The hype has died down. The energy has dissipated. I am left with my thoughts. I am a little sad. I'll tell you why 👇🏾 #VERZUZ
The culture that created @KingBeenieMan and @grunggaadzilla has been dying a slow death. Pretty soon there will be no active artists capable of pulling off what they did tonight. #VERZUZ 🇯🇲
We lost sound system culture like 20 years ago. Stage show culture has been gone for some time too (not concerts... There's a difference). Riddim culture is hanging on by a thread. 🇯🇲
Today's dancehall artists aren't built for the things that Bounty and Beenie did tonight. How many of them have ever been on a stage with 5, 6, 7 other artists passing the mic and going quick fire?Basically having to prove their worthiness as entertainers and destroy a crowd?
There is no longer a need to coexist in the space. Nobody has to sit at the studio with other artists waiting to voice on a riddim. Artistes not hitting up every big session to take a piece of the stage show segment to promote themselves. Nobody competing for anything anymore.
Not too many of them have gotten enough practice to even know how to read a crowd, much less control one. Big acts probably perform locally once or twice a year at major concerts and shows.
These are the elements that created Beenie, Killa and many others who are coming to the end of their careers. It was a combination of factors that made dancehall culture a unique asset. It also gave our entertainers a unique kind of energy.
Increasingly our music culture is become assimilationist. More and more we are starting to look like the global music industry and the reason is simple... The path to the money no longer requires musicians to go through these former rites of passage.
Everything is quicker and the process is easier and much more straightforward. From a business standpoint this is great but from a cultural perspective it is absolutely detrimental.
What's even more worrying than the culture becoming globalised, is that the sound is also going in that direction. Whereas the way we once had to do things resulted in a particular unique style and sound, the current methods are resulting in a loss of character.
So not only are we losing the culture that put the music and the artistes where they are, but we might also be losing the essence of the music itself. This makes my heart sink.
I'm not going to say something like "we have to do something about it " or "look how they're killing our music." I'm powerless to change any of it and I really don't know if there's actually a right or wrong in this situation.
So basically, I'll just continue living for moments like this and opportunities to celebrate the things that so many of us know and love. I'll continue to cherish it while I still can. #VERZUZ
