Wyclef Jean was the host of the inaugural Caribbean Music Awards at the King’s Theatre in Brooklyn New York on August 31, 2023. The Haitian producer and entertainer started the evening veering off the teleprompter by saying, “they steal our culture and they call it pop, they flip our food around, tonight we taking everything back to the Caribbean, we want our just dues tonight.”
Over the years Wyclef, who is set to go on tour with Lauryn Hill has collaborated with several reggae and dancehall artists from Jamaica including Buju Banton, Beenie Man, Mavado, Elephant Man and many more.
The “Sweetest Girl” artist statement at the Caribbean Music Awards come as dancehall pioneers Steely and Clevie are during Universal Music Group, Sony Music Group, Warner Music et al. over the “Fish Market” riddim in a copyright infringement case according to documents obtained by World Music Views.
In April a 33 page list of Reggaeton songs were brought into evidence to support Steely and Cleevie’s copyright infringement claims against the latin artists, producers, publishing companies and record labels. it 1800 tracks are alleged to have infringed upon the 80s dancehall riddim “Fish Market” produced by the duo. The evidence was presented on the basis that they sample copies of the composition or simply copied the composition without permission.
Reggaeton King Daddy Yankee alone is accused of copying the Fish Market composition on over 43 songs including his 41x Latin Platinum hit Con Calma with Snow which interpolates Snow’s dancehall hit Informa.
Con Calma was the most viewed music video on YouTube in 2019, racking up 1.5 billion that year. The song currently has 2.6 billion views on the platform.
Brazilian singer Annita, who was just released from Warner Music after she ranted on social media about wanting to leave the label has 14 songs on the evidence list named Exhibit A.
So far 107 summonses have been served to defendants this year alone as the trial is set to get under way. Attorneys Jean G. Vidal-Font and Bradley J. Mullins, are representing latin superstar Juan Luis Morera Luna p/k/a Wisin and Drake real name Aubrey Graham.
Bad Bunny and Drake‘s MÍA which has 1.4 billion YouTube views has also been named as one of the songs that copied the Fish Market riddim.
According to the documents obtained by WMV, evidence put forward showed that the Grammy winning duo of Wisin & Yandel are accused of sampling the Fish Market Riddim on 300 songs.
Dancehall’s Airtime
Last year May, Sean Paul had much to say about the amount of radio airtime reggae and dancehall music gets in the US and what might be preventing it from making more entries on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
Sean said to the Daily Beast, “I have so much to say on that. We don’t have the numbers. There are 2.9 million people in Jamaica, so no matter how big we tell you this or that person is, nobody is buying or streaming that shit. Back when I was swimming for Jamaica, I would go to events in Trinidad, Mexico, Puerto Rico, the Bahamas, Orlando, and after we’d finish the competition we’d go out for a few beers and I’d hear dancehall music in the clubs—but never on the radio, it being the son of reggae. But it evolved.”
He said there was one point where he thought to blend his music in order to get some airplay.
“That’s the nail on the head right there. The music blew up and I had 10 successful years of being played on the radio in America. After that, it became harder and harder. I thought “Oh, I’ve got to blend my music with this dance music now just to get heard?”
He laments that although he had success with dancehall in the past, now labels and radio stations are more inclined to support non-Jamaican artists doing dancehall and climbing the charts than Jamaican artists who do the same music.
“And then “Bailando” was a huge song, and I was involved in that, so I’m thinking “Why are these executives telling me ‘We’re not having fun trying to run your record in these places because people are saying dancehall is over with?’” So, I tried to do records with these other [pop artists], a lot of collabs. Then, I’m hearing Ed Sheeran, Rihanna, Drake, and Swae Lee on the radio, and I’m thinking, “This is all dancehall to me. Why are you categorizing me like that?” It’s been feeling that people are taking it away from us, because if you’re getting on the radio and you’re telling me dancehall’s not getting on the radio anymore…don’t tell me our stuff don’t work.”
Rihanna and Drake’s ‘Work’ is certified 9 times platinum and Justin Bieber’s ‘Sorry’ which uses a dancehall beat and incorporates Jamaican dances in the music video is certified 11 times platinum.
Bieber’s “Let Me Love You” debuted at number 12 on the ‘Billboard Hot 100’ on the release date 27 August 2016. The single is opened at number-one on ‘Digital Songs’ with 113,000 downloads, becoming DJ Snake’s first and Bieber’s sixth number-one on the chart.
Mainstream media has also whitewashed Dancehall’s influence on popular music. Rolling Stone Magazine’s since-edited review of Rihanna’s “Work” defined it as “a tropical house-flavored track featuring Drake,” while a Wall Street Journal article positioned Justin Bieber’s What Do You Mean? as “pioneering the ‘Caribbean, beach-party vibe’ of tropical house in the mainstream”.
The LA Times, have described pop dancehall tracks as “Caribbean-flavored house beat” or “airy tropical-house bangers.”
Bieber’s Sorry, first released by Def Jam records and produced by Skrillex and Bloodpop, became one of the biggest singles of 2015 and is the most successful dancehall song of all time based on US certifications. The song peaked at No. 1 on the global YouTube charts and spent three weeks at No.1 on the Billboard Hot 100. It made Forbes Magazine’s headlines after it broke sales records in 2016 and also became the most-streamed song in the U.K. since records began. It was also the first song to hit 100 million streams in Britain at the time and according to the esteemed magazine, “helped the Canadian star become the first artist to hold positions Number 1, 2, and 3 simultaneously on the Official Singles Chart”.
The success of Sorry helped to ignite popular music’s interest in Dancehall and several Dancehall-influenced hits followed post 2016, including Drake’s One Dance and Controlla, Rihanna’s Work, Ed Sheeran’s Shape Of You which has sold more than 41 million units worldwide.
Justin was asked by DJ Khaled where his inspiration came from to make songs like “Sorry” during an interview with DJ Khaled on the First One Podcast.
“What inspired you to make that record, are you inspired by Reggae music, Dancehall music?” Khaled enquired.
The “What Do You Mean” singer replied, “I am really inspired by all music but in particular I love Island music, I love the feel of just the percussion. I am a drummer, and that percussion moves me and it makes me want to dance. I want to make music for the world. I don’t want to get caught up being too isolated, I want to make music that impacts all cultures and all ethnicities.”
Sean Paul reacted to those comments from Bieber’s in an interview with TVJ’s The Entertainment Report.
“Now we’ve all of a sudden kind of abandoned it [traditional Dancehall] and Bieber is like: ‘I love Island Music’ and him don’t even call up Jamaica inna it or he doesn’t even call up Dancehall music.”
