200000-0500_125731_OBS_RASTAS_BLAST_MUNGA_S__GANGSTA_RAS__IMAGE_.asp|url-status=dead|archive-date=13 May 2007|title=Rastas blast Munga's 'Gangsta Ras' image |website=jamaicaobserver.com|date=13 May 2007|access-date=8 July 2018}}</ref>

Kingsley Stewart points out that artists sometimes feel an "imperative to transcend the normal", exemplified by artists like [[Elephant Man (musician)|Elephant Man]] and [[Bounty Killer]] doing things to stand out, such as putting on a synthetic cartoonish voice or donning pink highlights while constantly re-asserting hypermasculine attributes. Donna P. Hope argues that this trend is related to the rise of market [[capitalism]] as a dominant feature of life in Jamaica, coupled with the role of new media and a liberalized media landscape, where images become of increasing importance in the lives of ordinary Jamaicans who strive for celebrity and superstar status on the stages of dancehall and Jamaican popular culture.<ref>Donna P. Hope. Man Vibes: Masculinities in the Jamaican Dancehall. Kingston: Ian Randle Publishers, 2010</ref>

Another point of dissension of dancehall from reggae, and from its non-western roots in Jamaica, is on the focus on materialism. Dancehall has also become popular in regions such as Ghana and Panama. Prominent males in the dancehall scene are expected to dress in very expensive casual wear, indicative of European urban styling and high fashion that suggest wealth and status.<ref>Donna P. Hope "The British Link Up Crew – Consumption Masquerading as Masculinity in the Dancehall" in Interventions: International Journal of Postcolonial Studies Special Issue on Jamaican Popular Culture, 6.1: April, 2004, pp. 101–117.</ref> Since the late 1990s, males in the dancehall culture have rivalled their female counterparts to look fashioned and styled.<ref>Donna P. Hope Man Vibes: Masculinities in the Jamaican Dancehall. Kingston: Ian Randle Publishers, 2010</ref> The female dancehall divas are all scantily clad, or dressed in spandex outfits that accentuate more than cover the shape of the body. In the documentary ''It's All About Dancing'', prominent dancehall artist [[Beenie Man]] argues that one could be the best DJ or the smoothest dancer, but if one wears clothing that reflects the economic realities of the majority of the partygoers, one will be ignored, and later Beenie Man returned to perform as Ras Moses.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20090111/ent/ent10.html|title="Beenie Man to perform as 'Ras Moses' at Rebel Salute"|access-date=2020-11-12|archive-date=2009-04-23|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090423022615/http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20090111/ent/ent10.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Guns and violent imagery ===
According to Carolyn Cooper in ''Sound Clash'', written in 2004, dancehall music and its following were frequently attacked for frequent references to guns and violence in lyrics, with Cooper responding by arguing that the emergence of firearms was less a sign of genuinely violent undercurrents in dancehall and more a theatrical adoption of the role of guns as tools of power. That ties into the concepts of the badman, a defiant, rebellious figure who often use a gun to maintain a level of respect and fear.&nbsp; Said concepts, Cooper argues, originate in historical resistance to slavery and emulation of imported films, specifically North American action films with gun-wielding protagonists.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=Cooper |first=Carolyn |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/52799208|title=Sound clash : Jamaican dancehall culture at large|date=2004|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|isbn=1-4039-6425-4|edition=1st|location=New York|pages=154|oclc=52799208}}</ref>

Adding to the concept of gunfire as theatrical element is the use of gunfire as a way to show support for a performing DJ or singer, which eventually gave way to flashing cigarette lighters, displaying glowing cellphone monitors, and igniting aerosol sprays.<ref name=":4" /> Gunfire as a form of cheering has extended beyond dancehall culture with the phrase "pram, pram!" becoming a general expression of approval or support.<ref name=":4" />

However, Cooper's assessment of the presence of guns in Jamaican dancehall is not wholly uncritical, with a discussion of [[Buju Banton|Buju Banton's]] 'Mr. Nine' interpreting the song as a denouncement of what Cooper describes as gun culture gone out of control.<ref name=":4" />

