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Musings on Jamaica’s Dub music art form and response to Billboard’s article on the evolution of Dub music. 

As Peace Corps Jamaica readies to share in Jamaica’s 55th anniversary of Independence with its 55th year of friendship, Peace, diplomacy and capacity building relationship with the Island, I share this article on the evolution of the music that originated in the garrisons and gazas of Jamaica.

Originally the source of harassment by police, criminalized, shunned as raw, uncultured, downtown not uptown, uncouth and unworthy, the scintillating rhythm of this music has lulled us all into euphoria, better than any psychedelic trip from a mind altering substance.
With the drumbeats pulsating as with our heart beats pushing us to move our waist line in highly sexualized circles, intoxicating us to gyrate with our whole bodies rocking, our hips swaying and grinding, our derrières popping and bumping and our bosoms sweating the sweet scent of our natural aroma mixed with a bit of perfume, lotion and deodorant – our whole bodies glistening from the moistness produced from the heat of the tropical temperature and our bodies’ movements, we are on a musical high.

Yes, I am speaking of the grand-daddy of urban music worldwide, that music that we have learned to love, that the world is addicted to as with an opioid, that Jamaican organically grown music with the beat signaling African ancestral origins; the earthiness of the drumbeat connecting our heart beats and with those of ancestors whose blood continues to stain the soil of this island nation, and is the resilience, strength, struggle, survival and rebellion that still pulses in the veins of its people.  

Yes, I am speaking of that music once shunned by the minority ruling, lighter class, in their post traumatic slave disorder manifestation of rejection of all things Afro in favor of being the stepchild of all things Euro.  

Yes, I am speaking of that music that today, the children of that same class who formerly rejected this music, have filled their homes, cars, their every surroundings, with this music, they are drunk off of it, it rolls off their tongues in spite of the expensive ‘ cultured’ private schools they have been placed in to shelter them from exposure, they have been infested with the infectious lyrics and beats in a sort of “social disease” to the upper class, that they do not want to be cured of. Their naysayer family members find themselves involuntarily enjoying this once contraband, moving their bodies, mouthing the lyrics, moving to the beat they once thought vulgar, rude, unladylike, ungentlemanlike, ‘of the streets’, underclass, devilish. This music, like the Patois language they “don’t speak” has infected them with the truth of love, of the reality of existence in Jamaica, of the reality of their “Africanness,” of their ‘Jamaicanness’ and they have turned their eyes ever so slightly back home to 🇯🇲 Jamaica and to their roots.

For music is indeed the universal language in all its forms and presentations. It is truth manifested, sometimes painful to face but truth nonetheless. It’s message is the life of its creator. It is bold, innovative, raw, organic, beautiful, not because of its contemporary acceptance, but from the point of its origin.


Published by: Local Lives, Global Voices

I, Chandra Young, ‘the moon that outshines the stars, was born in Kingston Jamaica to an Indian Father whose family migrated from India, and a mulatto mother, whose family, paternally and maternally, trace their history on the island to the 17th century sale of slaves, and slaves themselves. We migrated to the United States while I was a youngster. I later went on to graduate from The City College of New York, with a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science; then Yeshiva University’s Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, with a Jurisdoctor degree; and I am currently on hiatus from my doctoral studies in Law and Policy at Northeastern University. After graduating from law school, I successfully sat for both the Florida and New York Bars, and worked in both the Private and Public Sectors. Simultaneously, my role as mother and my passion for education pushed me into Academia, where I have lectured at colleges in the areas of Political Science, History, Business Law, Sociology, Pluralism and Diversity, Critical Thinking, Critical Academic Reading and English Composition. In these capacities, I have mentored inner city/urban college students, and have also served as Guardian Ad Litem to the Seminole County Courts, where I advocated on behalf of children of families in crisis. Being a scholar of Political Science in my collegiate years, I contributed my talents and passions towards championing of the rights of my fellow students, many of whom, like myself, were of Immigrant families. I was instrumental in a student movement that spearheaded a University-wide student boycott protesting tuition hikes in the City University system. The successful protest led to the shutdown of all the University’s colleges in every Borough, and got the attention of the media and politicians of the day. The result of the successful protest was a halt of any tuition increase for several fiscal terms. Today, the City University and State University systems are free to families earning less that $125,000.00, which include most urban, inner-city and immigrant students. While at City College, I was selected as a student ambassador contestant in the Ms. Jamaica-USA pageant, sponsored by the Jamaica Progressive League and the Honorable Una Clarke, the first Caribbean and Jamaican born woman to be elected to the legislature of the City of New York, and mother of United States Congresswoman Yvette Clark. A diligent advocate of affordable housing for New Yorkers, I was committed to the mission of realizing the American dream of home ownership for New Yorkers and I am the recipient of a Proclamation by the City Council of the City of New York, for my efforts in that regard. My dedication to the City of New York and immigrant communities, particularly those of Caribbean heritage, have been unwavering, and I was presented with the Marcus Garvey Award of Recognition by the New York based Jamaica National Movement, for service to Jamaicans and Caribbean people in the City of New York. I continued my passion of being a part of a mission to champion the rights of underprivileged and underrepresented persons in my recent milestone, the United States Peace Corps, where I dedicated 18 months of my life, away from home and family, to the people of Jamaica, as a Literacy Adviser and Community Developer. I am the mother of two children, a writer, blogger and poet. I always loved writing. As a child, I remember finding privacy and solace to write in my garage, where I could hide the written pages amongst the plethora of books our family stored there. I began blogging on my Facebook page and was encouraged by friends who enjoyed by posts, to start a blog. I officially started this blog during my Peace Corps Service, but it is certainly not limited to my service. In fact, it represents an amalgamation of thoughts expressed and lived through the direct and vicarious experiences that being a global citizen can provide. This blog is my way of building a bridge that connects our local lives experienced in our specific localities, with the global voices that unites us in the similar experiences, concerns, pains, passions, etc that joins us together as human beings in spite of geography. You there.......Me here. We....together in one world....one humanity.

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