Sister Nancy question
mannybolone
Los Angeles, CA 15,025 Posts
Just picked up her "One Two" LP and this new spot and was wondering how/when "Bam Bam" ended up "crossing over" into NY hip-hop circles? I'm assuming the reissue 12" came after the song had already become a minor hit?
Comments
I think BDP/Just-Ice we're the first to freak it on record (not Bam-Bam per se, just reggae/hip hop styles), but Bam Bam was a reggae hit from the door I think, so it was just natural considering how closely the two styles were intertwined back then.
You have to a least put it in context of other dancehall songs that had hip-hop crossover. which is not a short list!
In the early 80's where the new Yankee Stadium used to be( there was a running track there that now moved to the old stadium area) the local cats would set up a soundsystem and blast the fuck outta some Reggae.
And it was Classic Bob Marley and them, Hard Dub ,and Dancehall. 81-85 type shit.
The bigger Dancehall hits did get heard in the skreets. By the late 80's Hip Hop dudes who rubbed elbows w/ West Indians or were West Indian themselves used Reggae. Think Run-DMC w/ Yellowman before Scott and them.
But I wouldnt see Rochelle and Charlene w/ Reggae in their rotations until the late 80's or even early 90's when shit really "crossed over" to the larger Black Community and then to other folks.
Bam Bam was a hit but not gettin WBLS love. I think WBAI had the Reggae shit on lock then IIRC.
Theres a deeper story to be told here. We all know the Kool Herc west Indian" they rocked turntables first" story. But the fusion could use a sharper inspection/ analysis. Shit like Kuff was huge. Red Alert would play Dancehall in those days as well during the Hip Hop sets IIRC. But not in 87. There was so much exchange that theres some stories there. Shit...Reggaeton cam outta that 90's shit.
also, you have Too Short sampling Bam Bam in prob 1992? and Lauryn Hill basically lifting the the whole melody etc for Lost Ones later in the 90's.
dancehall generally was in heavy rotation at that time, you weren't a dj in ny or philly at least unless you did a dancehall set at some point in the night. there were plenty of records to choose from and Bam Bam was just a riddim that never lost its appeal or seemed irrelevant. it kinda never died.
side note, i opened for sister nancy this summer and she KILLED IT. she was barefoot and wearing a terry cloth jumpsuit and she was serious as hell. her voice was strong and her style was alive!!! no question she still puts on a show.
Reason being it is a non-violent song.
Fascinating. Thank you for sharing this.
I'm also wondering if Sister Nancy was part of a "ladies first"-kind of moment in dancehall in the early '80s? In particular, I'm not only struck by her line on "Bam Bam" - "I'm a lady and not a man" ??? but more so by the LP's other song, "Only Woman DJ With Degree" which is a really fascinating boast since it seems to wrap up both gender and class.
Tracing the roots of reggae soul hiphop leads to Johnny Nash in 65-66 an the LP "I Can See Clearly Now" on ABC (if I remember correctly). There was a crossover there. Then reggae/ska/soul/blues mingled, like in Texas on the label Federal, until 82 when pop artist Diana Ross released the crossover "I Am Me" single on RCA. By this time, hiphop an dancehall were co-evolving. Then stress caused another crossover in '92.
Wait, so Diana Ross (the pop artist) was the first to crossover between hiphop and dancehall?
Johnny Nash started this whole reggae-ska-soul-blues crossover?
I can see clearly now.
Yeah, Johnny (65), then Diana (82), then Ini kamozee, shabba, Isis, et al (93)
Back in college I was trying to talk to this girl at this thing where "Bam Bam" was playing, and just as our conversation was taking a turn towards the grown, the dj mixed into JC Lodge's "Telephone Love." I felt like I was in a movie.
Meet Gatortoof.
Yeah, can't believe i actually took the bait.
Continue.
M***, she is a very successful accountant and she lives in North Jerz. I'm telling you dude she is a serious lady. Also her name isn't even Nancy, it's a really carribbean name like Odelphia or something.
Hi Gator Toof you should do as the Jamaicans say and EASE BACK. You seem like a nice guy, but you needn't reply to every single thread. Especially when you don't know what you are talking about very much so much there a lot and stuff.
J.Lo or Baby Phat circa 2005.
I have an all canary yellow joint that's pretty killer
co-sign Johnny Osbourne & Barrington...Also Beres Hammond, Marcia Griffiths still got it.
I only skimmed through it. But I thought there was some decent parts dealing with Sister Nancy. It seemed like it would be a good read all around.
It's Beth Lesser's new book. She's a Toronto resident along with David Kingston, her husband. They used to run Reggae Quarterly magazine for a minute and he had one of the city's best reggae radio shows - Reggae Showcase - on CKLN.
In my privater Kopfgarten, you actually wrote, "Stalag was a popular riddim, and it still is."
I'm not sure if this is at all relevant to your line of questioning, but Nancy is the younger sister of Brigadier Jerry (of the unfadeable "Jamaica, Jamaica" cut). I always found it interesting that her very stage name was sort of a reference to her older brother. He got to be a brigadier, while she was relegated to "Sister." Maybe I'm reading too much into that.
Side note: someone gave our daughter a baby doll when she was two. I named her "Nancy" as in "Sister Nancy" and it stuck.
One AM, DJ made it a rub....