(I Pledge)
True Rasta no deal with slackness, but a deal with blackness.
Rasta a deal with reality, sufferation inna di ghetto, and consciousness. True African and world history. Protesting against Babylon wickedness and indoctrination.
SLACKNESS?
That being said, and while not a fan of slackness, I will however “deal with” or maybe better “treat” a theme in reggae lyrics that may be considered “slackness” from some perspective. I doubt, however, whether this is truly the case. It is at the very least a “lewd” theme.
I continue thus more or less on the sexuality theme of my previous post.
I am talking about “Joe Grine” (or “Joe Grind”) in reggae lyrics. Those in the know might smile in themselves when reading this. For those who do not know: Joe Grine is a term in Jamaican parlance which refers to a “second male lover” of a woman. Typically a man who visits a woman when her regular boyfriend or husband is away. A phenomenon which does not seem that unique, yet remains for some uncomfortable. Or funny.
TABOOS
There aren’t many other themes that trigger so much hypocricy as sexuality. The scandals in the Catholic Church exemplify that. Also the taboos associated with sexuality serve for many to make sex more interesting, more “edgy”. Even if forbidden fruits do not really taste better.
In that light I do not mind too much that lyrics are sexually explicit in themselves. It depends on the way how. I begin to mind, and consider it immoral, when it is demeaning to women, glorifies forced sex or rape, or in another way humiliates a sexual partner.
In the subgenre of reggae, mostly dancehall, that often deals with explicit sex you will not always find such demeaning, humiliating lyrics. Most often they are funny reflections of aspects of reality, namely relationships. What can be criticized, maybe, is the lack of responsibility for the relationship with your (bed) partner, who you lie to, or fool somehow. But hey..both sexual partners tend to be adults who know what they are doing.
Women having several sexual partners is specifically interesting, because the taboo on it is bigger than on “two timing” or multiple partners by men, as it is generally more expected and accepted of (more strongly libido-driven) men. Male domination throughout history eased this acceptance of course. Interesting is also that it differs per culture, and per part of the world. This is related to cultural views on gender relations.
That’s why I find the lyrics on “Joe Grine” (or second male lovers) in reggae so interesting.
RESEARCH
YouTube with its vast and varied amount of music and other videos and films proved very helpful in a type of research I did on “Joe Grine” in Jamaican lyrics. YouTube was however not the only source for songs: I do have an own reggae collection. I relate the topic of Joe Grine in reggae lyrics to what I have learned about gender views in Jamaican culture and society. Again, partly continuing thematically on my previous post.
I try to analyze the different perspectives on the Joe Grine phenomena thus expressed.
One of the catchiest songs about Joe Grine I find to be a song of that title by Madoo from 1980. Irresistibly catchy, a very effective tune on the Far East riddim.
The lyrics are largely descriptive (what a Joe Grine does, including details), but what is the perspective, the emotion behind it? Not easy to tell. Madoo seems to stay neutral in his description. Although the line "all she get fe that is a two-faced tea potty" suggests sympathy for the woman, and critique of Joe Grine's cheapness. There is maybe also an element of fear: “when you think it’s peace and safety, Joe Grine a stretch out your gyal titty” (explicit but rhyming well).
We will take a time leap from 1980 to 2003. From 2003 comes another catchy song – with the same title - by the dancehall group Ward 21. Their, for dancehall, originally combined vocals led to a catchy song on (lord have mercy: it cannot be true that this riddim exists…) the Billy Jean riddim.
Here the Ward 21 guys seem to present themselves as Joe Grine, saying it is the woman’s choice and that the other men should be mad (vex) with her and not with him, who simply knows how to please her: she chose to have several lovers. Less distantly descriptive, more identifying. No moral scrupules was deemed appropriate.
Another example of identification is by Winston Hussey on the “lovers rock”-like (and seemingly Gregory Isaacs-influenced) song ‘(I was a) Joe Grine last night’. It is from 1983, so in time closer to the Madoo than to the Ward 21 song.
