Words and Photo by Beth Lesser—
With her latest book Rub A Dub Style, dancehall historian/photographer and Reggae Quarterly founder Beth Lesser is taking a comprehensive look back at dancehall’s emergence in the 1980s. As the release of the book—available as a free download through her site on May 14,—nears, we had Lesser share her picks for the 10 most crucial and indefatigable tunes from dancehall’s formative years.
wicked set of tunes. The early dancehall era might just be my favourite era of all of reggae music.
About “entertainment”, I would just like to add one thing: even though it is all about, well, entertainment, there is a subtle, darker and – dare i say – political note in the intro: “Many people keep on dancing… while the prophecy fulfill”, a reference to what was going on at the time i.e. political gang warfare, largely fueled by cocaine money.