

































Politics, Identity and Jamaican Music

Rachelle Sanicharan
University of Toronto
FAS Canadian Studies Specialist

Music in Jamaica has a long history that 
is very much intertwined with religious, 
social, and political factors. As the 
development of reggae music grew, it 
became increasingly popular in relation 
to politics and social issues. This 
research examines the development of 
reggae and dancehall music in Jamaica 
in relation with politics and identity. In 
turn, this research seeks to present the 
importance of Jamaican music as a voice 
for Jamaican people—an accurate 
presentation of their experiences and 
their beliefs.

A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Reggae, Dance-
hall, Jamaican Music, 

Jamaican Politics, Jamaican 
IdentityB I O

Rachelle is a fourth-year student as a Canadian Studies Specialist at St. Michael’s 
College University of Toronto. She is an Indo-Guyanese Canadian woman who has a 
particular interest in researching, recording, and preserving her Indo-Caribbean culture 
by constantly engaging with Caribbean communities, especially through the non-profit 
organization that she volunteers with called, Brown Gyal Diary. Brown Gyal Diary’s 
mission is to create a space primarily for Indo-Caribbean women to share their experi-
ences and histories to create recognition and to preserve our culture. Her inspiration 
towards engaging in Caribbean based work, is mostly linked to her love for family.

© 2021 Rachelle Sanicharan
Caribbean Studies Students’ Union, Canada - https://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/cquilt/

                       This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution- ShareAlike 4.0 International License. 
                       To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

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     “The History of Jamaica.” Jamaica Information Service. Accessed 2021. https://jis.gov.jm/information/jamaican-history/.
      Ambursley, Fitzroy. “Fitzroy Ambursley, Jamaica: The Demise OF 'Democratic SOCIALISM', NLR I/128, July–August 
1981.” New Left Review. Accessed 2021. https://newleftreview.org/issues/i128/articles/fitzroy-ambursley-jamaica-the-
demise-of-democratic-socialism.
      See note 2 above.
     “The History of Jamaica.” Jamaica Information Service. Accessed 2021. https://jis.gov.jm/information/jamaican-history/.
     Ambursley, Fitzroy. “Fitzroy Ambursley, Jamaica: The Demise OF 'Democratic SOCIALISM', NLR I/128, July–August 
1981.” New Left Review. Accessed 2021. https://newleftreview.org/issues/i128/articles/fitzroy-ambursley-jamaica-the-
demise-of-democratic-socialism.
     Dawes, Kwame. “Sound Systems.” World Policy Journal 35, no. 1 (2018): 35–39. 
https://doi.org/10.1215/07402775-6894768.

 
 

       

 

1

Music in Jamaica has a long history that is 
very much intertwined with religious, 
social, and political factors. As the devel-
opment of reggae music grew, it became 
increasingly popular in relation to politics 
and social issues. This research examines 
the development of reggae and dancehall 
music in Jamaica in relation with politics 
and identity. In turn, this research seeks to 
present the importance of Jamaican music 
as a voice for Jamaican people—an 
accurate presentation of their experiences 
and their beliefs. In order to do so, I will 
first briefly examine Jamaica’s political 
history, the different factors that lead to 
Jamaica’s independence, and the distinct 
differentiation between economic classes 
in Jamaica.

This paper will not go into detail about 
Jamaica’s long history of discovery, the 
slave trade, and the general settlement 
period. Instead it focuses on Jamaica in the 
early 20th Century when Jamaica’s 
political participation began to significant-
ly develop. Throughout the 1930s, Jamaica 
and Jamaican peoples faced many hard-
ships that involved slow-moving political 
advancement, economic depression, 
falling sugar prices, and the ruin of the 
banana industry due to Panama’s industry 
disease, unemployment, and rising popula-
tion growth.  Due to these hardships, as 
well as a lack of voting rights, riots and 
violence began to tear through the streets 
of Jamaica. From these riots and violent 

acts came the emergence of two labour 
unions and two political parties. Norman 
Manley founded the National Workers’ 
Union and the People’s National Party in 
1938 while Sir Alexander Bustamante 
founded Bustamante Industrial Trade 
Union and the Jamaica Labour Party in 
1943. Norman Manley and the People’s 
National Party (PNP), reflected the 
interests of the urban petty bourgeoisie, 
middle peasants and small traders.  Where-
as Sir Alexander Bustamante and the 
Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) reflected the 
working class, with majority of that class 
living on the borderline of wag labour and 
peasant small-holding.  

