25 Years of Dancehall

• By Gabriel_Heatwave | 
• Thursday 18 March 2010 | 
• 3 comments | 
• 

Last month marked the 25th anniversary of the day that Wayne Smith's Under Me Sleng Teng was first played in a dance. Tuesday 23rd February to be exact.

To celebrate the 25th birthday of digital dancehall we looked back over the last quarter century of this brilliant music and had a quick party on our Rinse FM show. It was mad to look at how things have developed over two and a half decades.

I couldn't quite keep it to one tune per year as I was also trying to make sure that all the key artists from this period were represented. I think I did pretty well in the end but I'm sure I left out some notable vocalists. I KNOW that there are hundreds of BIG TUNES that didn't get featured.

I suppose there's always someone who gets left out at a birthday party. Big up Kiprich, Cecile, TOK, Terry Ganzie, Serani, Spice and all the other artists whose invites got lost in the post.

So here's The Heatwave's history lesson aka bashment birthday party. 25 years of dancehall. As Benjamin points out at some point, this is one for the iPod.

The Heatwave - 25 Years of Dancehall | Download MP3 (right click, save as)

Get the Flash Player to listen to this

Tracklist

• Wayne Smith - Sleng Teng (1985)
• Admiral Bailey - Punaany (1986)
• Super Cat - Mud Up (1987)
• Ninjaman - More Reality (1988)
• Shabba Ranks - Wicked Inna Bed (1989)
• Cutty Ranks - Retreat (1990)
• Buju Banton - Stamina Daddy (1991)
• Chaka Demus & Pliers - Murder She Wrote (1992)
• Terror Fabulous & Nadine Sutherland - Action (1993)
• General Degree - Papa Lover (1994)
• Spragga Benz - Dem Flop (1994)
• Capleton - Tour (1995)
• Lady Saw - Sycamore Tree (1996)
• Beenie Man - Who Am I (1997)
• Mr Vegas - Heads High (Remix) (1998)
• Bounty Killer - Look (1999)
• Baby Cham - Man A Man (2000)
• Ward 21 - Don't Push It (2000)
• Sizzla - Pump Up (2001)
• Mad Cobra - Press Trigger (2001)
• Tanya Stephens - Touch Me No More (2002)
• Elephant Man - Genie Dance (2003)
• Vybz Kartel - Tek Buddy (2003)
• Sean Paul - Temperature (2004)
• Leftside & Esco - Tuck In Yu Belly (2005)
• Assassin - As A Man (2005)
• Tony Matterhorn - Dutty Wine (2006)
• Natasha - Calabria (2007)
• Mavado - So Special (2008)
• Demarco - She Can't Wait (2009)
• Busy Signal - Bare Gal (2010)

• By Gabriel_Heatwave | 
• Thursday 18 March 2010 | 
• 3 comments | 
•