Trap Dancehall Rises In Spite Of Controversy

By Devi Seitaram Sat, August 15 2020, 12:05 PM EST

Trap Dancehall is becoming more popular, and many big-name artistes are jumping on the trend as the style of music takes off on the global stage.

Last year, Bounty Killer stirred controversy when he said there is no such thing as trap dancehall while speaking to On Stage’s Winford Williams. Instead, he said, there’s a trap fusion with dancehall music.

“Nothing name Trap Dancehall. Trap music is trap music, and Dancehall is Dancehall. So you can’t take two genre and make one. Weh name so? You can’t have Reggae Soca? You hear dem did try ‘soggae’ like dem did want mix Soca wid Reggae; you can’t do dat. You couldn’t have Rap-Trap. So how you have Dancehall Trap? That is like stealing people’s music to make one. No. And Jamaica have such creative music? Why are we gonna thief people music?”

The veteran dancehall artiste, known for his hit songs like Look, noted that the two genres of music had their own distinct sounds and while dancehall artistes have taken to voicing on trap riddims that is doesn’t make it ‘trap-dancehall’.

“Dancehall a Dancehall; Trap a Trap. So those young artiste who are coming doing the Trap thing; it’s OK; it’s the new trend; it’s the hip music for the kids and tings have to evolve, but you cannot take it and make it Dancehall; it’s not. It was Trap and you take it. How it turn Dancehall? Yuh no do nuttn else but teck it and sing pon it now,” he said.

“It’s not even like they are making the Trap music different; you know, like you woulda take two a di kick and put a different vibes to it, like when dem make ova di Afrobeat here; you know dem put likkle Reggae vibes to it, but yuh can hear di Afro instruments. They are not doing that with trap; they are playing the same groove, am tempo and just because we are singing patois pon it we say a dancehall trap,” Bounty said.

While trap fusion is not new, Trap Dancehall is relatively new. Squash and Rygin King are said to be the ones to popularize the phenomenon.

Producers within the genre are disagreeing with the sentiment though that there is no Trap Dancehall. Tip God, Producer and Sound Engineer of Tip God Music Limited, who is among the first set of producers making Trap-Dancehall riddims (along with Henton Music) told DancehallMag the sounds, frequency, and lyrics all give the genre a distinct sound that is distinguishable from traditional dancehall riddims.

Tip God whose given name is Gavin Forbes, says that Rygin King made Trap-Dancehall become popular with several songs like Feather Weight, Learn, and Tuff although Squash had a song prior in 2015. He regards the development as more of a sub-genre in dancehall, the same as Reggae Gospel and other fusions of popular genres of music, not necessarily as a genre on its own since it borrows from each other. This type of fusion is not uncommon and has been done for Hip Hop with the popular It Wasn’t Me by Shaggy from the 90s. Rap itself, from which Trap music emerges is highly influenced from the soundclash deejaying culture that is typical of dancehall in the early 90s.

It would appear that dancehall producers are staking claim on something the veterans started many years ago, but Forbes says while trap dancehall is one of the fastest growing genre, it has a far way to go. However, it isn’t something that he sees competing with Trap music per se but rather enlarging the opportunities present in dancehall to accommodate everyone, including fans, who have taken to trap-dancehall music.

The criticism against trap dancehall has mainly come from veterans like Bounty Killer and Beenie Man who are wary of it “watering” down dancehall music.

“Every new genre does the same thing,” Forbes told DancehallMag, adding that fans are also not restricted to liking one particular thing. “You cannot determine how far it would go…pretty much they are the same one playing their own artistes who are doing tdancehall-trap.”

Trap dancehall being started by the artistes concentrated in the Montego Bay area is an interesting fact to note in its development. This particular area has a huge crime problem, leading to States of Emergencies (SOEs) instituted to curb escalating murders. The Jamaica Constabulary Force in addressing St. James says the issue of lottery scamming feuds along with gangs is to blame. Artists like Tommy Lee Sparta have been linked to gangs by the police although he has denied these allegations and is currently detained under an SOE without charge as police continue investigations. Rygin King’s shooting is also widely speculated to be associated with gang violence.

The last two years have seen many young artistes in run-ins with the law in one way or the other which has led to fans questioning why the younger artistes are more likely to get into trouble than the older dancehall artistes of the past, with the exception of Vybz Kartel, Shawn Storm, and cohorts.

Forbes says this is a downside to trap dancehall where the younger artistes need to accept responsibility when it comes to music and its influence. “The only problem is the topics that the artistes choose- they’re not hiding…the young yutes are exploiting the formula behind the whole trap and they are making it too loud.” He explains that trap music itself sings about topics which are unhealthy for a developing society.

