Global Notes: The Outlaw Narrative In Jamaican Music
Jamaica was a slave-operated plantation island for two centuries beginning in around the mid-1600s. The island then became a British colony until Jamaica gained its independence in the 1960s.
Within this history of slavery and British colonization, there also existed a history of rebellion and resistance. Such as the Jamaican Maroon communities who waged war on the masters who enslaved them.
In the 1920s, the ideologies of Marcus Garvey and the Black Nationalist movement led to growth of the Pan-African cultural identity throughout Jamaica’s working class society. In the 1930s, the Rastafarian movement was borne of a Pan African ideology.
In 1962, Jamaica finally obtained its independence from British colonialism, which led to the raising of the nation’s own flag. With the advent of Jamaica’s independence also came a new challenge: in a “post-colonial” society where colonial economic relations continued to persist, Jamaicans were grappling with re-learning how to regard law enforcement, obedience and criminality.
The themes and lyrics of reggae music not only celebrated the nation’s newfound independence, but also served as a platform for storytelling that reflected Jamaica’s history of rebellion. The country’s new sovereignty didn’t erase oppression; people wanted to express their non-conformity to the ways, both old and new, that oppression manifested in their society.
Throughout the 1960s, the term “rude boy” was used to describe a social class of young poor men in Kingston. The “rudies” didn’t follow the rules, and did everything from petty street crimes, to organized criminal activity. While many viewed them with contempt, there was also a kind of respect for their audacity to disregard police authority. Similar terms used in Jamaica include “yardie”, “bad boy”/ “bad man” and “general”.
Some “rude boys” gained notoriety in violence, but others found notoriety in music.
The Influence of Western Films
The music that came out of this rebellious history elevated an outlaw narrative. Deejays, as the vocalists are known, told stories of cowboys and depression-era mobsters. They made endless references to Spaghetti Westerns, and other Old West outlaw films.
The 1965 film, For A Few Dollars More (1965), is the second film in Sergio Leone’s Dollars Trilogy, also known as the Man With No Name Trilogy. The trilogy begins with A Fistful of Dollars (1964), and ends with the wildly popular, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966). Actor Lee Van Cleef was featured in both the second and third films of the trilogy, and Clint Eastwood was the star actor in all three films.
In For A Few Dollars More, we see Lee Van Cleef’s character, Colonel Douglas Mortimer, and Manco, played by Clint Eastwood, face off in a fast-draw gunfight. While Eastwood seems to be quicker with his gun, Van Cleef’s accuracy takes the win.
The 1969 song “Lee Van Cleef” by King Stitt references actor Lee Van Cleef, stating “This is the days of rot, Eastwood, I am the ugly one. If you want me, meet me at the big gun down, I am Van Cleef…” Lee Scratch Perry’s band The Upsetters also made several references to some of Leone’s Spaghetti Westerns with albums like Return of Django (1969), Clint Eastwood (1970), Eastwood Rides Again (1970), and The Good, the Bad and the Upsetters (1970).
The Old West influence also introduced terms like “posse”. In many of these Westerns, posses fought against each other in ambiguous moral terms, but still in a dichotomy: the good versus the bad. In the 1960s, with the growing popularity of these films, the term “posse” was adopted in Jamaica to refer to gangs.
The Influence of Country Music
Considering Jamaica’s love for the renegade anti-hero, it shouldn’t be surprising that country music has been wildly popular throughout the country’s history.
The first commercial radio stations came to Jamaica in the early 1950s, which is one of the reasons why the genre quickly grew in popularity. The kinds of storytelling in country songs sometimes resembled the plots of old Western films.
Many early reggae tunes covered Soul/R&B hits from the U.S., such as The Techniques’ “Queen Majesty” which is a cover of “Minstrel and Queen” by The Impressions. Within this trend of musical covers, many Jamaican musicians also recorded covers of country songs.
These are a few reggae covers/references to country songs:
“One Cup of Coffee”
In 1961 Bob Marley released one of his first singles, “One Cup of Coffee”, which is a cover of Claude Gray’s 1960 country tune, “I’ll Just Have a Cup of Coffee (Then I’ll Go)”.
“Train to Skaville”
“Train to Skaville” is a track from the 1968 album by The Ethiopians, Engine 54. The song uses the same melody as Johnny Cash’s 1963 country single, “Ring of Fire”.
“Going Down to Texas”
Brigadier Jerry’s “Going Down to Texas” was released on the 1982 compilation album, A Dee-Jay Explosion Inna Dance Hall Style, recorded live at the historic Skateland dancehall venue in Kingston, Jamaica. This song uses lyrics from both Kenny Rogers’ 1979 country hit “Coward of the County”, as well as lyrics from “In the Ghetto”, originally written by Mac Davis and made popular in 1969 by Elvis Presley.
