Shaggy, left, and Damian 'Junior Gong' Marley has the good looks and bad boy element that lots of women crave.Tanya Batson, Staff Reporter
BUJU'S DECLARATION of love for his 'browning' in the early '90s dancehall hit Browning spoke to a part of the Jamaican psyche where race and shade continue to be important. Those who want to pretend it does not should simply converse with the 'bleachers'.
Currently, the music industry seems to be in love with three 'brownings' Shaggy, Sean Paul and Damian 'Junior Gong' Marley. Although Sean Paul and the young Gong are yet not quite battle-worn, Shaggy has proven himself to be much more of a mainstay. His penultimate album, Hot Shots, declared that he was no mere flash in the pan. Although his current album, Lucky Day, does not seem to be striking as much platinum, it is doing far from badly. Despite the fact that the United States has not embraced this album as warmly as its predecessor, it is finding fertile ground on British soil. The lead single, Hey Sexy Lady made its way to the number nine spot on BBC Radio One's chart.
Sean Paul had the mainstream, including the teeny-boppers on MTV's TRL Live, who seem to be defining American popular culture, rocking to his very contagious beat recently. The deejay's Gimme The Light saw him shining all the way to number seven on the Billboard charts. The song, currently at number 26, has been on the charts for 38 weeks.
Canada has also felt the spell of 'Sean-a Paul'. The song debuted on a Canadian chart at number 14 recently and is currently at number 13 after four weeks.
In terms of climbing the international charts Junior Gong has been less successful. Nonetheless, he has a Grammy under his belt for his sophomore work. Although some believe that the 'Reggae Grammy' award is as curse-laden as the 'Best New Artiste of the Year' Grammy, it is still nothing to be scoffed at. Additionally, Junior Gong's numerous performances across the island over the Christmas period stated that he no longer needs to tell the world that 'is im name Junior Gong'.
With the exception of Shaggy, the 'brownings' also
have another thing in common, they are from the middle class. This sets them distinctly apart from most of the island's deejays.
Jamaica's popular music erupted from the nation's underbelly after germinating in the womb of the teeming streets of inner-city Kingston. The creation of the genre was urged forward by the ever-hungry sound systems who could never have enough hits to fill the dancehall and 'lively up di place'. Sufficient new exclusive hits could not be imported into the island to satisfy the writhing masses who flocked to the dancehalls, also known as lawns. After the first imitations of imported sounds and beats, finally our own sound, our own beat emerged. It was manifested in the forms of ska, then morphed into rocksteady, and finally reggae came forth.
However, as the genres spread and gained some mainstream acceptability, the face of those producing any of these forms changed. On the local scene, Jamaican popular music has long gained acceptance by the upper classes. On the international level, it has begun to wear many faces, though some covertly so.
No Doubt is one example of this. When the band first kicked in the door to stardom, they were being touted as a ska band. This description went to the original music they played. Lead singer Gwen Stefani is cited on sing365.com as explaining the band's involvement with ska. She pointed out that the band started playing that genre because it was the music that they knew. The continuation of the label as being a ska band does not sit well with No Doubt. Stefani goes on to say "We were labeled a ska band forever and it was always something we were trying to get away from. We wanted to become our own sound. For the first time on this record I think we were able to do that. To mix up all the different influences without freaking people out."
Stephani's comment was made after the band released Tragic Kingdom, their first mainstream smash. Last year they band released Rocksteady. The album makes sure no one mistakes them for a ska band. Several cuts on the album, including the title track, clearly use reggae/dancehall rhythms. Of course, the album is not being marketed as reggae.
More importantly, rocksteady could be a classic case of reggae making the mainstream crossover and leaving reggae musicians behind.
The question of the problem with reggae making the mainstream crossover has come up time and again. There have been suggestions that it is due to the language difference, the lack of creativity plaguing the music and even the fact that on average, the genre does not get played in the mainstream. The creativity issue is the easiest to dismiss. All that needs to be said to counter such arguments is the Backstreet Boys.
This last argument cannot be ignored, however. In order for any genre to make a proper break into the mainstream, the mainstream audience must have access to it. Although it may seem that it is now easier to break into the mainstream, some forms of music may find themselves further hampered.
