Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, 240 kilometres (150 mi) in length and as much as 85 kilometres (50 mi) in width situated in the Caribbean Sea. It is 635 kilometres (391 mi) east of the Central American mainland, 150 kilometres (93 mi) south of Cuba, and 180 kilometres (112 mi) west of the island of Hispaniola, on which Haiti and the Dominican Republic are situated. Its indigenous Arawakan-speaking Taíno inhabitants named the island Xaymaca, meaning either the "Land of Springs," or the "Land of Wood and Water." Formerly a Spanish possession known as Santiago, then the British West Indies Crown colony of Jamaica. It is the third most populous Anglophone country in the Americas, after the United States and Canada. Jamaica is the largest English speaking island in the Carribean. ----------- Reggae is a music genre developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term reggae is sometimes used in a broad sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, including ska, rocksteady and dub. The term is more specifically used to indicate a particular style that originated after the development of rocksteady. In this sense, reggae includes two sub-genres: roots reggae (the original reggae) and dancehall reggae, which originated in the late 1970s. Reggae is founded upon a rhythm style characterized by regular chops on the back beat, known as the skank. This rhythmic style is played by a rhythm guitar and a bass drum hitting on the third beat of each measure, known as the one drop. This beat is slower than that found in reggae's precursors, ska and rocksteady. Reggae is often associated with the Rastafari movement, which influenced many prominent reggae musicians in the 1970s and 1980s. However, reggae songs lyrics also deal with many other subjects, including love, sexuality and broad social commentary. --------------------------------- Some of the lyrical themes in reggae music have been viewed as controversial. The most controversial of these themes have been cannabis and homophobia. Other topics that have been seen as controversial include: black/African militancy, anti-racism, misogyny, anti-colonialism, anti-capitalism, criticism of political systems, and criticism of the colonial education system. Some of these themes — like marijuana use — have been prevalent in reggae music throughout the history of the music, whilst others — such as homophobia — are a more recent phenomenon. Dancehall music has also included themes of violence, sexism, and misogyny.-----In Jamaica, newer styles of reggae have become popular; among them, dancehall and ragga (also known as raggamuffin). The toasting style first used by artists such as U-Roy and Dillinger had a worldwide impact when Jamaican DJ Kool Herc used it to pioneer a new genre that became known as hip hop and rap. In Jamaica, the term Dee Jay or DJ is equivalent to the rapper or MC in American hip hop culture. Mixing techniques employed in dub music (an instrumental sub-genre of reggae) have influenced hip hop and the musical style known as drum and bass. Another new style is new reggae, made popular by the ska band Sublime.--------Dancehall is a type of Jamaican popular music which developed around 1979, with exponents such as Yellowman, Super Cat, and Burro Banton. It is also known by some as "Bashment" or "Ragga". ---------------------------------- The style is characterized by a DJ singing and rapping or toasting over raw and danceable music riddims. The rhythm in dancehall is much faster than in reggae, with drum machines replacing acoustic sets. In the early years of dancehall, some found its lyrics crude and bawdy ("slack"), though it became very popular among youths in Jamaica. Like its reggae predecessor it eventually made inroads onto the world music scene. ----------------------------- This deejay-led, largely synthesized speechifying with musical accompaniment departed from traditional conceptions of Jamaican popular musical entertainment. Dub poet Mutabaruka maintained, "if 1970s reggae was red, green and gold, then in the next decade it was gold chains". It was far removed from its gentle roots and culture, and there was furious debate as to whether it ought to be considered some sort of extension of reggae music.---------Dancehall lyrics have been criticized by pockets of Jamaican society with little or no state endorsement. It has also faced the slaughter of intellectual criticism in the media, particularly by the likes of popular Jamaican journalists, like Ian Boyne. Dancehall has also come to face scathing criticism from the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender community, as they claim that it perpetuates violence against [GLBT] people in Jamaica (where such people are often referred to in dancehall lyrics as "chi-chi man"), most notably through its lyrics in songs by such DJs as Beenie Man and Buju Banton. --------------------------------------- Dancehall is just short of being a movement, but does have the characteristics of a cosmology as it is a culture and a lens through which people see the world. This cosmology and cultural phenomenon carries with it a linguistic component. Terms such as "bun" in the Dancehall, which is an abbreviation of "burn," do not carry with them a very literal understanding as it may in European cultures. Hence, phrases like "bun sodomites" will not mean, to literally burn sodomites, but function more as a line of descent: it is an exaggeration used to indicate serious disapproval. ------------------------------------ Dancehall has energised Jamaican popular music because it has spawned dance moves that help to make parties and stage performances more energetic. Many dance moves seen on hip-hop videos are actually variations of dancehall moves such as the butterfly, the bogle, the heel and toe, the blaze blaze, the pon the river, pon the bank, and the dutty wine.