“Take Me Home, Country Roads”
There were also a few reggae covers of John Denver’s 1971 country hit “Take Me Home, Country Roads”, including a cover by deejay Dennis Alcapone and another by Yellowman. On their 1973 album In The Dark, Toots & The Maytals released their own cover of “Take Me Home, Country Roads”.
More recently, in 2011 VP Records released the compilation album Reggae’s Gone Country, featuring reggae covers of country songs. The album features popular Jamaican artists like Beres Hammond and Freddie McGregor, among others.
Deejay Names
The influence of country Western themes didn’t just stop at song covers and lyrical references, but could also be seen in the names of the musicians themselves. Some reggae/dancehall deejays named themselves after fictional Old West characters, like Josey Wales and the Lone Ranger.
The Lone Ranger
The fictional character, Lone Ranger, is a former Texas Ranger who fought outlaws with his Native American friend Tonto. The characters were originally introduced to listeners as a radio show conceived in 1933 by Fran Striker and George W. Trendle at WXYZ in Detroit.
In 1948, Lone Ranger got his own comic series, written by Paul S. Newman, illustrated by Tom Gil, and published by Western Publishing/Dell Comics.
In 1949, both Trendle and Striker created The Lone Ranger television series, which aired on ABC until 1957. And, in 1956, Stuart Heisler directed the popular film adaptation, The Lone Ranger.
Reggae/dancehall deejay, Lone Ranger, released the track “Lone Ranger & Tonto” on his 1982 album, Hi-Yo, Silver, Away! (Silver was the name of Lone Ranger’s horse, and “Hi-Yo, Silver, Away!” was a common phrase used in the Lone Ranger series’). In 1985, Tenor Saw released a track of the same name on his joint album with fellow deejay, Nitty Gritty, Power House Presents Tenor Saw And Nitty Gritty.
Some musicians used the names of real Wild West outlaws, like Johnny Ringo.
And, other deejays named themselves after movie stars like Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef, and John Wayne.
Mobster/Mafia Influence
While some musicians looked to the Western, cowboy, country tales in search of the outlaw, others looked to depression-era mobsters and mafia bosses. Deejays like, Dillinger, Louie Lepke, and Dennis Alcapone.
Deejay Louie Lepke gets his namesake from 1930s Jewish-American mobster and head of the Murder, Inc. mafia hit squad, Louis “Lepke” Buchalter. Films like Al Capone (1959), Dillinger (1973) and Lepke (1975) brought the stories of notorious mobsters to audiences around the world.
The album cover of Lepke’s 1981 album Late Night Movie is a collage that includes pictures of infamous mobster Al Capone, other depression-era imagery, and a car similar to Al Capone’s fully armored, bullet proof car, the 1928 Cadillac “Al Capone” Town Sedan.
Other artists have also used images of Capone’s “killer” car. It was a symbol of organized crime, and used as part of the outlaw narrative in some dancehall album cover art.
The term “don” has largely been used in Sicilian and American mafia crime families. A “don” refers to a crime boss, crime lord or kingpin. In Jamaica, the term has taken on the same context as “rude boy” and has been used as part of the outlaw narrative in rude boy culture, such as in the title of Super Cat’s album Don Dada (1992).
The Harder They Come (1972)
The 1972 Jamaican film The Harder They Come introduced reggae music to U.S. audiences. The movie starred Jamaican reggae musician and actor Jimmy Cliff as Ivanhoe “Ivan” Martin.
The film begins with Ivan meeting Jose, played by Carl Bradshaw, who takes Ivan to see the 1966 Spaghetti Western film, Django. Throughout the film, Ivan develops into an outlaw folk hero.
Cliff’s character is loosely based on Jamaica’s real-life legendary outlaw hero, Vincent “Ivanhoe” Martin, also known as “Rhyging” (like, “raging”). Rhyging was a cultural icon in Jamaica and is often considered the “original rude boy”.
During the late 1940s, Rhyging became notorious in Jamaican media. It was during his final and most infamous crime spree that the media (like the Jamaican Times and The Daily Cleaner newspapers) dubbed him “The Two-Gun Killer”. During this time, Rhyging began a dialogue with the media, sending messages and even sharing a photograph of himself holding two guns.
The Persistence of the Outlaw Narrative
“Rude boy” culture in Jamaica has been around for awhile, and has continued to evolve. In the 90s, Jamaican dancehall artists released albums like Super Cat’s Don Dada (1992), and Terry Ganzie’s Outlaw Nuff Reward (1993).
Even as recently as 2014, Tommy Lee Sparta, a member of Vybz Kartel’s Portmore Empire crew, released the single “Outlaw”.
Some people didn’t, and don’t, like the rude boys’ performances of machismo violence. But these stories of outlaw heroes and vigilante justice became part of an important cultural phenomenon in Jamaica. The music spoke to a history of defiance and, for many people, it became a way to escape social constructs through rebel music.