More a singer than a deejay/toaster, Hussey tells a funny tale, descriptively but somehow including what can be called “moral dilemmas”. He says how he learned, repenting, better not to mess with another man’s woman, yet at the same time that the almighty Jah protected him against death at the hand of an enraged man. So the moral judgment eventually seems to tip in favour of the Joe Grine.
Again we make a time leap, now from 1983 to 2006. Another artist taking the position of a Joe Grine is Kip Rich. In his 2006 song ‘Joe Grind’ (featuring Delicious) the other (regular or other Joe Grine?) man unexpectedly arrives when she and the woman are “busy”. An unpleasant, tense turn of events for the Joe Grine vocalist in question.
Again a nice, funny song. Also again, identification with the Joe Grine rather than with the jealous cheated-on partner - like both the Winston Hussey and Ward 21 songs.
The tendency to identify with the Joe Grine rather than with the partner cheated on can be explained by the lyrics of another song by female dancehall artist Ikaya and her song, also directly titled ‘Joe Grine’. Largely in Patois (only Winston Hussey’s song is more or less in standard Jamaican English), Ikaya explains how she has an “uptown” man with money for comfort, but a “downtown” (poor parts, ghetto) man to please her well sexually. That reggae and dancehall is since its origins more associated with downtown and the ghetto is hopefully well-known.
This is interestingly in line with my previous post on this blog: incapacity to fulfill breadwinner norms of financially maintaining women, makes poor black men prove their “manhood” instead biologically, i.e. sexually. “Prove I am a man” is also a line in Hussey’s song.
Joe Ranking’s “limitedly slack” song ‘Joe Grine Gal’ is lyrically quite simple on a desire to “wine” a Joe Grine girl/woman. Without deeper layers, it is for this post less interesting. Apparently – if I understand it right – a Joe Grine can also be female.
And yes: maybe to be expected, but there is also a Joe Grind or Joe Grine “riddim”…
So far for YouTube.
I have overall a stronger affection for roots reggae than for dancehall. I do enjoy some dancehall occasionally, however, even with “lewd” lyrics, especially when they have a “joking” and humoristic vibe.
My reggae collection consequently is mainly focused on roots reggae with only some dancehall, but as Joe Grine is a common Jamaican term it appears here and there in lyrics, also in roots reggae or lovers rock.
An example is the song ‘Gimme What Me Want’ on the album From The Roots (2004) by Horace Andy. Horace Andy is a roots veteran, but this song has a dancehall influence.
Joe Grine is in this song part of a list of men (any Tom, Dick, and Harry) chatting up, hitting on a woman, some offering gold chains, a “more wine” (?) man, and a Joe Grine. Horace Andy wants her to give “it” just to him and make these other men “gwaan dem ways” (leave her alone, go their ways). In this sense it is a different perspective as the Joe Grine is seen as a threat or hassle to the vocalist in this case, although along with a series of other male competitors.
GENDER RELATIONS
The Joe Grine phenomenon gives an intriguing insight in gender relations in Jamaican culture. Unfortunately in some countries, Islamic but also non-Islamic cultures and societies (e.g in Hinduist India), adultery by women is condemned much more, and even punishable with death in some cases, when compared to (less-condemned) adultery by men. In comparison, the Jamaican gender situation seems markedly different.
Polygamy among African-Caribbean men is sometimes attributed to African-based cultural origins, but it is actually an anthropological fact – maybe uncomfortable to some - that 70% of the world’s cultures accept forms of polygamy. More for men than for women, though there are exceptions.
Some cultures in sub-Saharan Africa accept degrees of polygamy for both men and women. Or used to, because the arrival of Islam or Christianity in parts of sub-Saharan Africa limited this officially. Islam allows a man to have a maximum of 4 wives but only when a man can maintain them financially. The marital exclusivity, even with several wives, can still contrast with cultural practices. In some parts of Africa where many slaves came from it was long common that men and women lived largely apart in own huts, only coming together in a hut temporarily, mostly for making love. This continues up to recently among Maroons in inland Suriname. This practice seems to assure at least a degree of independence of women as well as men.
