HOW JAMAICAN DANCEHALL MUSIC HELPED SHAPE HIP-HOP MUSIC AND FASHION: AN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE.

Rockers movie:

 Jimmy Cliff star of the "Harder they Come", was born James Chambers in Somerton Jamaica, twelve miles outside of Montego Bay on April 1, 1948 . The two-fisted draw reminiscent of spaghetti western's a favourite amongst Jamaican ghetto dwellers, was an inevitability for the type of movie Jamaicans wanted specifically inner city Jamaican's, wanted to see themselves portrayed in at the time.
The anti-hero was relatable to many Jamaican's who inhabited the garrison communities in Kingston and elsewhere on the island. The film was directed and written by Theodorus Bafaloukos. The influence and success of the film transcended cultures , gender and societal backgrounds playing to sold out crowds in European cities, today the film is a cult classic. The music that served as the background for the film though not yet fully developed would become what is today known as Dancehall music. Arguably the two most known Jamaican films ever are The Harder They Come and Rockers.

The two films captured the Jamaican reality like no other's before and few after them ever has, even the "Shottas", has not garnered as much critical acclaim as its predecessors. Jimmy Cliff was a talent scout for  Leslie  Kong, the Chinese Jamaican businessman and owner of Beverly's a business that did triple duty as an ice cream parlour, restaurant and record shop. Jimmy Cliff was fourteen years old when Bob Marley, auditioned for him . In "Before The Legend" ISBN 13-978-0-06-053991-7, Christopher John Farley wrote that  Cliff said: "There had been a hurricane in South america somewhere and I had made a song about it, I was saying if you mess with me I will be like that hurricane , and that was a number one". In 1972 Cliff would garner international acclaim, as the lead in, "The Harder They Come".

Above Jimmy Cliff in his infamous two-fisted pose. Misnomered: "The Rock Film of The Year" by Rolling Stone, the film rightfully is "The First Rude Boi" read gangster movie with soundtrack, coming from Jamaica and subsequently the Caribbean.  

An image grab from "Rockers", another huge hit that placed the inner city Kingston music scene and it's Rastafari influences on the global map.   This movie set the trend in the Caribbean and anywhere people from the region, settled globally. The fashion sense in Rockers, was imitated and emulated by Caribbean rude boi's regionally and internationally. Jacob "Killer" Miller, can be seen in the movie with, one leg of his pants partially roleled up, the style endures today as street deregeur amongst many street denizens and hustlers and is popular today in Hip-Hop.

At the far right of this Jacob Miller is the last man his left pant leg is clearly rolled up. The "flex" or "steelo" of Miller was imitated and emulated by many regionally, when Caribbean people began migrating to England, Canada and America in the 60's, 70's and beyond, the younger fashion conscious and street oriented element took their styles and fashion sense with them, influencing many in the American urban environ's that they inhabited. Some slang terms  often heard today in Urban America like sick, wicked, the joint, (fuckery), et al are directly taken from the Caribbean and specifically the Jamaican lexicon. Clive Campbell aka DJ Kool Herc, was born in Kingston and lived there till age twelve. Herc often reminisced about when, he would linger outside sound systems in Kingston,mesmerized by the bass-heavy music booming from the speaker's. Sound systems were usually set up outdoors, while the DJ spun. When his family migrated to the US in the 1960's, Herc took his Jamaican  sound system education with him to Manhattan. Herc is credited as the pioneer of rapping over instrumental breaks at Bronx parties in the 1970's. Other noted Hip-Hop 'founding fathers", with Caribbean roots are Afrika Bambataa introduced drum machines and synthesizers in Hip-Hop, his parents are of Jamaican and Barbadian descent. The eccentric Grandmaster Flash of "The Message" fame, was born in Barbados. Many Bronx residents originally came from the Caribbean. The well-known song "Roots Rap Reggae", by RUN-D.M.C recognized and celebrated the connection. 

The ubiquitous "elder" in Rockers Harry 'Higher" Harris, is an acknowledgement from the movies producer, of the Rastafari influence during  the genesis of Reggae . 

Jacob "Killer" Miller another hugely popular star at the time, performed his music and acted in Rockers.

An image grab from Rockers, training suit's were hugely popular in Jamaica and throughout the Caribbean, in the 1960's and 1970's as deregeur inner city bad boi fashion. The more well off street soldier's wore Adidas training suit's.  When Jamaican's and other Caribbean people began migrating to America , specifically New York in boroughs like  Queens, Brooklyn et al, their fashion and music went with them, the Adidas training suit's also became an intrinsic part of street gangsta wear in the areas heavily populated by Caribbean people. Later Run DMC and other American rappers would adopt the style and popularize it on a global scale, bringing the Caribbean gangsta chic to a global mainstream audience.

The name "Dirty Harry", was taken from the Clint Eastwood character of the same name. The DJ's given name is Richard Hall.  

Frank Kiddus I Dowding, seen performing “Graduation in Zion” in Harry J’s studio , Kiddus is Amharic for blessing. Rockers' producer Theodorus Bafaloukos, was visiting the legendary Harry J Studios when Kiddus I was recording "Graduation in Zion". The above is a still of the actual recording .

Frank Kiddus I Dowding, seen performing “Graduation in Zion” in Harry J’s studio , Kiddus is Amharic for blessing. Rockers' producer Theodorus Bafaloukos, was visiting the legendary Harry J Studios when Kiddus I was recording "Graduation in Zion". The above is a still of the actual recording .

A typical Jamaican indoor Soundsystem jam, with the DJ performing lyrical athletics to the delight of the revellers, (screen grab from Rockers).

