In the early 90s, the celebration of sexual performance
enhancement drugs was common in dancehall music, from the likes of Power
Man and Mr Vegas to dancehall icon Bounty Killer.
Some of the stimulants that were promoted by artistes include Stone, Chiney brush, Ginseng, Stud among others.
Power Man rose to popularity in the 90s with his song Stone, in which he openly bragged about his usage of the stimulant and its impact on his sexual activities.
"Stone deh pon mi ... head and if a gyal waah dead tell har fi come inna mi bed mi have mi sexing ticket and if mi sex har and she dead nothing nuh come outa it," he sang.
Mr Vegas and Sean Paul also recorded a song called Tigerbone in which they said, "When mi drink it and rub on a piece a Stone, di gyal dem bend up, when mi send up wi mek nuff gyal bend up request the loving and a hospital dem end up," said Vegas and Sean Paul back then.
However, Mr Vegas now shares a different view on sexual stimulants.
"Back then a man would be proud to say they use Stone but now there are stronger things on the market and men are ashamed to say they are taking Viagra, because it will make it seem as if they have a dysfunction. We don't really have things in the market that we can sing about without shame attached to it. So artistes don't sing about stimulants again, most artistes who used to sing about dem things are old now. People still hide and take them (stimulants) but they are not brave enough to sing about it," Mr Vegas said.
Elephant Man, however, believes that "things and time change." Ele says, "a older folks used to deejay when Stone did deh bout, suh di younger youth dem nuh use to it and some a dem thing deh nuh good. All wid the Stone yu betta mek sure sey yu nuh over rub and the woman nuh turn up else yu inna trouble," he laughed.
"Time get modernise an the youth dem a exercise and eat better now, a just Guinness, Hennessy and Purelena juice," he said.
However, Dr Donna Hope-Marquis, cultural studies author and lecturer at The University of The West Indies (Mona), believes the lyrical paradigms have shifted due to backlash of dancehall content.
"There is the consistent backlash against sexually explicit lyrics that has been driving this type of lyrical discourse into remission or rather transformation. Artistes have felt the fire from critics who insist that these lyrics debase and objectify women," she said.
"During the early days of dancehall, sexual stimulants and open discussion about them were taboo. So, dancehall spent a lot of time discussing what was then taboo and making everyone very excited or upset depending on which side you took in the discussion," she continued.
"In today's Jamaica, sexual stimulants are a dime a dozen. There are a host of pills and concoctions that are being used and almost taken for granted. The discussion is no longer one of those huge taboos that would shock and awe individuals who listened to the lyrics. Dancehall traffics in the graphic, extreme and taboo forms of self-representation. If everyone knows about and has access to a whole heap of sexual stimulants, the shock value is lessened," Hope-Marquis explained.
(from Jamaica Star)
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