But probably in some way slavery influenced it also: male slaves were stimulated to (just) breed and not start steady relationships with female slaves, the latter remaining at the same time “available” for the horny, sexual whims of slave masters or overseers.
However historically to be explained, Joe Grine is a common cultural phenomenon in Jamaica that therefore reflects also in lyrics from different decades.
These often humoristic, loose lyrics furthermore seem mostly in line with another trait common in African-Caribbean cultures: sexuality, while important for manhood, or a certain identity, is not taken too seriously. Neither is it sacralized in an exclusive manner as is common in large, institutionalized religions like Christianity/Catholicism, Islam, or Hinduism. Is it coincidence that women are/were mostly subordinate to men in these religions?
I cannot help but think that not taking sexuality too serious or rigid, while still recognizing its connection to a special bond with a person, may not be a bad idea of these African-Caribbean cultures…
Posts tonen met het label sexuality. Alle posts tonen
Posts tonen met het label sexuality. Alle posts tonen
zondag 17 april 2011
zaterdag 19 maart 2011
Reggae and homophobia
I object to the qualification of current reggae, or even modern dancehall, as “hate music” or “murder music”. This came from gay and other groups protesting against lyrics of some dancehall reggae artists, lyrics considered homophobic and even promoting violence against homosexuals. These Gay Rights groups have, of course, like everyone else, the right to protest or let their objections know about certain lyrics or expressions.
They can say whatever they want, but when some of them exaggerate or make false judgments…the freedom of expression goes both ways. It’s in essence a false accusation of, in this case, a music genre. Besides mentioning specific lyrics by specific artists there were inappropriate generalizations, at least by some.
Every true, seasoned reggae fan knows: overall reggae cannot be called Hate Music or Murder Music: the existence of some slackness and gun lyrics aside, mostly reggae remains quite the contrary: protest music against (gun) violence. Violent lyrics are not absent, but the balance tips strongly to the latter anti-violence lyrics. Besides, part of what seems violent in some Jamaican lyrics is in fact metaphorical, such as the “Bun” (Burn) expression, used as an expression of condemnation, rather than actual call for violence against (burning) certain phenomena.
Generalizations and simplifications, and also misinterpretations. No doubt that the song ‘Boom Bye Bye’ (recorded in 1988) by Buju Banton, early in his career, had anti-gay lyrics and seemed to call for violence. The lyrics are I think discussed enough. It also is true that anti-homosexual lyrics can be found in recent lyrics as well, such as by Shabba Ranks, Capleton, Sizzla, or Bounty Killer, and that several Jamaican artists, also older roots artist, made disparaging comments about homosexuals, or Batty Men (“batty” is Jamaican Patois for buttocks), as gay men are known in Jamaican parlance. These lyrics or expressions are, however, not as common as many think. Not even in modern dancehall. Besides, it strongly differs per artist, regarding the “if” and “how”. Some of these artists even stated publicly – in response to media images – that they do not hate gays. Important nuances.
The homophobia still expressed within reggae and dancehall may be regrettable, but must at the same time be put into perspective. Many countries in this world have outlawed homosexual acts, or are otherwise intolerant toward homosexuality, especially when compared to some European countries, US states, or for instance Canada, that are more liberal in this regard. Jamaica is furthermore a very Christian, especially Protestant, country, besides the influential Rastafari-adhering minority, and the Bible condemns homosexual acts as an abomination, also in quite violent terms.
HOMOPHOBIA
I must admit that I find homophobia an interesting subject, not nice or beautiful, but interesting: what moves people to emphasize their heterosexuality? Why is homosexuality considered and feared as a threat to a cherished sexual order? Not just by elites, but also by common folks?
I can try to be hypocritical, and caress my own ego by saying that I cannot at all imagine that people can be so intolerant, but I’d rather tell the truth. First of all, it also is true that I hate hate, also hate against homosexuals. If two people of the same sex are consenting adults, and both want to have sex with each other, essentially I don’t mind. It’s not my business, in that case.
