01NOW EXPLORINGDEEP ROOTS
Journey

07 · CLASH, STING & THE SPECTACLE

Reputation is tested in public.

1990s

Sound clash, artist rivalry, stage shows, dubplates and confrontations turn lyrical skill and crowd judgement into drama.

Enter the arena. Compare records with memories.

FROM THE ARCHIVE

Published records from this era

Follow any record into its connections, evidence and interviews.

recording · Probable'Til Shiloh — Buju Banton

'Til Shiloh, Buju Banton's 1995 album produced by Donovan Germain at Penthouse, marked his widely documented turn from slack dancehall lyricism toward Rastafari-conscious songwriting and is regarded as the signature recording of dancehall's mid-1990s cultural turn.

recording · Well supported"A Sombra da Maldade" — Cidade Negra

Signature 1994 hit from Cidade Negra’s album Sobre Todas as Forças, a Brazilian reggae radio staple that helped cement the band’s national mainstream breakthrough.

recording · Well supported"Antonia" — Gondwana

Signature song from Chilean band Gondwana’s album Alabanza, one of the most remembered tracks in Chilean popular music and a staple of the Latin reggae canon.

recording · Well supported"Dat Sexy Body" -- Sasha

Sasha wrote and recorded 'Dat Sexy Body' in 1998 on a variation of the Bookshelf riddim; the track became a sleeper hit that only reached its full chart impact roughly five years after release, and was later remixed with reggaeton artist Ivy Queen.

recording · Well supported"Hot This Year" - Dirtsman

Dirtsman's 1991 signature dancehall hit, cut for engineer-producer Philip Smart's Tan-Yah operation; the deejay (Patrick Thomas, brother of Papa San) died in 1993 and is remembered for this record. Documented facts, memorial framing.

recording · Well supported"Informer" — Snow

1993 single by Toronto singjay Snow (Darrin O’Brien), raised in a Caribbean-heavy North York housing project, which spent seven weeks at No. 1 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and became one of the biggest global crossover hits built on Jamaican dancehall vocal style.

recording · Well supported"Limb by Limb" — Cutty Ranks

"Limb by Limb" by Cutty Ranks is one of the records that carried 1990s hardcore dancehall into international circulation, remembered for its sharp deejay delivery and heavy presence in clubs, mixtapes and sound-system play.

recording · Probable"Not an Easy Road" — Buju Banton

"Not an Easy Road" is associated with Buju Banton's shift, through the 1990s, from harder dancehall material toward a more roots-conscious, Rastafari-influenced songwriting style - part of a broader turn many dancehall artists of that decade made toward "conscious" lyrics.

recording · Probable"Poco Man Jam" — Gregory Peck

Deejay Gregory Peck's 1990 cut for producers Steely and Clevie gave its name to one of the defining riddims of dancehall's turn-of-the-1990s digital era, later reworked with cuts from Cutty Ranks, Capleton and Shabba Ranks.

recording · Probable"Sycamore Tree" — Lady Saw

"Sycamore Tree," a 1990s Lady Saw recording, is associated with her rise as one of dancehall's most prominent women performers during a decade when the genre's biggest names were still overwhelmingly male.

Showing 10 of 200 records