Day 1: My first Dancehall experience.

"Dancehall... What is that?", I asked. As I've mentioned, I had very little knowledge of these things before I started making RiseUp. But it didn't take long before I was schooled on this new current in Jamaican music. "Dancehall" is a form of street reggae that is far more raw and upbeat than the reggae music of the Marley era, with (catchy) sexually explicit lyrics and predominant themes of wealth and violence. It started in the ghettos of the island and comes from unknown deejay hopefuls who perform in crude conditions (and with inferior equipment) at local sound system events. It is a powerful and dominant force in the music industry today on an international level and has become the mainstay of Jamaican popular music. 

The person that I met who is part of this struggle was Charlie Chemist . Charlie is a popular local deejay in Montego Bay who by association with a “gunman”, ended up spending 7 years in Gun Court (the most infamous prison in Jamaica). He had recently been released and was about to stake everything on a one-night show featuring several up and coming local artists. 

My wheels were already turning. It sounded like a good place to start, even though I didn't know what it was that I was starting. So, before I went off to film the event, I visited Charlie and his closest friends at a place called "The People's Arcade" at a little studio were they were hanging out and celebrating Charlie's release from Jail. It was here, within hours of being on the island, that I shot the very first performances. 

Here's a video of my experience at The People's Arcade.