Ashly Cork
July 31, 2019

Defying the Barriers of the ‘Genre’ : An Interview with Tessellated and FRIDAY NIGHT CRU

It is human nature for us to place all aspects of our lives into categories. Philosophical theory dating to ancient philosophers Aristotle and Plato in 300. B.C. speak to ways in which humans categorise to make their lives more simple. But does this really make life more simple, or does it create limitations on the vast possibilities that exist, particularly for parts of life like the arts? Taking musical genres as an example, consider the ways in which music and musicians themselves, are influenced by various genres, and thus many modern day artists are not able to seamlessly fit into the categories that genres characterise. 

Jamaica has gifted the world six unique genres of music since the 20^th Century, the only country to do so. These genres are: Ska, Mento, Rocksteady, Reggae, Dancehall and Dub. Currently, the most popular genres in today’s Jamaica are Reggae and Dancehall, with Dub having a huge influence on international music (such as EDM), but not necessarily the same level of popularity in its home country. In 2015, as a testament to this immense level of creative production, Kingston, Jamaica was declared a UNESCO Creative City of Music.

I sat down with two of Jamaica’s next generation of artists, Tessellated and FRIDAY NIGHT CRU (a duo), to discuss the idea of genres, and how they, as artists, do not particularly think their music really adheres to the distinctions of any one genre, and specifically, not any one of Jamaica’s indigenous genres.

Dancehall and Reggae, Jamaica’s Genres: 

To further this discussion we must start from the drawing board. The Miriam-Webster Dictionary defines the term ‘genre’ as, “a category of artistic, musical or literary composition characterized by a particular style, form or content.” These characteristics form the checklist that is used either informally or formally (for music charts such as Billboard) to group music together based on these similarities.

According to blogger Rueben Raman (no date), a defining factor of the Reggae genre is the use of the “4/4 meter with heavy emphasis on the backbeat… The average tempo of a Reggae tune ranges between 80-110 BPM (beats per minute). Most Reggae songs have the bass upfront in the mix with low subs…” Dancehall, on the other hand, is characterised by the “pumping lower frequencies of the Reggae bass line” (Julian Henriques, 2011: xxi). 

As it relates to the content (themes of the music), Reggae music is heavily influenced by the Rastafari movement, therefore the focus tends to be around consciousness, Black empowerment, anti-establishment, marijuana, love and overall positivity, to summarize the themes. Dancehall, on the other hand is characterised by, as Prof. Donna Hope (2011) stated as “the six G’s”: gun, gyal, ghetto, gays, ganja and God. As you can see, many of these themes overlap giving rise to the initial situation of blurred lines.

The Next Generation of Jamaican Musicians- Who are Tessellated and FRIDAY NIGHT CRU?

To help tell this story I’d like to introduce my readers to Tessellated and FRIDAY NIGHT CRU; two Jamaican music acts that have sought to make music that goes against the mainstream notion we may have for what “Jamaican music” sounds like.

Tessellated, whom many of us may have met before from his massive hit, Pine and Ginger (2017) which has racked up an astounding over 5 million views on Youtube, hails from Kingston, Jamaica. In June, 2019, Tessellated’s song I Learned Some Jazz Today was scouted by Apple Music and used in their commercial for the new Apple AirPods. Tessellated’s sound is very unique, using parts of Dancehall, Reggae, Jazz and many more influences.

• 

FRIDAY NIGHT CRU is a Jamaican duo, friends Dash D and KinDah. Both of these men also representing Kingston, Jamaica. An upcoming musical act with growing traction on the social media stage, FRIDAY NIGHT CRU’s single Monáe has racked up just under 3,000 views since the music video was released last year. They had their first taste of live performance at this summer’s Fi Di Culture Live. The duo’s sound resembles RnB, Rap and Hip-Hop.

What these two have in common is the ways in which they’ve sought to represent Jamaica, but not solely represent Dancehall and Reggae. Neither of them would choose one genre as the embodiment of their music, and our discussion sought to get more in depth with the notion of genres and the expectations Jamaicans have for their locally grown acts.

Expectations as Jamaican Musical Artists: 

When you think about the term “Jamaican Musician”, for most of us, we already have a preconceived notion of what that sounds like and most likely this fits into one of the six indigenous genres listed above. So, because there already exists this notion it further stems an expectation, a box we ourselves have created based on what this idea represents in our heads.

This does not in any way mean that Jamaicans only listen to Jamaican music. Actually, this is extremely far from the truth. It has been reported that the Jamaica Association of Composers, Authors and Publishers (JACAP), a collecting society in charge of distribution of royalties, pays more of its royalties to overseas entities than local creators due to a saturation of foreign music being played on the Jamaican radio stations. In 2015, 85% of JACAP’s royalties were paid overseas. (The Jamaica Star, April 23, 2017). 

KinDah of FRIDAY NIGHY CRU lamented on this notion saying, “I feel like although Dancehall and Reggae are more prominent here, most people you talk to are listening to American artists… When we think about going to a Jamaican concert we think about which Dancehall or Reggae artist is on, even though day to day we’re listening to American music…” In the position of assuming some Jamaicans have an aversion to hearing their own making the similar music they listen to day to day, KinDah continued by saying. “… it’s kind of strange when it’s not as accepted in a way but I think we’re becoming more open to other styles of music; and that’s through like social media as well.”