Trap – literally means a house where illegal drugs are sold. Rap and Trap music have been associated with increased drug use and gun violence. It wasn’t always that way. Music historians say young rappers in the United States, “hungry for the money and fame, often came to believe that securing a record deal meant selling themselves as thugs or looking ‘hard’…the rep of the rapper was based largely not just on his ability to articulate the struggles of the hood but also staying close to the lifestyle of the streets,” with many rappers continuing the habits of the streets which can often result in murder and mayhem and many of them dead or behind bars- Dream Hampton speaking to the Los Angeles Times.

It’s a downside to trap dancehall that Forbes warns – “they don’t understand the responsibility – the young artistes have responsibility when it comes to the influence.” It is still widely debated whether media has an influence on music but while there is no clear cut evidence to support this, ‘bad man’ lifestyle often has its consequences, even in Jamaica.

But the sub-genre isn’t all doom and gloom according to Forbes, as many young artistes are using it to break out, and the opportunities abounds. “It’s opening doors for young people, every day you hear about a young artiste. One time – maybe two times you hear about a young artiste…now you hear about so much…I don’t want to say it is too much but it is opening doors and it’s more business and more money accumulating. Before Corona bare artistes were getting shows and bookings.”

The opportunities also cross a hurdle even dancehall has had a difficulty crossing in the past decades: there’s wider appeal for marketing Jamaican music abroad- as trap dancehall attracts trap fans who become exposed to many facets of Jamaican music including Dancehall which isn’t as popular as Reggae globally.

In addition, many of the younger generation of Jamaicans who grew up on rap music like Tupac and Biggie Smalls and even the later contemporaries like Cardi B, Nicki Minaj, and Megan Thee Stallion, 6ix9ine, XXXtentacion, Bobby Shmurda, Meek Mill, Drake, DaBaby, etc, are the ones who tend to lead the listening trends and so, the newer artistes go for what they think people want to hear.

Forbes says dancehall-trap is more appealing to the younger listeners and most of his production audience are overseas so language barrier which was an issue in the past with strictly Patois, is now infused with English trap lyrics to accommodate diverse listeners.

“The sub-genre is working faster in breaking barriers for example people like Tory Lanez remixing Stefflon Don’s Senseless which is a dancehall song.” The sub-genre is seeing more success than the traditional dancehall, which is “raw-cha” especially abroad where Reggae music is widely popular and known due to Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, and other such greater influence in previous decades.

Dancehall, which was recently featured on Verzuz, can be said to be finally getting well-deserved recognition. However, according to Zip Jock (ZJ) Rush, hardcore dancehall music remains relevant, and the global market for it is expanding.

In his opinion, there is no such thing as trap dancehall, and there is no record that shows such songs making the kind of money dancehall songs make “…where has ANY of these trap songs made ANY money compared to a [sic] authentic hit? Show me the success they are pursuing. Dancehall is the music that had the widest global market, ask Sean Paul, Shaggy, Bob Marley, Serani, Shabba, Gyptian, etc.”

ZJ Rush’s unpopular opinion is that trap dancehall, doesn’t make money, and it is “killing the industry,” “It isn’t Jamaican. No one relatively is listening to it. People aren’t liking it. It’s killing an entire industry. A genre is defined by the drum pattern. Also, the overall sound and instruments used help identify a genre, NOT vocals. This is the first time Jamaican music by instrumental does NOT identify as local music. Meaning someone overseas listening to a these beats will only hear TRAP from outside of Jamaica, and NOTHING symbolizing Jamaica.”

On the other hand, Forbes, however, says in relation to criticisms by the ‘elders’ in the industry when it comes to watering down dancehall: “you can’t put dancehall in a box. Don’t fight it, if you can fix it or help it, respect.”

As the debate rages, there, Forbes says his trap dancehall riddims are in demand as many experiment with the sound and flow. One of his upcoming projects – Domino Riddim features Beenie Man, Skillibeng, Jahvillani, and TeeJay, among others.

Another Riddim – the Tropical Breeze Riddim – is another exciting project that features many dancehall artistes like Konshens, Starface, and others.

Even Chronixx in Dela Move has tried the style. The song has 2.2m views since being released in March and has a clear and distinct rap style, which many fans point out. The Smile Jamaica artiste sings about Rastafarianism mysticism and spirituality, proving that the creativity that comes with trap dancehall is limitless for the artiste that decides to engage it and shouldn’t be viewed as just negative and associated with guns, murder, etc.