Megawattage sound systems have blasted the electronically enhanced
riddims and tongue-twisting lyrics of Jamaica's dancehall DJs across the
globe. This high-energy raggamuffin music is often dissed by old-school
roots reggae fans as a raucous degeneration of classic Jamaican popular
music. In this provocative study of dancehall culture Carolyn Cooper,
Professor of Literary and Cultural Studies at the University of the West
Indies, Mona, Jamaica, offers a sympathetic account of the philosophy of
a wide range of dancehall DJs: Shabba Ranks, Lady Saw, Ninjaman,
Capleton, Buju Banton, Anthony B, Apache Indian. She demonstrates the
ways in which the language of dancehall culture, often devalued as mere
'noise, ' articulates a complex understanding of the border clashes that
characterise Jamaican society. Cooper also analyses the sound clashes
that erupt in the movement of Jamaican dancehall culture across national
borders