Collectively, Norman Manley and Sir 
Alexander Bustamante, are credited for 
moving Jamaica towards self-government. 
The first general election took place in 
December 1944 under Universal Adult 
Suffrage, with the JLP winning 22 out of 
the 32 seats. Jamaica was one of ten other 
Caribbean states who formed the Federa-
tion of the West Indies, in 1958, but 
Jamaicans opposed the idea in 1961, 
abandoning the Federation in order to be a 
self-governed nation. Almost 20 years 
later, Jamaica officially gained its indepen-
dence from Britain on August 6, 1962 with 
Sir Alexander Bustamante as the country’s 
first Prime Minister. At the time, Jamaica’s 
economy was booming, bauxite was in 
demand, tourism was gaining popularity, 
and there was a banana revival.   By 1969, 

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     Oumano, Elena. “Reggae Says No TO 'POLITRICKS.' (Music and Politics IN JAMAICA).” The Free Library. 
Accessed 2021. http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Reggae+says+no+to+%27politricks.%27+(music+and+politics+in+
Jamaica)-a019701030.
     See note 7 above.
     See note 7 above.
     Edie, Carlene J. “Domestic Politics and External Relations in Jamaica under Michael Manley, 1972–1980.” Studies in 
Comparative International Development 21, no. 1 (1986): 71–94. https://doi.org/10.1007/bf02717364.
     See note 10 above.

      
 

       

 

7

Michael Manley succeeded his father and 
became the leader of the National People’s 
Party, going on to win the 1972 general 
election.

Moving into this new period of leadership, 
the development and progression of 
reggae as a form of social and political 
influence, was popularized. Social protest 
no longer only took the form of riots but 
“was also taking the form of cultural and 
musical expression [allowing] the period 
[to be the] most intense development of 
the reggae musical idiom.”   It is impera-
tive to note that reggae also has an inter-
twined relation with Rastafarianism. While 
this paper does not cover the religion and 
the social factors also influenced the 
stigmatization of reggae artists, this 
positionality allowed the genre to become 
a rallying call for the country’s marginal-
ized. In addition to the 1972 elections, the 
year also marked the beginning of greater 
recognition of the reggae band The 
Wailers—later Bob Marley and The 
Wailers—with their signing of a record 
deal with Island Records. By the mid-70s, 
The Wailers had released their second 
studio album, Natty Dread, which was 
reflective of the political tensions taking 
place in Jamaica throughout the 70s. With 
the increase of violence taking place 
because of the tension between the 
People’s National Party and Jamaica 
Labour Party, Bob Marley even spoke of 
his own experience of army member 
stopping him on the street the night before 
Manley was elected, in Rebel Music

(3 O’clock Road Block). “The 1970s saw 
the use of influential reggae ‘political 
songs’, which sang the praises of particu-
lar candidates, Natty Dread, was no 
exception.   In addition to Rebel Music, 
the album also featured the song, Revolu-
tion—which many people believed was 
Bob Marley’s promotion of the People’s 
National Party..

Rising in popularity worldwide, Bob 
Marley and The Wailers released their 
third album, Rastaman Vibration, in 1976, 
featuring the song War. This song similar-
ly demonstrates a plea for political change 
and freedom from oppression. At this time, 
Bob Marley was such an influential and 
controversial figure that the CIA had 
created a file on him and on December 3, 
1976 there was an assassination attempt on 
his life, injuring him, his wife and his 
manager prior to the Smile Jamaica 
concert—which is believed to have been 
an event in support of the People’s Nation-
al Party.  Marley still performed at the 
show but left Jamaica the day after, 
seeking safety in England.  