Part of the criticism of Jamaican dancehall appears to be the product of cultural clash stemming from a lack of insider knowledge on the nuances of the music's content and the culture surrounding said music.&nbsp; This struggle is something ethnomusicologists struggle with, even within an academic setting, with Bruno Nettl describing in ''The Study of Ethnomusicology'' how "insider" and "outsider" viewpoints would reveal different understandings on the same music.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Nettl |first=Bruno |title=The study of ethnomusicology : thirty-three discussions|date=15 May 2015|isbn=978-0-252-09733-1|edition=Third|location=Urbana|oclc=910556351}}</ref> Indeed, Nettl later mentions growing questions of who ethnomusicological studies benefited, especially from the groups being studied.&nbsp; And even then, in ''May It Fill Your Soul'', Timothy Rice mentioned that even insider scholars required a level of distanciation to scrutinize their own cultures as needed.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Rice |first=Timothy |title=May it fill your soul : experiencing Bulgarian music|date=1994|publisher=University of Chicago Press|isbn=0-226-71121-8|location=Chicago|pages=6|oclc=28799339}}</ref>

===Anti-gay lyrics===
{{Further|Stop Murder Music}}

After the popularizing of Buju Banton's dancehall song "Boom Bye Bye" in the early 1990s, dancehall music came under criticism from international organizations and individuals over anti-gay lyrics.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.freemuse.org/sw28060.asp |title=Denmark: Activist campaigns against online sales of 'murder music' |website=Freemuse.org |access-date=2012-03-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120314101258/http://www.freemuse.org/sw28060.asp |archive-date=2012-03-14 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.contactmusic.com/new/xmlfeed.nsf/story/reggae-industry-to-ban-homophobia |title=Sizzla – Reggae Industry To Ban Homophobia – Contactmusic News |website=Contactmusic.com |date=2005-02-08 |access-date=2012-03-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110606083218/http://www.contactmusic.com/new/xmlfeed.nsf/story/reggae-industry-to-ban-homophobia |archive-date=2011-06-06 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.soulrebels.org/dancehall/e_songs.htm |title=Murder Inna Dancehall: Songs & Lyrics |website=Soulrebels.org |access-date=2012-03-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120322135018/http://www.soulrebels.org/dancehall/e_songs.htm |archive-date=2012-03-22 |url-status=live }}</ref> In some cases, dancehall artists whose music featured anti-gay lyrics have had their concerts cancelled.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2004/dec/10/gayrights.popandrock | location=London | work=The Guardian | title=Pride and prejudice | date=2004-12-13 | first=Alexis | last=Petridis | access-date=2016-12-14 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161201223014/https://www.theguardian.com/music/2004/dec/10/gayrights.popandrock | archive-date=2016-12-01 | url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://partyxtraz.blogspot.com/2007/10/stop-murder-music-blocks-sizzla-and.html |title="Stop Murder Music" Blocks Sizzla and Elephant Man Canadian Performance |website=Partyxtraz.blogspot.com |date=2007-10-02 |access-date=2012-03-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120217043706/http://partyxtraz.blogspot.com/2007/10/stop-murder-music-blocks-sizzla-and.html |archive-date=2012-02-17 |url-status=live }}</ref> Various singers were investigated by international law enforcement agencies such as [[Scotland Yard]], on the grounds that the lyrics incited the audience to assault gay people. For example, [[Buju Banton]]'s 1993 hit "Boom Bye Bye" advocates the violent assaults and murders of gay people. Another example, T.O.K.'s song "Chi Chi Man," advocates the killing of gay men and women.