On the other hand, I can understand homophobia to a degree. Mind you: that is not the same as approving of it.
I won’t tell too much about my experience as a sexually maturing boy, adolescent, young man, and now man, but I can say this: there are many aspects that promote insecurity when you grow up as a man.
Maybe I was unlucky, but I think societal norms, more than biology, made and make woman-man, girl-boy relationships often quite tense. Tense in the sense of a nice challenge, but often also unpleasant and disturbing. There are pressures on men, often from “macho” men around you, to hit on women, find women, often combining this with a very annoying competitive atmosphere. “True love” hereby tends to become secondary. Macho men are often insecure men who brag about their success with women or girls to show they’re better than you.
Yet you feel the same sexual desires within yourself. At a certain age (boys somewhat later than girls, I understood) you inevitably get sexual feelings. As an heterosexual your interest in female bodies, rounder buttocks, breasts, legs, all that, increases.
Set against the “macho” norm – as many women as possible – you’ll find that, well, most of these girls/women who amaze you do not want to be too intimate with you. Some of the more “distant” don’t want to be looked at, or talk with you either. There is a frustration there. This is ideally fulfilled by other girls/women who do want to be intimate with you, compensating the others. Not all boys/men are that successful, however.
I’ve heard men, in later stages, characterizing going to prostitutes as a sort of “failure” or “defeat”. Similarly, turning to your own sex (if you’re not born homosexual) can be seen as a similar “defeat” caused by female rejection.
This type of insecurity stems from competitive, macho norms, as I mentioned, but this in turn stems from decades of patriarchy and male rule over women. For a long time the norm was basically: any woman or girl should be available to a man or boy as he pleases, and should not withhold sex. I’m afraid that this thinking is still deeply ingrained, also in the Western world. It’s partly biological, but mostly socially shaped. If you’re not successful with girls and women, and other men around you are, you feel hurt in your manhood, and feel somehow humiliated.
It is this type of insecurity that can lend itself well for expressions of homophobia.
SLAVERY, RACISM, AND MANHOOD
Let’s return to Jamaica. Due to historical reasons “manhood” has a different, troubled meaning for black men in the Americas. Not just manhood but also womanhood were denied to slaves: their humanity was denied and they were treated as chattel. Socially they were as good as dead. Slave masters, mostly men, and overseers, also mostly men, abused and raped slave women more often than not. English-born Thomas Thistlewood, overseer and later plantation owner in western Jamaica, was a mass-rapist in that he had raped thousands of enslaved black women, i.e. on a regular basis, and other slave masters did not stay far behind. Enslaved men where stimulated to fertilize women, and sometimes slave-owners stimulated that enslaved men raped enslaved women. Procreation of slaves meant more enslaved labourers. Stable relationships or a “father role” for male slaves, meanwhile, were destimulated. Several “demasculinizations” thus took place.
After slavery the position of black people, including men, remained second-class: humanity and manhood kept being questioned.
The Western norm of a patriarchal man taking financially care of a wife and children was (and is) difficult to live up to when you don’t have the means to do so, and are too poor.
Long-denied humanity or manhood because of your race further adds insecurities to black men. These insecurities are historically understandable. It is not an excuse for everything, of course.
The last marker of manhood that remains is the biological one: having children with women, pleasing women sexually, as many women as possible, or having a large penis which (hopefully) all women desire, becomes a source of pride. However stupid this may sound: in a certain socio-psychological situation it makes sense.
Unfortunately, this emphasis on heterosexuality can take the form of homophobia. If you turn gay, you are marginalized all over again from desired norms of manhood.
In conclusion, to common insecurities of a maturing male as a sexual being, are added insecurities stemming from historical and social and racial inequalities.
PEDOPHILIA
By the way: many Jamaican reggae lyrics deal with sexual abuse and strongly attack pedophilia. ‘Child Abuse’ by the veteran roots harmony group Abyssinians is such a song. Jr X’s song ‘Pedophile’ another.
I can from the top of my head recall references in songs by Junior Kelly, Jah Mason, and Chuck Fender (the song ‘Gash Dem’), and others.