For the next few years, violence and 
political tension continued with the 
general populace picking sides and being 
divided. Bob Marley returned to Jamaica 
in 1978 to play the One Love Peace 
concert, with the goal of calming tensions 
prior to an election period that was quite 
violent. Due to the influence that Bob 
Marley had, he got Prime Minister 
Michael Manley and Jamaica Labour 

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135

     Edie, Carlene J. “Domestic Politics and External Relations in Jamaica under Michael Manley, 1972–1980.” Studies in 
Comparative International Development 21, no. 1 (1986): 71–94. https://doi.org/10.1007/bf02717364.
     Ambursley, Fitzroy. “Fitzroy Ambursley, Jamaica: The Demise OF 'Democratic SOCIALISM', NLR I/128, July–
August 1981.” New Left Review. Accessed 2021. https://newleftreview.org/issues/i128/articles/fitzroy-ambursley-jamaica
-the-demise-of-democratic-socialism.
     Dawes, Kwame. “Sound Systems.” World Policy Journal 35, no. 1 (2018): 35–39. https://doi.org/10.1215/07402775-
6894768.
     Oumano, Elena. “Reggae Says No TO 'POLITRICKS.' (Music and Politics IN JAMAICA).” The Free Library. 
Accessed 2021. 

      
 

       

 

12

Party leader, Edward Seaga, on stage, one 
standing one both sides of Marley.  While 
the divisions that had developed over the 
years was not settled by this moment on 
stage, it demonstrated that in addition to 
Marley’s influence over fans and the 
broader marginalized community he and 
his music exerted influence over those in 
power, and presents another example of 
the influence that Reggae has had on 
politics in Jamaica.

Prime Minister Michael Manley was not 
re-elected in 1980 due to “the PNP’s state 
expansionist policies and anti-imperialist 
foreign policies [which] were perceived as 
threatening to the interests of the local 
bourgeoisie, international financial institu-
tions and the U.S. government.”  This led 
to the withdrawal of “their capital resourc-
es from the government.”  Furthermore, 
due to the administration’s relationship 
with Fidel Castro and other European 
communist countries, Manley, a democrat-
ic socialist, strained the relationship of 
allies like Britain, American and Canada. 
The economic impacts of doing so were a 
large factor in why he was not re-elected 
in 1980 and Jamaica Labour Party leader, 
Edward Seaga came into power.  These 
external factors were compounded by the 
fact that the people whom suffered where 
promised change by Manley, but got tired 
of waiting for these changes to be imple-
mented. As stated in Jamaica: The Demise 
of ‘Democratic Socialism,’ “there is no 
way to deny the fact that the ultimate 

weakness of the PNP was its failure to 
unite and mobilize the small peasants, 
farm workers, urban wage earners and 
casual labourers who compromise the 
overwhelming social and political majority 
of Jamaican society.” 

Throughout these political changes, reggae 
remained the music of the people—relat-
able to the struggles the general populace 
faced, it is a music that presents a narra-
tive that is all too familiar. As Dawes 
stated in, Sound Systems: A new genera-
tion of Jamaican musicians is blending 
dancehall and roots reggae to take on the 
country’s problems, “Reggae represented 
the dreams and ambitions of poor Jamai-
cans, and it spoke to them in their own 
voice,” many times in proper English so 
that audiences globally can understand.  
That representation was also influencing 
politics. In 1996, the release of Buju 
Banton’s song It’s Politics Time Again 
essentially launched electoral campaigns 
for Prime Minister. After many years of 
back and forth leadership, a record-break-
ing murder rate and dire economic condi-
tions, Banton singing, “are you going to 
vote now, we need love not war” was a 
rallying call for many.  As we see the 
commercialization of reggae music, 
however, some people began to “reject 
roots reggae for its contamination by white 
power, its commercial packaging of 
original song compositions into albums 
destined for listeners with the money for a 

