Dancehall Reggae

Dancehall reggae (or dancehall) is a type of Jamaican popular music which developed in the late 1970s, initially as a more sparse and less political and religious variant of reggae than the roots style that had dominated much of the 1970s. Themes of social injustice, repatriation and Rastafari were overtaken by lyrics about dancing, violence and explicit sexuality.

Musically, older rhythms from the late 1960s were recycled, with Sugar Minott credited as the originator of this trend when he voiced new lyrics over old rhythms. Around the same time, producer Don Mais also started reworking old rhythms using the Roots Radics band, who went on to work with Henry "Junjo" Lawes on some of the key early dancehall recordings, including those that established Barrington Levy, Frankie Paul and Junior Reid as major reggae stars.

Other singers to emerge in the early dancehall era as major stars included Don Carlos, Al Campbell and Triston Palmer, while more established names such as Gregory Isaacs and Bunny Wailer successfully adapted the style too.

This description is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses materials from the Wikipedia article "Dancehall".