fbpx
Connect with us
Apply Now

Executive Voice

Producer Killaimij claims Dancehall suffers from a lack of feel good music in parties

The trajectory of Dancehall music as a whole has taken an interesting turn over recent year. There seems to have been a cultural shift along the way in Jamaican music, from songs that inspire, encourage enjoyment and promote dancing and feel-good vibes to songs that convey illicit activity, gangsterism, and hype. In the past month, a video surfaced on social media that went viral as it depicted a female patron at a local party in Jamaica, demanding that a certain type of music be introduced by the selector that was tasked with playing the music on the given night. The video was shared on social media over three hundred thousand times and sparked conversations about the state of the dancehall party scenes in Jamaica and who were the culprits behind the degradation of the dancehall party scene.

Sheldon “Killaimij” Thaxter of Killaimij Records, who is a Jamaican, California-based producer, regards his latest release, Clock Tick Riddim as the rebirth of feel-good dancehall music. According to Killaimij, he intends to not contribute to the issues that plague dancehall while illustrating a variety of factors that lead to the absence of feel-good music within the party scene. “The party scene right now is not tailored to the people. There are too many gun songs, scamming songs, and hype songs. I can barely hear any songs for the females at the parties, where did the dancing songs go? Where did the feel-good songs go? Then you have the issue with selectors playing for a paycheck. Honestly, it’s rotten to the core.” Killaimij told Disrupt Magazine.

Killaimij’s opinion highlights an avalanche of issues that have been affecting the state of Dancehall in recent times. It’s fair to say that there has been a cultural shift within the Jamaican music scene. Some might even argue that there has been a shift from the song-driven music industry to the paid-driven music industry. Nowadays, dancehall parties, both local and international, are dominated by segments where the presiding selector accepts monetary gifts in order for certain songs to be played. The conundrum from this action arises when selectors enter these parties with the motivation of playing for the money and not the people. As this trend became popular over the years, it developed into a detrimental cycle.

The fact that many of the selectors have a predetermined selection of music they are willing to play, that is not motivated by the entertainment of the patrons but by the reward of money is a major issue —- which consequently, encourages artists to continuously make a certain type of music that is tailored to the selectors’ play preference. This only further aggravates the matter as Dancehall artists and producers become reluctant to create certain types of music because of the fear of it being rejected or ignored by the conveyors of the music. Those of which are popularly known as selectors. Killaimij agrees as he told Disrupt Magazine that “The selector, the artist, and the producer all have a vital role to play in the welfare of our music and how it is disseminated. We should all take responsibility and do our part to change the game. That’s what I am going to do as a producer”, he said.

Popular Dancehall selector Footahype shares a different perspective concerning the lack of feel-good music within the party scene. According to Footahype, the blame should be laid at the government’s doorstep as they are the ones that hamper Dancehall parties with their absurd timing restrictions. “ The number one problem is the government with their clueless lock-off time restrictions. This disallows certain music segments at dancehall parties to be featured. A lot of girl songs are played at the party, a lot of feel-good music, but when they are played the patrons have not arrived at the party as yet. This issue goes back to the timing problem. We do not have enough time at  parties to play all types of music. Blame the Jamaican government, not the selectors”, Footahype said.

Continue Reading


Copyright © 2022 Disrupt ™ Magazine is a Minority Owned Privately Held Company - Disrupt ™ was founder by Puerto Rican serial entrepreneur and philanthropist Tony Delgado who is on a mission to transform Latin America using the power of education and entrepreneurship.

Disrupt ™ Magazine
151 Calle San Francisco
Suite 200
San Juan, Puerto Rico, 00901

Opinions expressed by Disrupt Contributors are their own. Disrupt Magazine invites voices from many diverse walks of life to share their perspectives on our contributor platform. We are big believers in freedom of speech and while we do enforce our community guidelines, we do not actively censor stories on our platform because we want to give our contributors the freedom to express their opinions. Articles are not commissioned by our editorial team, and opinions expressed by our community contributors do not reflect the opinions of Disrupt or its employees.
We are committed to fighting the spread of misinformation online so if you feel an article on our platform goes against our community guidelines or contains false information, we do encourage you to report it. We need your help to fight the spread of misinformation. For more information please visit our Contributor Guidelines available here.


Disrupt ™ is the voice of latino entrepreneurs around the world. We are part of a movement to increase diversity in the technology industry and we are focused on using entrepreneurship to grow new economies in underserved communities both here in Puerto Rico and throughout Latin America. We enable millennials to become what they want to become in life by learning new skills and leveraging the power of the digital economy. We are living proof that all you need to succeed in this new economy is a landing page and a dream. Disrupt tells the stories of the world top entrepreneurs, developers, creators, and digital marketers and help empower them to teach others the skills they used to grow their careers, chase their passions and create financial freedom for themselves, their families, and their lives, all while living out their true purpose. We recognize the fact that most young people are opting to skip college in exchange for entrepreneurship and real-life experience. Disrupt Magazine was designed to give the world a taste of that.