Tessellated, on the other hand, thinks that it’s our assumptions that have limited us, even from the creators’ perspective. He says, “one big part of it is that people don’t give people enough credit for what they may or may not be open to. So there’s this mentality in Jamaica, especially with the music industry, that Jamaicans only want Dancehall or Reggae; so people only give them Dancehall and Reggae! … With the Internet and just the generation we’re in, people listen to music from all over so people are actually open to a Jamaican artist doing different things, it’s just not really presented to them. But a lot of people, once they actually hear it, once they’re exposed to this new type of music or this ‘fusion’, they love it ‘cause it’s music, it’s good music.”

Another important point that came up, with the interjection of Odessa Chambers, a member of Tessellated’s management team and a media personality herself, was that Jamaicans have never had an issue consuming international music or music outside of the Jamaican genres, it is just that this is expected to be produced by international acts, not Jamaican ones. Why are we putting limitations on our artists?

Stepping Away From the Normative ‘Genre’ Labels

Upon asking these gentlemen the simple question of, “what genre would you classify your music as?”, I did not really get much of a solid answer, as I anticipated. “Genre is not a thing nowadays to be honest…. You don’t think for example, ‘Tessellated is doing Dancehall’, you think, ‘Tessellated is doing music’” Dash D proclaimed, with his music partner adding, “… we just make music, whatever comes, comes.”

The idea of moving away from using genres to define music isn’t simply because we want to move away from placing restrictions on artists, the idea is the restrictions are really not there when you consider it, every artist is influenced by many different kinds of art and thus whatever they produce is a by-product of all their influences. Every kind of music, and genre in itself is built off of something else, Dancehall is an influence of Reggae and Rap; Reggae is influenced by Rocksteady and Ska; Hip-Hop is even influenced by Reggae. Every genre that is created is a ‘fusion’ of some other form of music. 

Of his music, Tessellated stated, “growing up in Jamaica, obviously I have the root of Dancehall/Reggae, but then my music tastes are obviously wider than that too. So everything I do, it starts with the foundation of the Jamaican music and then it’s embellished with things from all over the world.” Most, if not all, artists, even outside of music, will relate to this statement, we do not exist and create in a bubble. “There are very few artists that don’t mix [genres] at all,” KinDah stated and Dash D joked, “We don’t do boxes!”

How Do We Encourage Moving Away from the Limitations Placed by Expectations and Categorisations?

When we sought to discuss what the solutions are for this change of mindset and for the reception of their music, but also for the encouragement of other artists to not limit themselves, FRIDAY NIGHT CRU And Tessellated referred to this stride as “a movement”, one they are proud to be a part of. They acknowledged both the time it takes for mindsets to change, and the numbers required for a movement to be noticed, it doesn’t take one or two artists, more artists need to be unafraid to give their audiences something new, something unexpected.

They acknowledged the importance of the creation of platforms for these types of artists, outside of social media. Most concerts and stage-shows are very Dancehall and Reggae centred, and the audiences at these events are not expecting to hear anything that deviates too far from this. Events like Fi Di Culture Live (in Kingston) and Asura and Friends (in Montego Bay) offer a stage for next generation artists, and particularly allow those who divert from the mainstream to have a space to present themselves to a live audience. 

FRIDAY NIGHT CRU spoke to the ways in which the opportunity of performing live had provided them with a transitional space between the Internet and real life. “When you put out a song it’s like numbers and comments, but you don’t get to actually see it in person,” KinDah stated. For them, performing in person was a way to connect with the crowd and show their personality to the people who don’t get a chance to interact with them outside of behind the music.

“The movement is being made in the music and in the streets… but when you have.. event(s) like this, the movement is kind of pushed into something more. Having these events are a part of the history of everything, it’s one thing when people are actually listening to music but it’s another thing when they’re actually paying to come out their house and attend an event,” Tessellated described to which Dash D agreed saying, “well said, sir.”

Genres are important when you think of numbers and data, for example streaming data, categories for award shows, popularity and productivity of music types. So in no way is this argument suggesting to completely eliminate genres, as it’s addition and productivity to the music industry is instrumental. However, the push is to not place artists in boxes of expectations which seek to limit their creativity, as it is next to impossible for a music creation to not be influenced or have traces of several types of music.

I’ll close this by quoting the ever philosophical Tessellated who proclaimed, “the basic jobs/ doctors, lawyers, those things are what society needs to run but they aren’t the things that people live for. People live for the culture, people live for the music, people live for the arts.. that’s the things that people live for, that’s where the love is.” 

Let us not place our artists in boxes, let us not be afraid or skeptical by our artists stepping away from our Jamaican culture, let us continue to encourage and support the immense creativity that will continue to be produced from our little (but HUGE) nation.

Check out some highlights from the performances of both Friday Night Cru & Tessellated Below:

FRIDAY NIGHT CRU Performing at Fi Di Culture Live 2019:

https://twitter.com/fridaynightcru/status/1150773325590925312

Tessellated performing at Sumfest 2019:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHisv_THEi0

Keep up with their upcoming projects by following their Instagrams: @tessvibe and @fridaynightcru