ENTITY · CULTURAL PRACTICE

Double-entendre lyricism

Well supported

The dancehall and older mento tradition of double-entendre, coded double-meaning wordplay that signifies sexual or pointed content while evading literal censorship, a craft skill at the centre of the 'clever versus crude' slackness debate.

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At a glance

Type: cultural practice
Confidence: Well supported
Era: Open era →

Style, language, faith & wider cultureSociety, politics & reception

Connections

In stories

Story · Well supportedSlackness and culture: dancehall's long argument with itself

How the fight over 'slack' versus 'conscious' lyrics became dancehall's defining debate.

Debate & reception

How people argued about the music — praise, criticism and public debate. See all debate & reception →

debate

Double-entendre versus explicitness: craft or crudeness?

A neutral account of a craft debate within slackness: coded double-meaning wordplay is praised as witty folk artistry that outwits censors, while explicit content is criticised as crude and gratuitous. Contested taste, no verdict. Sources: Carolyn Cooper, Noises in the Blood; Dictionary of Caribbean English Usage; Jamaica Gleaner archive.

Stance: witty coded double-meaning as folk artistry vs explicit content as crude