90s Dancehall Essentials
PLAYLIST ∙ 2021
Apple Music ’90s
Dancehall took reggae’s formula—bass, recorded drums, four-beat rhythms—and pushed it to its sonic extreme, creating a drum-machine-driven sound that was still pop-friendly enough to cross over. Through artists like the socially conscious singer Buju Banton and provocateur Shabba Ranks—whose brash “toasting” rap style incensed traditionalists—dancehall exploded globally in the ‘90s. Shaggy and Sean Paul crafted radio-ready melodic hooks (both would later author huge international hit singles), while female deejays like Lady Saw and Tanya Stephens countered the genre’s penchant for female objectification and glorifying violence.
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