The legendary Gregory Isaacs, Jacob "Killer"Miller, Leroy "Horsemouth" Wallace, Burning Spear, Gregory Isaacs, Big Youth, Dillinger, were all hugely popular at the time. Gregory Isaac's is known for his immensely popular music and particularly his well-known hit "Night Nurse", which the artist said was an ode to Cocaine ( the drug), throughout his career Isaacs battled cocaine addiction. 

In contemporary times Marlon James, the Jamaican-born writer who won the Man Booker literary award 2015, has reignited interest in Jamaica from westerner's particularly American's. James' book the Guardian wrote has: "James’s new novel, A Brief History of Seven Killings, tells the story of the attempted assassination of Bob Marley, who is referred to throughout as “the singer”, and its aftermath. But perhaps more importantly, it tells the story of Jamaica in the 1970s and early 80s, when the guns flooded in, CIA agents took up residence, and the island went through one of its most violently defining moments. It is a story worth telling, and a story about Jamaica that doesn’t only take place in Jamaica".

The two politicians are on the stage both flanked by their "body gaurd's", who were well-known criminals in Kingston,  Marley at right is flanked by his art director Neville Garrick.

Marley wearing an Adidas training suit. Marley like no else popularized the brand.

Augustus Buchannan aka "Big Youth" often  referred to as being way beyond his time was "grilled up" showing the Rastafari tri-color on his teeth, way before anyone even used the term. Big Youth though not as popular as some in the Reggae universe , he nevertheless forged a path uniquely his own. Big Youth calls himself the first rapper, the Rockers.com described him in the following: "He is Jamaica’s most famous D.J. song-writer-performer. In the D.J. style the artist sings, talks and scats over an instrumental arrangement. The D.J. style is the precursor to Jamaican Dance Hall as well as Rap and Hip Hop music". 

 

Above Leroy Wallace aka "Horsemouth", in front of Jack Ruby's record shop. Horsemouth began playing professionally at age of 15 and struggled many years, first playing for Coxsone’s “Studio One”, the birthplace of ska and reggae. He has played with just about every recording artist in Jamaica, and is credited with laying many of the percussive foundations of reggae music.

A check of the date (October 28, 2015) on the article above, in Vogue of all publications will attest to the popularity of Rockers.

Above the enigmatic "Jack Ruby" a well known  Jamaican soundsystem operator and record producer, recording Kiddus I's "Graduation in Zion".  His given name is Lawrence Lindo. Lindo followed in the tradition of those before him in taking the name of a notorious often criminal historical character. He and his peer's in the burgeoning 1960's-1970's music in Kingston Jamaica, helped forge what is today's Dancehall Music. Lindo's  monniker Jack Ruby, of course was taken from the infamous assassin of Lee Harvey Oswald, the man who killed President John F Kennedy. Today many "gangsta" rappers take on the name of infamous gangsters and create an alter ego around their namesakes.  Lindo gained fame with his productions for Burning Spear. Burning Spear - Marcus Garvey (1976)Burning Spear - Garvey's Ghost (1976)Burning Spear - Harder Than The Best (compilation of recordings from 1975–1977)Burning Spear - Man in the Hills (1976). Winston "Burning  Spear" Rodney takes his sobriquet from the revolutionary name of Jomo Kenyatta. “The Spear” was born and raised in St.Anne’s Bay, birthplace of Marcus Garvey, leader of the Back to Africa movement. Considered the leading “roots” vocalist in Jamaica, Spear creates songs that vividly express the effects of slavery, colonialism and rural poverty. In ROCKERS, his acapella performance of “Jah No Dead,” composed especially for the movie, was filmed on the ruins of Jamaica’s first colonial jailhouse.

RUN DMC wearing Adidas. In the early 1980's when more Jamaican's migrated to America than in previous years, the street oriented, street influenced, younger Jamaican's and their Jamaican gangster idols influenced other Caribbean people in American urban centre's and many African Americans who were drawn to the sub-culture. Pappy Mason a huge influence on rappers like Nas and 50 Cent, imitated Jamaican's so fastidiously that many Americans thought that he was Jamaican, from his dreadlocks, to the Jamaican patois he attempted to pepper his speech with, Mason no doubt influenced many in the Hip-Hop industry. Dreadlocks the outward appearance of Rastafari, was an aesthetic adopted by some elements in the criminal subculture in Jamaica and the wider Caribbean region. In the 1960's ,1970's and early 1980's only Jamaican Rastafari in America sported dreadlocks, the few African Americans that did were either the children and grandchildren of Jamaican migrants, or they were African American convert's to Rastafari, during the earlier years, virtually no Caucasians sported dreads. The Jamaicans undoubtedly are the ones chiefly responsible for the adaptation of the dreadlocks aesthetic, in corporate America, the Caribbean, Africa and the rest of the planet in contemporary times. The impact of Dancehall and by extension Jamaican urban street culture on the rest of the world is undeniable, with many positive effects and unfortunately today the negative outweigh by far the positive contributions of said culture, to societies outside Jamaica. Public Enemy's Flavor Flav, the "hype man", for the group is a direct manifestation of Dancehall culture. Flav wasnt a rapper, DJ nor an emcee within the group, his position was to hype the crowd with his antics, which is done to this day in Dancehall music.

References:

Moskowitz, David V. (2006) Caribbean Popular Music: an Encyclopedia of Reggae, Mento, Ska, Rock Steady, and Dancehall, Greenwood Press, ISBN 0-313-33158-8, p. 1 

Bafaloukos, Ted (2005) "Rockers", Pop Matters, 11 October 2005 

Campbell, Howard (2013) "Still Rocking at 35", Jamaica Observer, 18 August 2013. Retrieved 18 August 2013

"Rockers - 25th Anniversary Edition" DVD