Also - many may not know this - Buju Banton’s Boom Bye Bye song originally referred to a man-boys rape case in Jamaica. I hope that most gays also agree with me (and with Buju Banton, most people in Jamaica, and in the world) that sex should be between “consenting adults”. Not with someone who is not ready for sex, does not want it, or does not even know what sex is.
That in Jamaica some pedophilia affairs were explained by some - both Rastas and Christians – as a wicked “batty man conspiracy” (to raise more gays, or to disturb the sexual, natural order etc.) may sound disturbing or unenlightened. On the other hand it also is, in light of the above, understandable.
Perhaps an unpleasant truth, but let’s just say that it is a complex issue…
They can say whatever they want, but when some of them exaggerate or make false judgments…the freedom of expression goes both ways. It’s in essence a false accusation of, in this case, a music genre. Besides mentioning specific lyrics by specific artists there were inappropriate generalizations, at least by some.
Every true, seasoned reggae fan knows: overall reggae cannot be called Hate Music or Murder Music: the existence of some slackness and gun lyrics aside, mostly reggae remains quite the contrary: protest music against (gun) violence. Violent lyrics are not absent, but the balance tips strongly to the latter anti-violence lyrics. Besides, part of what seems violent in some Jamaican lyrics is in fact metaphorical, such as the “Bun” (Burn) expression, used as an expression of condemnation, rather than actual call for violence against (burning) certain phenomena.
Generalizations and simplifications, and also misinterpretations. No doubt that the song ‘Boom Bye Bye’ (recorded in 1988) by Buju Banton, early in his career, had anti-gay lyrics and seemed to call for violence. The lyrics are I think discussed enough. It also is true that anti-homosexual lyrics can be found in recent lyrics as well, such as by Shabba Ranks, Capleton, Sizzla, or Bounty Killer, and that several Jamaican artists, also older roots artist, made disparaging comments about homosexuals, or Batty Men (“batty” is Jamaican Patois for buttocks), as gay men are known in Jamaican parlance. These lyrics or expressions are, however, not as common as many think. Not even in modern dancehall. Besides, it strongly differs per artist, regarding the “if” and “how”. Some of these artists even stated publicly – in response to media images – that they do not hate gays. Important nuances.
The homophobia still expressed within reggae and dancehall may be regrettable, but must at the same time be put into perspective. Many countries in this world have outlawed homosexual acts, or are otherwise intolerant toward homosexuality, especially when compared to some European countries, US states, or for instance Canada, that are more liberal in this regard. Jamaica is furthermore a very Christian, especially Protestant, country, besides the influential Rastafari-adhering minority, and the Bible condemns homosexual acts as an abomination, also in quite violent terms.
HOMOPHOBIA
I must admit that I find homophobia an interesting subject, not nice or beautiful, but interesting: what moves people to emphasize their heterosexuality? Why is homosexuality considered and feared as a threat to a cherished sexual order? Not just by elites, but also by common folks?
I can try to be hypocritical, and caress my own ego by saying that I cannot at all imagine that people can be so intolerant, but I’d rather tell the truth. First of all, it also is true that I hate hate, also hate against homosexuals. If two people of the same sex are consenting adults, and both want to have sex with each other, essentially I don’t mind. It’s not my business, in that case.
On the other hand, I can understand homophobia to a degree. Mind you: that is not the same as approving of it.
I won’t tell too much about my experience as a sexually maturing boy, adolescent, young man, and now man, but I can say this: there are many aspects that promote insecurity when you grow up as a man.
Maybe I was unlucky, but I think societal norms, more than biology, made and make woman-man, girl-boy relationships often quite tense. Tense in the sense of a nice challenge, but often also unpleasant and disturbing. There are pressures on men, often from “macho” men around you, to hit on women, find women, often combining this with a very annoying competitive atmosphere. “True love” hereby tends to become secondary. Macho men are often insecure men who brag about their success with women or girls to show they’re better than you.