Some of the affected singers believed that legal or commercial sanctions were an attack against [[freedom of speech]], often blaming [[racism]], claiming that the response to their lyrics resulted from anti-black attitudes in the international music industry.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.villagevoice.com/music/0507,oumano,61118,22.html|title=village voice > music > Jah Division by Elena Oumano<!-- Bot generated title -->|website=villagevoice.com|access-date=8 July 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081010114039/http://www.villagevoice.com/music/0507,oumano,61118,22.html|archive-date=10 October 2008|url-status=live}}</ref>  However, many artists have over time apologized for their mistreatment of LGBTQ+ communities, particularly in Jamaica, and agreed to not use anti-gay lyrics nor continue to perform or profit off their previously anti-gay music.<ref name=":10" />  "Stop Murder Music" is/was a movement against homophobia in dancehall music. This movement actively targeted homophobia in dancehall music and was partially initiated by a controversial UK based group OutRage! and supported by the Black Gay Men's Advisory Group (UK based) and J-Flag (Jamaica based). It led to some dancehall artists signing the Reggae Compassionate Act.<ref name=":10">{{Cite web|date=2007-06-14|title=Beenie Man, Sizzla and Capleton renounce homophobia|url=http://www.theguardian.com/music/2007/jun/14/news.rosieswash|access-date=2021-03-20|website=The Guardian|language=en|archive-date=2021-03-31|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210331070734/https://www.theguardian.com/music/2007/jun/14/news.rosieswash|url-status=live}}</ref> Dancehall artist Mista Majah P has created dancehall music more recently that celebrates and advocates for LGBTQ+ people.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://urbanislandz.com/2010/10/19/a-first-in-reggae-singer-mista-majah-p-speaks-gay-rights-in-new-song/|title=A First In Reggae: Singer Mista Majah P Speaks Gay Rights In New Song|date=October 19, 2010|website=Urban Islandz|access-date=March 20, 2021|archive-date=January 22, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210122073100/https://urbanislandz.com/2010/10/19/a-first-in-reggae-singer-mista-majah-p-speaks-gay-rights-in-new-song/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=":9">{{Cite web|date=2010-10-19|title=A First In Reggae: Singer Mista Majah P Speaks Gay Rights In New Song|url=https://urbanislandz.com/2010/10/19/a-first-in-reggae-singer-mista-majah-p-speaks-gay-rights-in-new-song/|access-date=2021-03-20|website=Urban Islandz|language=en-US|archive-date=2021-01-22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210122073100/https://urbanislandz.com/2010/10/19/a-first-in-reggae-singer-mista-majah-p-speaks-gay-rights-in-new-song/|url-status=live}}</ref>

Some artists agreed not to use anti-gay lyrics during their concerts in certain countries internationally because their concerts kept being protested and cancelled.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.jamaicans.com/news/announcements/Reggaestarsrenouncehomophobia062007.shtml |title=Reggae stars renounce homophobia – Beenie Man, Sizzla and Capleton sign deal (Jamaica) |website=Jamaicans.com |access-date=2012-03-19 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130429190141/http://www.jamaicans.com/news/announcements/Reggaestarsrenouncehomophobia062007.shtml |archive-date=2013-04-29 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.towleroad.com/2007/06/reggae_stars_re.html |title=Reggae Stars Renounce Homophobia, Condemn Anti-gay Violence &#124;Gay News&#124;Gay Blog Towleroad |website=Towleroad.com |access-date=2012-03-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080925105032/http://www.towleroad.com/2007/06/reggae_stars_re.html |archive-date=2008-09-25 |url-status=dead }}</ref> However, some commentators claim this fails to address the most serious effects of the anti-gay lyrics in dancehall music, which are on the LGBTQ+ people of Jamaica, where this music is most present.

The [[Progressivism|progressive]] [[cultural critic]] [[Tavia Nyong'o]] argues that the criticism of homophobia in dancehall is simply an anti-black association of homophobia with blackness.<ref name=":7">{{Cite journal|last=Nyong'o|first=Tavia|date=2007-11-30|title='I've Got You Under My Skin' Queer assemblages, lyrical nostalgia and the African diaspora|url=http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13528160701771303|journal=Performance Research|language=en|volume=12|issue=3|pages=42–54|doi=10.1080/13528160701771303|s2cid=193225758|issn=1352-8165}}</ref> At the same time, however, he argues that such criticism is still important to black communities, and that the international community acts as though it is not.<ref name=":7" /> To N'yongo, this represents an anti-black and anti-gay attitude that works to "erase" [[intersectional]] black LGBTQ+ identities.<ref name=":7" />

Mista Majah P has claimed that artists who have never used anti-gay lyrics, and even write music advocating for gay rights, are often excluded from certain spaces due to the association between the genre and homophobia.<ref name=":9" />

