Music plays a vital role in the development of adolescents. Today, the genre of music that has dominated is “Dancehall Music”. Dancehall music is a genre of Jamaican popular music that is a sparser version of reggae. It is heard everywhere in public transport, homes, and on the road side. It also prompts the emotions, moods and behaviour of many of our youths. While the impact of dancehall music has its advantages on youth’s culture, it also has its disadvantages which carry a greater percentage on the youths of the 21st century.
Imagine living in world where nothing seems right or the look on your parents face when they can’t provide food for the family to eat or money to send you and your siblings to school but somehow you manage to overcome these struggles and are kept motivated by the rhythm and beat of Dancehall music in your atmosphere. This scenario explains the positive influence dancehall music may have on our youths. According to Stanley-Niaah 2004,”dancehall music tells the story of a people’s survival and need for celebration of that survival against forces of imperialism and systems of exclusion through dance, music and attitude”. This genre of music helps our youths to find an identity in society as well as to encourage them to elevate themselves. Some lyrics of our dancehall artists uplift the youths in society and they often push them to be strong and never give up regardless of the situation. Some lyrics also stress the importance of education and encourage our youths to stay in school. We can refer to songs such as I-Octane’s ‘My Life’ and Popcaan’s “Dream”.
Despite the positive effects Dancehall music might have on our young people, it has become more a pathway for moral degradation with our young people. Dancehall music has a negative impact on our youths as it sends and promotes negative messages of violence, sex and drugs. Violence is a predominate theme throughout the genre of dancehall music and consequently influences young people to behave violently and deem it as acceptable behaviour. Vybz Kartel is a good example of an artist who promotes violence in his music. His song entitled, “Gunshot”, contains a lot of messages that involve various violent acts. One could perceive guns violence as being popular, especially to those youths who look up to Vybz Kartel as a role model. Additionally, some dancehall lyrics are found to be crude or “slack”. It adheres to promoting sexual behaviours, sexual imagery and violence. It is inevitable that the youth of society are going to follow the message that is being portrayed in these songs, as some of these artists are role models unto the youths. Sexual behaviour in public and Promiscuity are rising factors among our youths. It has contributed to increasing level of Teenage Pregnancy and Sexual Transmitted Diseases. According to Crawford 2010“out of 238 cases of 9-17 year olds, 10.1% male and 3.4% female were sexually influenced by dancehall genre. 42% respondents (18.5% male, 23.5% female) contracted STIs/HIV”.
To conclude, Dancehall music plays a vital role in our youth culture. Despite the fact that it helps our youths to uplift themselves and stay positive it also promotes violence which can lead to the increase of criminal activities, sexual behaviours which results in teenage pregnancy and Sexual transmitted Diseases.