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15

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136

     Frydman, Jason. “Death in the Arena.” Small Axe: A Caribbean Journal of Criticism 23, no. 3 (2019): 34–49. 
     Dawes, Kwame. “Sound Systems.” World Policy Journal 35, no. 1 (2018): 35–39.
     Oumano, Elena. “Reggae Says No TO 'POLITRICKS.' (Music and Politics IN JAMAICA).” The Free Library.
     See note 18 above.
     Oumano, Elena. “Reggae Says No TO 'POLITRICKS.' (Music and Politics IN JAMAICA).” The Free Library. 
     Spence, Kim-Marie. “When Money Is Not ENOUGH: Reggae, DANCEHALL, and Policy in Jamaica.” The Journal of 
Arts Management, Law, and Society 49, no. 1 (2018): 45–60.
     Gould-Taylor, Sally. “‘Bullets and Badges: Understanding the Relationships between Cultural Commodities and Identity 
Formation in an Era of Gaza vs. Gully: A Jamaican ‘Rural’ Ethnography.,’” 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12613/1329.
     See note 22 above.
     See note 22 above.
  

      
 

       

 

16

home turntable.”  This allowed dancehall 
to gain in popularity much in the same 
way reggae did decades before—as the 
voice of the people. Though dancehall was 
present before the 1980s, we see the 
influence of dancehall emerge, becoming 
an important part of Jamaican music, 
experience and identity. As Dawes states, 
“when chanting or speaking into the mic, 
dancehall artists directly address a Patwa 
speaking Jamaican audience.”  In this way, 
dancehall literally became the voice and 
language of the people.

In 1996, Beenie Man, one of the top 
dancehall artists of all time, promoted the 
Ghetto Splash concert, the aim was to 
bring peace and create unity through 
music, something that the people of 
Jamaican respond positively to.  The 
concert was supposed to mirror Marley’s 
One Love Peace concert, with the political 
leaders clasping their hands together in a 
show of unity, but the crowd did not 
respond well, instead booing the display.  
The people of Jamaica saw that political 
elites were trying to use their love of 
music and the genre’s popularity with the 
masses to manipulate them. As Oumano 
states, “the voter appeal of Jamaican 
music has become increasingly evident to 
politicians, and they are eagerly wooing 
the music sector, which until recently, was 
linked in the politicians’ minds to a 
relatively powerless underclass.”  

“show” of unity from political leaders, 
“Poor people are fed up/the system shut 
up.” Dancehall music often had controver-
sial, sexual, and violent lyrics, but its 
approach showed a reality that many 
people experienced in Jamaica. As Spence 
states in When Money is not Enough: 
Reggae, Dancehall, and Policy in Jamaica, 
“dancehall music is of lower-class origin, 
emerging largely from Kingston’s urban 
ghettos and encapsulating the value and 
lifestyles thereof.” 

As dancehall has developed into the 21st 
century, we see the emergence of new 
popular artists and artists rivalries—most 
notably that of Vybz Kartel and Mavado.  
Once the protégés of Bounty Killa at the 
beginning of their careers, in 2006, they 
began their notorious musical war leading 
to broader social implications. With Kartel 
from the working-class town, Portmore 
(aka Gaza) and Mavado from the poor 
Kingston neighbourhood, Cassava Piece 
(aka Gully) a divide that is similar to the 
East Coast v. West Coast Rap era in the 
United States.  People had to choose a 
side, making sure that they didn’t cross 
into Gaza territory if they were Gully, and 
not going into Gully territory if they were 
Gaza. Just like that, these two artists 
represented an identity of people, “Jamai-
can people, home and abroad alike, were 
no longer ‘reping’ their political party or 
color, their Parish, their social status

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137

     Cooper, Carolyn. “One Love on Gaza Street.” The Jamaica Gleaner, November 2009. 
https://mobile.jamaica-gleaner.com/20091122/cleisure/cleisure3.ph
     See note 25 above.
     See note 25 above.
      Dawes, Kwame. “Sound Systems.” World Policy Journal 35, no. 1 (2018): 35–39. 
https://doi.org/10.1215/07402775-6894768. 
      See note 28 above.
      See note 28 above.