Dancehall music has had a significant and complex impact on many LGBTQ+ black people, particularly with connections to Jamaica, both in terms of cultural importance and at times deeply violent lyrics. This is demonstrated in the film "Out and Bad: London's LGBT Dancehall Scene" which discusses the experience of a group of LGBTQ+ black, and mostly Jamaican, people in London.<ref name=":8">{{Citation|title=Out and Bad: London's LGBT Dancehall Scene (Full Length)| date=14 December 2015 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNda7f-PDyA|language=en|access-date=2021-03-20|archive-date=2015-12-14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151214170737/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNda7f-PDyA&gl=US&hl=en|url-status=live}}</ref> Dancehall is important to their culture, both in connection with Jamaican heritage and in how social interactions are constructed around dance and music. However, the film discusses how many dancehall songs contain blatantly homophobic and transphobic lyrics.<ref name=":8" /> One interviewee comments, "we still enjoy ourselves to these kinds of music because [what matters to us is] the rhythm of the music, the beat, the way the music makes us feel."<ref name=":8" />

Scholars have theorized around the significance and meaning around the use of anti-gay lyrics in dancehall music. Donna P. Hope argues that dancehall culture's anti-gay lyrics formed part of a macho discussion that advanced the interest of the heterosexual male in Jamaica, which is a Christian society with strong [[Rastafari movement]] influence as well. Dancehall culture in Jamaica often included imagery of men dressing and dancing in a way stereotypically associated with gay-male style.<ref name=":5" /> However, the cultural, religious, and social gender-norms continued to advance the ideal man as macho and heterosexual, any divergence from this would be identified as inadequate and impure portraits of true masculinity.<ref>Donna P. Hope "From Boom Bye Bye to Chi Chi Man: Exploring Homophobia in Jamaican Dancehall, Culture", in Journal of the University College of the Cayman Islands (JUCCI), Volume 3, Issue 3, August 2009, pp. 99–121.</ref><ref name=":5">Donna P. Hope. Man Vibes: Masculinities in Jamaican Dancehall. Kingston: Ian Randle Publishers, 2010.</ref>

Some authors have suggested that this duality, the presentation of "queerness," in dance style and dress, and the violent homophobia, in dancehall spaces can be explained by the ritualistic "doing away with 'homosexuality'."<ref name=":6" /> Scholar Nadia Ellis suggests that when songs with homophobic lyrics are played, the environment of dancehall spaces can become serious and individuals can use the opportunity to reinstate their allegiance to heteronormativity.<ref name=":6" /> These songs thus act to "consecrate" the spaces as straight and masculine. In the safety this ritualized hetero-normativity creates, the space may be opened to more free expression and participants can then more openly engage with styles and dancing that might have been seen as queer.<ref name=":6" /> Ellis writes: "The songs are played; no one is 'gay'; everyone can turn a blind eye."<ref name=":6">{{Cite journal|last=Ellis|first=Nadia|date=July 2011|title=Out and Bad: Toward a Queer Performance Hermeneutic in Jamaican Dancehall|journal=Small Axe|volume=15|issue=2|pages=7–23|doi=10.1215/07990537-1334212|s2cid=144742875}}</ref>

The backlash to Banton's violently anti-gay "Boom Bye-Bye", and the reality of Kingston's violence which saw the deaths of deejays [[Pan Head]] and [[Dirtsman]] saw another shift, this time back towards Rastafari and cultural themes, with several of the hardcore slack ragga artists finding religion, and the "conscious ragga" scene becoming an increasingly popular movement. A new generation of singers and deejays emerged that harked back to the roots reggae era, notably [[Garnett Silk]], [[Tony Rebel]], [[Sanchez (singer)|Sanchez]], [[Luciano (singer)|Luciano]], [[Anthony B]] and [[Sizzla]]. Some popular deejays, most prominently [[Buju Banton]] and [[Capleton]], began to cite Rastafari and turn their lyrics and music in a more conscious, rootsy direction. Many modern dancehall Rasta artists identify with [[Bobo Ashanti]].