01NOW EXPLORINGDEEP ROOTS
Journey

08 · STREET DANCES & NIGHT ECONOMY

A weekly dance can move a global culture.

2000s

Street dances, dancers, crews, fashion, videographers, selectors and vendors turn nightlife into a worldwide movement laboratory.

Walk the street. Tap every person whose work makes the night possible.

FROM THE ARCHIVE

Published records from this era

Follow any record into its connections, evidence and interviews.

concept · Probable'Middle School' dancehall style

Dance-community term for the street-dance style that followed the 1990s 'old school' Bogle era, credited in scene oral history to dancer John Hype as part of the video-light generation's transition into 2000s Kingston street-dance culture.

recording · Probable"Bakardi Slang" — Kardinal Offishall

Lead single from Kardinal Offishall’s major-label debut, articulating Toronto’s West Indian presence in patois-inflected verse and becoming his first Top 20 Canadian solo hit; a remix paired him with Jamaican deejay Bounty Killer.

recording · Well supported"Come Around" — Collie Buddz

Lead single from Collie Buddz’s 2007 self-titled Columbia Records debut, a reggae radio hit that topped charts in Jamaica, the UK and continental Europe and drew a Busta Rhymes remix.

recording · Probable"Egyptian Dance" — Elephant Man

Elephant Man's early-2000s cuts "Egyptian Dance" and "Egyptian (Version)" rode producer Don Corleon's Egyptian riddim, part of a run of uptempo, horn-sampling rhythms that made Corleon one of dancehall's most in-demand producers of the 2000s.

recording · Probable"Gotta Be Mine" — Beenie Man

Beenie Man's "Gotta Be Mine" voiced producer Tony Kelly's 2001 Buy Out riddim, one of the era's most-versioned dancehall rhythms, also carrying cuts from Sean Paul and T.O.K.

recording · Probable"Karate" — Sizzla

Sizzla's cut on the 2001-2002 Martial Arts riddim from Kings of Kings Records was among the biggest tunes on a rhythm that also carried Capleton's "Badness" and Bounty Killer, Wayne Marshall and Richie Stephens's "Ladies Loving Fine," issued on Greensleeves' Rhythm Album series.

recording · Probable"Whine for Me" -- Lisa Hyper & Vybz Kartel

'Whine for Me', a duet between Lisa Hyper and Vybz Kartel, brought heavy Jamaican dancehall party and radio rotation and became the breakthrough single that established Lisa Hyper as a recording artist in her own right.

riddim · Probable85 Riddim

Madhouse riddim produced by Dave Kelly and released in 2005, part of the label's run of stripped-back, keyboard-driven dancehall rhythms; carried cuts by Beenie Man and Spice.

publication · Well supportedAfflicted Yard

Website launched in October 1999 by photographer Peter Dean Rickards and Ainsworth Weir, using early internet livestreaming and photography to present Kingston sound-system, street-dance and everyday life beyond tourist-industry cliche, alongside the magazine FIRST.

person · Well supportedAlaine

Reggae-pop singer-songwriter (Alaine Laughton) whose 2005 breakthrough "No Ordinary Love" rode Don Corleon's Seasons Riddim; she has since worked with Sly & Robbie and top Jamaican producers.

Showing 10 of 200 records