  

      

       

 

25

(uptown vs. downtown) their color 
(browning vs. black). They were ‘reping’ 
their association with Gaza or Gully.”  
Carolyn Cooper, Professor of literary and 
cultural studies at the University of the 
West Indies and a popular social commen-
tator on everything to do with dancehall, 
states, “very rarely do we acknowledge the 
powerful role of dancehall music as 
serious social commentary.”  ‘Gaza’ and 
‘Gully’ are now a part of everyday 
language of Jamaican culture. It’s like 
Jamaica Labour Party and People’s 
National Party. We’re accustomed to the 
tribalization of politics that we carry the 
either/or mentality even into entertain-
ment.”  The Gully and Gaza clash is more 
than just who is your favourite artist, it 
refers to economic and social standing, it 
refers to how people identify themselves, 
as Cooper stated, “Like it or not, the real 
war is not between the Gully and the 
Gaza. It’s between the ‘have-nots’ and the 
‘have-gots’. 

Efforts to move passed this divide is 
evident in the roots revival reggae which 
has allowed for a combination of both 
conscious reggae, dancehall and some 
Hip-Hop influences. Artists like Damian 
“Jr. Gong” Marley, Chronixx, and Protoje, 
are all a part of this revival, however many 
of these artists have a deeper connection to 
the music industry. “Jamaican music has 
historically been associated with the 
revolutionary power of the lower classes, 
yet for the most part, the roots-revival 

artists as middle-class young people who 
come from a musical lineage.”  Damian 
“Jr. Gong” Marley is the youngest son of 
Bob Marley, Protoje is the son of 1970s 
reggae singer Lorna Bennett and a father 
who was a Calypso singer, and Chronixx 
who was named after his father, Chronicle, 
a reggae enthusiast.  Even with these 
conscious reggae artists making music that 
is reminiscent and influenced by past 
reggae music, sometimes referring to 
politics and economic status, “it is clear 
that dancehall remains the music of the 
‘underprivileged’ as its practitioners tend 
to speak on behalf of the poor and 
oppressed—though not always for purpos-
es of political resistance.”  Demonstrating 
how both dancehall and reggae have 
deeper connections to the people of 
Jamaica, rather than just being music that 
is enjoyed or even “politics” music, it is 
also reflective of varying identities of 
Jamaica.

Jamaican music involves so much more 
than simple lyrics and musical arrange-
ment. Reggae and dancehall have influ-
enced historical and contemporary Jamai-
can politics. The music also allows for 
recognition and acknowledgment of 
similar experiences and beliefs. In this 
way, Jamaican music often functions “As a 
site for ‘the repair of cultural 
injuries’”—an opportunity to heal and 
unite the people.  Similarly, reggae and 
dancehall are both significant when 
discussing identity and speaking about 

26
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28

29
30

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25

26

27

28

29

30

31

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138

     Mann, Larisa Kingston. “White Faces in Intimate SPACES: Jamaican Popular Music in Global Circulation.” 
Communication, Culture & Critique 9, no. 2 (2015): 266–83. https://doi.org/10.1111/cccr.12106.
     Oumano, Elena. “Reggae Says No TO 'POLITRICKS.' (Music and Politics IN JAMAICA).” The Free Library. Accessed 
2021. 

  

      

       
31

social and economic hardships, “It is 
growing increasingly clear that no matter 
how acidly Jamaican politicians try to 
exploit their nation’s music, reggae is 
better suited to the rush of revolutionary 
blood than to reinforcing an inequitable 
status quo.”  By highlighting trends in its 
development, this research has demon-
strated the ways in which music in Jamai-
ca has had a long history that is very much 
intertwined with social and political 
factors.

32

32

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