Sound systems such as Killimanjaro, Black Scorpio, Silver Hawk, Gemini Disco, Virgo Hi-Fi, Volcano Hi-Power and Aces International soon capitalized on the new sound and introduced a new wave of deejays. Other singers to emerge in the early dancehall era as major stars included Don Carlos, Al Campbell, and Triston Palma, while more established names such as Gregory Isaacs and Bunny Wailer successfully adapted.

The Roots Radics would go on to work with Henry 'Junjo' Lawes on some of the key early dancehall recordings, including those that established Barrington Levy, Frankie Paul, and Junior Reid as major reggae stars. Around the same time, producer Don Mais reworked old rhythms at Channel One Studios, using the Roots Radics band. In the 1970s, Big Youth, U Roy, and I Roy were famous DJs. Musically, older rhythms from the late 1960s were recycled, with Sugar Minott credited as the originator of this trend when he voiced new lyrics over old Studio One rhythms between sessions at the studio, where he was working as a session musician. It was this gap that the sound system was able to fill with music that the average Jamaican was more interested in. Though the revolutionary spirit was present in Jamaica due to this social upheaval, the radio was very conservative and failed to play the people's music. Themes of social injustice, repatriation and the Rastafari movement were overtaken by lyrics about dancing, violence and sexuality. Social and political changes in late-1970s Jamaica, including the change from the socialist government of Michael Manley ( People's National Party) to Edward Seaga ( Jamaica Labour Party), 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. They began in the late 1940s among people from the inner city of Kingston, who were not able to participate in dances uptown. History Early developments ĭancehall is named after Jamaican dance halls in which popular Jamaican recordings were played by local sound systems. In the 2000s, dancehall experienced worldwide mainstream success, and by the 2010s, it began to heavily influence the work of established Western artists and producers, which has helped to further bring the genre into the Western music mainstream.

Key elements of dancehall music include its extensive use of Jamaican Patois rather than Jamaican standard English and a focus on the track instrumentals (or ' riddims').ĭancehall saw initial mainstream success in Jamaica in the 1980s, and by the 1990s, it became increasingly popular in Jamaican diaspora communities. In the mid-1980s, digital instrumentation became more prevalent, changing the sound considerably, with digital dancehall (or ' ragga') becoming increasingly characterized by faster rhythms. Initially, dancehall was a more sparse version of reggae than the roots style, which had dominated much of the 1970s. Dancehall is a genre of Jamaican popular music that originated in the late 1970s.

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