The edgy, hardcore feel of dancehall music is the sort of stuff Jamaican artiste Busy Signal serves up when he is onstage and firing off lyrics. But he has a different appeal, a style that is dripping in raw, endless vulgarity.
The thing about dancehall is that its staying power is comfortably wrapped up in smuttiness – from the days of Beenie Man’s ‘Wickedest Slam’ to Tony Matterhorn’s ‘Dutty Wine’ and now Busy Signal’s ‘Agony.’
What is interesting though, is the fact that dancehall music has in its fold some of Jamaica’s most gifted artistes. There is simply no denying that the lyrical prowess of the dancehall king, Beenie Man and its now rising star, Busy Signal, among a few others is unmatched.
Busy Signal headlined the dancehall/reggae concert on Friday last as part of the Jamzone inaugural summer break weekend and delivered more than could have reasonably been expected of him and that includes his lessons on sexual pleasure.
The artiste appears to have a frenzied obsession with the word ‘sex’ and nearly all his songs celebrate his female conquests and desire of pleasing women. If he did perform a number outside of his obvious theme, it missed most people.
But then again most people didn’t seem to care that he was feeding them a dancehall session on matters solely of the flesh. The massive crowd begged him to go on after he burst onto the stage some time after 1 am and kept up an energizing performance.
Song after song, Busy Signal managed to spit out his lyrics without missing a beat. When he paused, it was to assess the crowd and gauge how he was doing. The look on his face said it all – the crowd was fully into him.
He probably felt so inspired that he dragged a very willing, scantily clad female fan on stage and had a raunchy make-out session with her. The woman, sporting long blond locks and a barely-there bikini outfit, played up to the singer long before he invited her on stage. She was strategically positioned in his view, gyrating enough to have him notice her, though she was hard to miss.
The two had the crowd in stitches as they performed on stage, Busy Signal spitting his lyrics and the woman, gyrating on him with wild passion. Prior to her stage appearance she bared her breasts to him while offering a full view to those in proximity. Interesting enough, the onstage act mirrored countless other performances on the ground. Truth be told, dancehall wouldn’t be the same without the carefree and often sex-laced gyrations.
But it was not all dancehall which explained another section of the crowd that spent most of the night burning ganja. Hits and Jams promotions which staged the event also thought of those reggae lovers, so they mixed things up with the extremely talented Peetah Morgan out of Morgan Heritage and the versatile Mr Vegas, but regrettably, no Timeka Marshall. After all the hype the Guyanese songstress was reportedly holed up in the US due to contractual obligations.
On his own Peetah Morgan managed to sway the crowd in a conscious direction, delivering solid reggae vibes that basically defined that element of the show. When he left the stage it was all up to Vegas to entertain before making way for Busy Signal.
Vegas, a consummate performer, and unarguably one of the best on the Jamaican music circuit barely sang for any notable period. He spent a brief period on stage then left, merely whetting appetites and failing to serve up the main course. His performance paled in comparison to the show he put on during the Carifesta super concerts last August.
The singer appeared so out of it that he actually fell off the stage while performing the hit, ‘I am bless.’ He ended up under the stage but minutes later was in the hands of adoring fans all clamouring to assist. Back on stage, he observed, “When yuh fall down yuh get up back.”
To sum things up, the show was quite entertaining and despite his hardcore dancehall lyrics headliner, Busy Signal did belt out some of his sweeter lyrics such as ‘One more night’ among others.
