Early Dancehall

Early dancehall is the first phase of Jamaican dancehall, spanning the late 1970s to the mid-1980s, in which deejays took over the sound system from singers. Producers such as *Henry 'Junjo' Lawes* re-cut rocksteady and roots riddims in a sparser, heavier style, and deejays including *Yellowman*, *Eek-a-Mouse* and *Josey Wales* toasted and sang over them in a rhythmic singjay delivery. The music was made for the dance itself: bass-led, spacious and lyrically direct, treating boasts, humour, social reportage and slackness. It set the template that digital production would transform after 1985.