mc

Star they can neva do those tunes cause let's face it dubs and 45 is no different a just man name punch eeen. If dem start do 45 wid sound style who the fuck a go buy dem over priced 45 whe disguised as dub plate....

The same sounds who cut 10-15 dub a month.
Plus it would almost gguarantee hat your tune would get played.
Come to think of it, they would get more requests for dub, cause any sound who a send money go yard every month fi dub, would surely want the dub version of that chune wid dem name inna it.

I think the reason there are no more records about sound systems is because sound system supremacy isn't an aspect of the youth culture. They are completely content to be fed 'the program' by whatever cabal of aging DJs runs their local radio. Also the mixtape sites are just DUMPING music, every CD is 99 tracks long and but somehow 80% is the exact same tracklisting as the radio. Everyone is trying to make it big the 2000 way, with girl and party songs and all the gang tunes are just mix cd fodder. Every now and then one pops up (Sizzla just put out one recently called 'Big Bad Sound' over the Stalag) if you really dig thru the riddim packs some are there...

I personally think it also has a lot to do with dancehall performers simply living in studios and going to parties to get drunk, instead of work. There seems to be a diva side to it. In hip-hop you saw a massive decline in 'DJ' records because originally, the DJs were getting the credit for the music being played, the MCs were there to add to the DJ, when the records started to focus more on the MC the DJ was turned into a 'behind the scenes' personality and then that image was shed altogether and they call that person the 'producer' now. Dancehall stopped being a unique business when the major labels started coming around, you don't need to ever perform on a sound or a local stage again. You just need to be a friend of a friend of Bounty Killer's second cousin. Deejays don't really 'need' the sounds anymore. Are the new deejays constantly cutting dubs? I'm not hearing them... There's hardly any clashes to play them in anyway, and ppl seem less conditioned to hear new things unless Funkmaster Flex types put some bombs on it. Sounds like Coppershot could probably play dubplates all night but why bother when the 45 would get a bigger fwd anyway?

What they seem to forget tho, is that 'Ring the Alarm' is one of the biggest reggae songs ever made. Ppl who have no idea what a sound system is love that song, across the globe.

TL/DR: there's no demand from the local market but it would be nice to hear some.

Originally Posted by mc

The same sounds who cut 10-15 dub a month.
Plus it would almost gguarantee hat your tune would get played.
Come to think of it, they would get more requests for dub, cause any sound who a send money go yard every month fi dub, would surely want the dub version of that chune wid dem name inna it.

correct me if i'm wrong but
isn't clashing and dubplates considered a middle aged man's hobby now?
it used to be a sport young jamaicans seemed to enjoy...
now it's more about gangs and the video light, the music was just a soundtrack to getting drunk.
the actual quality of the music hardly mattered, as evidenced by the longevity. There are only a handful of songs that will continue to be played after this 'lost/final era' of what used to be called dancehall.
So if the whole scene takes this turn, obviously who has the slicker dubplates hardly matters to patrons.

clash has been on some 'relive the good old days' shit for almost ten years now, and the crowds are getting smaller and smaller. It's like when pop stars are washed up and start playing sleazy Vegas clubs, unless they go on tour in Europe/Japan or someplace where they don't mind seeing you past your prime and can't understand what you're saying. It's hilarious that ppl think the EU is where clash can "live on" if 75% of the ppl at a Euro clash are there just to smoke hash spliffs with their friends because oh man reggae = weed right! And for some reason I don't think the Californians are ever gonna have a real clash scene hippies aren't really on that tip.

TL/DR: dancehall music isn't very good anymore/clash is pretty much a puppet show

Originally Posted by Drew.....H.I.M.

Star they can neva do those tunes cause let's face it dubs and 45 is no different a just man name punch eeen. If dem start do 45 wid sound style who the fuck a go buy dem over priced 45 whe disguised as dub plate....

the opposite happened right before 45s went extinct... labels like hemp musik, rmc, and a few others. they were always white labeled

http://www.discogs.com/label/Hemp%20Muzik
ppl were taking dubplate masters and chopping out the sound name and releasing those as soundboy 45s and "refixes"...
as recently as 2005 that was happening, when someone stole the Jah Creation accapella of 'Shot a Fire' by Shabba Ranks turned it into 'Gun Session' w/ Vybz and Akon. there's even an L.A. Benz dubplate on a Trojan dancehall compilation, so I guess ppl have ben doing that for a while (passing off dubplates with minor edits as legitimate releases).