Yet you feel the same sexual desires within yourself. At a certain age (boys somewhat later than girls, I understood) you inevitably get sexual feelings. As an heterosexual your interest in female bodies, rounder buttocks, breasts, legs, all that, increases.
Set against the “macho” norm – as many women as possible – you’ll find that, well, most of these girls/women who amaze you do not want to be too intimate with you. Some of the more “distant” don’t want to be looked at, or talk with you either. There is a frustration there. This is ideally fulfilled by other girls/women who do want to be intimate with you, compensating the others. Not all boys/men are that successful, however.
I’ve heard men, in later stages, characterizing going to prostitutes as a sort of “failure” or “defeat”. Similarly, turning to your own sex (if you’re not born homosexual) can be seen as a similar “defeat” caused by female rejection.
This type of insecurity stems from competitive, macho norms, as I mentioned, but this in turn stems from decades of patriarchy and male rule over women. For a long time the norm was basically: any woman or girl should be available to a man or boy as he pleases, and should not withhold sex. I’m afraid that this thinking is still deeply ingrained, also in the Western world. It’s partly biological, but mostly socially shaped. If you’re not successful with girls and women, and other men around you are, you feel hurt in your manhood, and feel somehow humiliated.
It is this type of insecurity that can lend itself well for expressions of homophobia.
SLAVERY, RACISM, AND MANHOOD
Let’s return to Jamaica. Due to historical reasons “manhood” has a different, troubled meaning for black men in the Americas. Not just manhood but also womanhood were denied to slaves: their humanity was denied and they were treated as chattel. Socially they were as good as dead. Slave masters, mostly men, and overseers, also mostly men, abused and raped slave women more often than not. English-born Thomas Thistlewood, overseer and later plantation owner in western Jamaica, was a mass-rapist in that he had raped thousands of enslaved black women, i.e. on a regular basis, and other slave masters did not stay far behind. Enslaved men where stimulated to fertilize women, and sometimes slave-owners stimulated that enslaved men raped enslaved women. Procreation of slaves meant more enslaved labourers. Stable relationships or a “father role” for male slaves, meanwhile, were destimulated. Several “demasculinizations” thus took place.
After slavery the position of black people, including men, remained second-class: humanity and manhood kept being questioned.
The Western norm of a patriarchal man taking financially care of a wife and children was (and is) difficult to live up to when you don’t have the means to do so, and are too poor.
Long-denied humanity or manhood because of your race further adds insecurities to black men. These insecurities are historically understandable. It is not an excuse for everything, of course.
The last marker of manhood that remains is the biological one: having children with women, pleasing women sexually, as many women as possible, or having a large penis which (hopefully) all women desire, becomes a source of pride. However stupid this may sound: in a certain socio-psychological situation it makes sense.
Unfortunately, this emphasis on heterosexuality can take the form of homophobia. If you turn gay, you are marginalized all over again from desired norms of manhood.
In conclusion, to common insecurities of a maturing male as a sexual being, are added insecurities stemming from historical and social and racial inequalities.
PEDOPHILIA
By the way: many Jamaican reggae lyrics deal with sexual abuse and strongly attack pedophilia. ‘Child Abuse’ by the veteran roots harmony group Abyssinians is such a song. Jr X’s song ‘Pedophile’ another.
I can from the top of my head recall references in songs by Junior Kelly, Jah Mason, and Chuck Fender (the song ‘Gash Dem’), and others.
Also - many may not know this - Buju Banton’s Boom Bye Bye song originally referred to a man-boys rape case in Jamaica. I hope that most gays also agree with me (and with Buju Banton, most people in Jamaica, and in the world) that sex should be between “consenting adults”. Not with someone who is not ready for sex, does not want it, or does not even know what sex is.
That in Jamaica some pedophilia affairs were explained by some - both Rastas and Christians – as a wicked “batty man conspiracy” (to raise more gays, or to disturb the sexual, natural order etc.) may sound disturbing or unenlightened. On the other hand it also is, in light of the above, understandable.
Perhaps an unpleasant truth, but let’s just say that it is a complex issue…
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