I have chosen to look at women and the dancehall culture. This topic is an interesting one that caught my attention.

I
choose this topic because the dancehall culture is dominated by men and I want to get a view of the female side. By
the end of this SBA I hope to learn more about the dancehall culture, expand my vocabulary and more specifically
women’s relationship and the dance hall culture. i hope to achieve this through the use of articles written on the
internet, analysing lyrics from various artiste and a poster.

HARD DRIVE BY SHENSEEA ft  KONSHENS & RVSSIAN

Mi back it up, back it up like a hard drive

Yuh tan up ina di saddle mean dat yuh nah dive
Mi back it up, back it up like a hard drive
Yuh tan up ina di saddle mi dan

Him love when mi hand pan di ground and mi batty cock up

Him love when mi batty cock up
Hand pan di ground and mi batty cock up
Him love when mi batty cock up

Hey gyal touch di ground den yuh back up, back up

Mi love see when yuh back up, back up
Whine and guh dung den yuh back up, back up
Like a hard drive back up, back up

Whine guh dung, don't tell me no

No false start, when yuh hear si don sekkle
Ben dung, sink when yuh si dung
Keep it dunglow, til mi tell yuh seh fi get up
 Ben yuh back, pah yuh knee
Mi brain a fly, mi a blame di Hennessy
Mi nuh like two,
mi favourite a three suh any friend a you can be a friend a me
Ben yuh back, what a fuck, back a broke
I just love how you set up and cock up
Fulla talk now, wi buck and yuh stuck
Cock up like a dumpa truck

Him love when mi hand pan di ground and mi batty cock up

Him love when mi batty cock up
Hand pan di ground and mi batty cock up
Him love when mi batty cock up

Hey gyal touch di ground den yuh back up, back up

Mi love see when yuh back up, back up
Whine and guh dung den yuh back up, back up
Like a hard drive back up, back up

Like a hard drive suh mi back it and store it, store it

Pretty from back you adore it, suh bore it
When mi cock it up,
mi a bounce pan di ridim and a flow like liqour when yuh pour it
Him seh mi body look good like when yuh cross rose
Fi yuh buss inna mi belly money a di passcode
Back ben watch di batty jaw a jump like a toad
Rev mi out, dash it out inna slow mood
When yuh see mi cock it up,
tek set how fi fuck a di next ting mi learn afta di alphabet
Buddy tie mi like crotchet
Stab it like death
When mi back it up yuh spin inna mi 'ole Russian Roulette

Him love when mi hand pan di ground and mi batty cock up

Him love when mi batty cock up
Hand pan di ground and mi batty cock up
Him love when mi batty cock up

Hey gyal touch di ground den yuh back up,

back up Mi love see when yuh back up, back up
Whine and guh dung den yuh back up, back up
Like a hard drive back up, back up

Mi back it up, back it up like a hard drive

Yuh tan up ina di saddle mean dat yuh nah dive
Mi back it up, back it up like a hard drive
 Yuh tan up inna mi saddle mi dan

Him love when mi hand pan di ground and mi batty cock up

Him love when mi batty cock up
Hand pan di ground and mi batty cock up
Him love when mi batty cock up

Hey gyal touch di ground den yuh back up,

back up Mi love see when yuh back up, back up
Whine and guh dung den yuh back up, back up
Like a hard drive back up, back up

EXTRACT FROM WOMEN IN JAMAICAN DANCEHALL by  Leslie-Ann Fullerton

Dancehall dancers are the women who create and popularize dancehall moves 256and identifies
themselves as a professional dancer. Most commonly, dance moves are created for women by
women, and normally personifies female sexuality in their moves. Female body parts are
emphasized, shaken, and jerked. Dancers frequently exhibit their own fashion code. Often, their
outfits are chosen to complement their dancing while at the same time allowing them the freedom to
move without restraints and without appearing deliberately reveal themselves in the process. This
means shorts, batty riders, or leggings with tops that showcase their figures and also allow their
dance moves to be perceived as clearly as possible. These include “belly skin blouses” (or crop tops
in English translation), mesh, chiffon, see-through materials and even bras with laces, frills and
sparkles. They normally wear flat but fashionable shoes that will enable them to look good while
dancing. This is why flat knee-high boots are so popular in the dancehall scene even though
Jamaica’s tropical climate contradicts this practice.

Reflection
 I looked at a poster designed by Kurt Glasgow. This poster was for a barbeque and ‘lime’ contains the image of a
woman in swimwear. Seeing the woman on that grasped my attention and I was reading the details on the poster. It
hit me that it was never the bold fancy writing that will gasp people’s attention, it is the images of women that are
used especially for dancehall parties. I read a thesis by Leslie-Ann Fullerton that I found on the internet. In the thesis
Miss Fullerton spoke about the dancers. From reading that part of her thesis i learned that dancers wear skimpy
outfits to carry out their dances with freedom. These dance moves were created for women by women. I also learned
that the revealing clothes worn by the women to the dancehall is to out dress and out dance other rivals. I analysed
the lyrics of the song Hard Drive to understand the artistes’ message.  From deciphering the lyrics i found that
Shenseea was singing about what she does with males and how they love what is being done. However this is
strictly for the entertainment for fans.

  The poster had sentences that were short and to the point. There was no unnecessary information for readers and
extravagant language. There was the use of Creole that is used by people living in the area. This made it easier to
understand.  The fragment of the thesis by Leslie-Ann Fullerton had mainly Standard English. There was however
there was the use of fashion terms that I was unfamiliar with. To understand what the author was talking about some
amount of research had to be done. After the research some new words were added to my vocabulary. The song hard
drive contained no form of Standard English. Strictly Jamaican patois and sexually suggestive language was used. It
was easy to understand what the artistes were saying since the patois is found in Guyana.

       The process of doing this SBA was interesting and insightful. During the course of doing this SBA I not only
saw how women were being used and used themselves as a marketing gimmick to make money, I saw how
dancehall affects the way they are treated on the streets. I like the dancehall culture, however prior to this SBA I
never thought that the dancehall culture was just singing and dancing, not once considered that women were affected
in the way they are by the dancehall culture. My eyes are now open to how women play a role in the dancehall
culture and how they are greatly affected. Ultimately my view of the dancehall culture has changed for the better
despite of this I still appreciate the dancehall culture

Written report