Songs with sexually explicit lyrics, better know as ’slackness’ have been part of Jamaican music history for decades.

Literally hundreds of artists have recorded them, including reggae greats such as Desmond Dekker Johnnie Clark and General Echo. Nineties artists ranging from Shabba Ranking to Ninja Man and Mad Cobra have all had dancehall hits with slackness tunes.

Admiral Bailey’s ‘Gimmie punarny’ is a dancehall anthem. The ‘Punarny Rhythym’ as it is called has been a standard rhythm track for many dancehall artists for years.

Even socially conscious artists like Capelton and Sizzler have slipped slackness into some of their songs.

In modern day Jamaican dancehall, slackness has been taken to the limits by DJ’s and artists such as Jamaican dancehall royalty Tony Matterhorn. Of course in true Jamaican style, with the songs come the dances, these dances are sexually explicit in nature.

In the late 2k’s Jamaican dancehall artist Mr Vegas recorded a dancehall song entitled ‘Daggering’. This song was translated to mean a very violent sexually explicit ‘dry humping’ dance by Jamaican Passa Passa style dancers.

Since the songs release there has been a clampdown on the whole daggering phenomena that took Jamaica by storm with the success of the song. It was brought to the attention of  the media worldwide, after hospitals throughout Jamaica reported cases of young men inflicting severe injury upon themselves during the performance of  ’daggering’.

The daggering casualty ‘epidemic’ was even reported in the UK’s number 1 tabloid The Sun. In the Sun’s article it made no reference to the actual dance.

Quote from The Sun:
“HOSPITALS are treating a flood of agonised men for fractured TODGERS due to a bizarre sex craze. Doctors in Jamaica report the number of cases has almost trebled in a year after a rise in so-called “daggering”. They say injuries occur during the fast, rough intercourse and can result in permanent damage.”

Passa Passa events have been a Jamaican dancehall phenomena for some years reportedly starting in Kingston Jamaica. Passa Passa was the home of the worldwide dance craze ‘the Bogle dance’ originated by the late Mr Bogle.

‘Pum Pum Fridays’, Dirty Friday, and Hot Mondays are offshoots of these events, where young women ‘Skin out’ and dutty whine to the sexually motivated lyrics of the likes of Busy Signal and Mr Vegas.

At some of these events the promotion of hetrosexual intercourse is taken to the extreme. But Dutty Whine’ (dirty dance) and daggering is no longer confined to Passa Passa style events of Jamaica. These events have spread to Bermuda, Antigua, Trinidad, Guyana, Grenada, Miami, Toronto, Tokyo, Panama, the UK, and New York where the soon to be ‘x’ rated dances recieve much publicity and performed to the extreme. There are documented cases of severe injuries to women at these events as the dances have become more violent.

Guyana’s National Communications Network, the country’s broadcaster, has banned the promotion of ‘Passa Passa’ which has swept across the region. It is also reported that Passa Passa has been banned in Barbados and Trinidad. Grenada’s Education minister has also called for a ban on Passa Passa style parties.

In 2009, the Broadcasting Commission of Jamaica announced a ban on all songs containing lyrics that refer to daggering, as well as all songs that are deemed to contain sexual explicit or violent lyrics, even if the lyrics are concealed using bleeps. This applied to all Jamaican radio and television stations, including local cable channels.

Some artists feel that reggae music has yet again been targeted, while sexually explicit and violent Rap gets a free pass. They feel that if there is a ban of this nature then the ban should be universal.

Tony Matterhorn expresses his opinion on the matter on YardFlex.com:

“Ah me say “sex as me reach, practice weh me preach”. Inna my song “Dutty Whine” me say, “f*ck inna di water, f*ck inna di sea” and da song deh reach # 1 all over the world. The Broadcasting Commission can only ban daggering songs in Jamaica, but them caah stop it internationally. A Europe me just a come from and a the daggering songs them a mash up over deh. A nuh we tell the disc jock say them no fi play the daggering songs after dark, so a dem unnuh fi talk to.”

Recently US recording artist Diplo, aka Major Lazor, used Passa Passa dancers in a Video of pseudo dancehall track ‘Pon Da Floor’. Some people questioned why a caucasion with no roots in reggae or dancehall would used this type of imagery in his videos since he normally does not represent reggae music or Passa Passa. The star of the video is a DJ/dancer known as Skerrit Bwoy. Antiguan born, Bronx resident  Skerrit Bwoy,  is also known as Mr Domestic Violence because of his over the top ‘dance’ performances that include jumping from heights onto women below. The popularity of his Ghetto Life sound system along with his crazy antics have been featured in the FADER magazine.

The video’s director Eric Warehiem, cashes in on the domestic violence theme, by showing these bizarre routines performed in a house setting, with dutty whine dances taking place in most rooms of the house. Some Jamaicans feel that the likes of Skerrit Bwoy are turning Jamaica into a laughing stock, while Antigua remains the home of some of the wilder forms Passa Passa.

One way of looking at it is that negative and stereotypical images of blacks being exploited for financial gain  is an inevitability in the corporate world we all live in. Whether we like it or not the sexually explicit music and dance of Passa Passa are now an international phenomena, at this stage doesn’t someone usually cash in?

click here for > erotic dance article

Lady Saws song ‘STAB UP MI MEAT’

Skerrit Bwoy aka Mr Domestic Violence, turns Passa Passa into WWF meets Sex Pistols at Dutty Fridaze in L.A.