Even though recently even VH1 has begun playing R&B music, reports are that Virgin radio has decided to drop the genre. The decision to ban R&B and rap from its airwaves was announced in October of last year. The genres were described as 'processed crap'. The report published on media.guardian.co.uk stated that the station's deejays were not allowed to either mention or play either genres. Although the station denied the allegation, some persons in the industry have charged that the move borders on racism.
The link is an easy one to make. Both genres are dominated by Black performers. As such, it easily becomes a racial issue. Race can also be linked to the idea of the mainstream. As the word is bandied about, it never seems to relate to anywhere outside of North America and Europe (especially Britian), the mainstream is clearly white.
This argument brings with it another point. Currently, it is increasingly difficult to be successful in the music industry without the visual medium. Whether they are seen via the rabbit ears or the mouse, today's artistes have to show a face to the public.
In this visually-oriented industry, the right image is of massive importance. As Milli Vanilli proved, all you need are good looks and the ability to look good in tight pants and clunky boots.
In addition to their talent, Sean Paul, Junior Gong and Shaggy are good looking. Each of them have the looks that can easily set off the 'screaming girl effect' (once one girl starts screaming every girl within earshot will join in). In an earlier interview with Jade Lee about the success of Sean Paul's Gimme The Light, she noted that his looks certainly do not hurt.
Shaggy also evidently knows the value of his looks. He has used the devastating one raised eyebrow so often, it could become a permanent state. Additionally, his 'loverboy' persona dictates that he highlight his looks.
Of course, as the adage states, beauty is decided by those who behold it. So, is looking Caucasian important to mainstream success? Ibo Cooper notes that it is an important feature from the business side of the industry. While he made sure to point out that talent can win out, he stated that looking Caucasian gives the performer a distinct advantage.
In July of 2002, Michael Jackson accused his record label Sony Music and its head Tommy Motolla of practising racial prejudice. The no longer gloved wonder was quoted as saying on chartattack.com "The recording companies really, really do conspire against the artistes," Jackson said. "They steal, they cheat, they do everything they can. [Especially] against the black artists."
The particular axe that Jackson wanted to grind was what he claimed was insufficient promotion of his latest album Invincible. The album, which failed by Jackson's standards, ironically proved his fallibility. Of course, not many are willing to buy into (or at least support) Jackson's cry of racism. Having become his own parody, the former 'king of pop' once declared that being black or white is inconsequential. He has now changed his tune to 'baby it does matter if you're black or white'.
Michael Jackson aside, is the argument that race matters when it comes to music a valid one? While one can easily accept the value of looks (and 'ugliness' has also been used to sell artistes) the issue of race becomes a very 'iffy' one. However, history is on the side of those who point to the value of having the right race and face.
For example, rap music's crossover to the mainstream was greatly aided by The Beastie Boys. Talent aside, what helped to propel these three noisy boys into suburban bedrooms was the fact that they too lived in one. What The Beastie Boys had over Run-DMC was the fact that the mainstream was able to identify with them. The numerous teenagers from middle-America who took up the chant to fight for their right to party were a bunch of 'Beastie Boys', just like there are several 'Slim Shadys' lurking around. Another example is Justin Timberlake's reincarnation as a solo artiste away from his boy band NSync. Watching any of his latest videos can easily lead one to believe he grew up watching Black Entertainment Television and little else. The basic argument is that though artistes may be talented, it helps if the audience can identify with them, visually, or at least find them acceptable. The issue has already been raised in music history, since some have suggested that Bob Marley's way was greased by the fact that he was a 'browning'. As sacrilegious as the comment may sound, it is an accusation which has been levelled. Whether or not it is agreed with, it cannot be denied that Marley lived at a time when it was particularly true that 'if you black you in the back, if yuh brown yuh can come aroun' and if yuh white yuh alright'.
To suggest however, that Bob Marley succeeded merely because white people found his visage more acceptable is to accept the ludicrous. So too would it be a fallacy to argue that Sean Paul, Shaggy and Junior Gong have succeeded because they are 'brownings'. However, it would be equally ludicrous to pretend that being pretty/ugly or brown/white/black do not matter.
