Screwface Music: The Best Reggae You’ve Never Heard

This article is a collaborative effort, crafted and edited by a team of dedicated professionals.

Contributors: Andranick Tanguiane, Fred Lerdahl,

Contents

Screwface Music is the best reggae you’ve never heard. We play the latest and greatest in reggae, ska, and dub music from Jamaica and beyond.

Introduction

Screwface Music is a type of Reggae that originated in Jamaica in the late 1970s. It is characterized by its dark, menacing, and often violent lyrics, which are often about subjects such as crime and poverty. Screwface Music is named after the popular Jamaican film “The Harder They Come”, which features a character named Ivanhoe “Ivan” Martin, who is nicknamed “Screwface”. The film is based on the true story of a Jamaican singer-songwriter named Rhydon Hawke, who was best known for his song “No More Prison Songs”.

Screwface Music artists include artist such as Junior Murvin, Vivian Jackson, and Prince Far I. Although Screwface Music never gained widespread popularity outside of Jamaica, it has been influential on other genres of music, such as Hip Hop and Grime.

What is Screwface Music?

Screwface music is a subgenre of reggae characterized by its dark, violent lyrics and stark, often minimalist production. The term comes from the Jamaican Patois word “screwface,” which refers to the grim expressions worn by gang members and other toughs.

While screwface music is not as well known as other genres of reggae, it has been influential within the Jamaican underworld and has been featured in several films about life in the ghetto. The genre often deals with themes of violence, crime, and poverty, and its lyrics can be very graphic.

If you’re looking for something different from the usual reggae fare, give screwface music a try. You might be surprised by how much you like it.

The History of Screwface Music

Screwface music is a genre of Jamaican popular music that developed in the late 1980s. Musically, it is characterized by slow, bedsprung rhythms and dark, foreboding atmospheres. Lyrically, it often deals with themes of death, violence, and other dark or “screwface” subjects.

The term “screwface” is Jamaican slang for a facial expression that conveys hostility or aggression. The word entered the Jamaican musical lexicon in the late 1980s, when it was used to describe a new breed of Jamaican artist who was making music that was darker and more aggressive than anything that had come before.

The first screwface artist was probably Bounty Killer, whose debut album My Xperience (1992) set the template for the genre with its slow, menacing rhythms and gritty tales of life in the ghetto. Since then, screwface music has been adopted by a number of other Jamaican artists, most notably Beenie Man, Capleton, and Vybz Kartel.

While it has never achieved mainstream success outside of Jamaica, screwface music has nonetheless exerted a significant influence on Jamaican popular culture. In recent years, the genre has also begun to gain a following among international audiences thanks to the popularity of websites such as YouTube and SoundCloud.

The Sound of Screwface Music

Screwface music, also known as digi-dancehall or dubstep, is a genre of Jamaican electronic dance music that emerged in the late 1990s. The music is characterized by its sparse, dark, and often unsettling soundscapes, which are often punctuated by floaty melodies and Rastafarian-inspired lyrics.

Although screwface music is relatively new, it has already gained a significant following among Jamaican youths. The music often features on sound systems and in nightclubs, and is also popular among international audiences.

Despite its growing popularity, screwface music remains something of an underground genre. This is partially due to the fact that the music often contains explicit lyrics which can be offensive to some listeners. However, it is also due to the fact that the genre has yet to be widely recognized or accepted by the mainstream Jamaican music industry.

The Artists of Screwface Music

Screwface Music artists are a who’s who of Jamaican music, including Bob Marley, Burning Spear, the Wailers, the Skatalites, and more. But the label’s sound is uniquely its own, a product of its time and place. Screwface Music was founded in the late 1970s by Mikey Smith, a DJ who played a mix of reggae, rocksteady, and soul on the Jamaican radio station JBC. Smith named his label after the film The Harder They Come, which starred Jimmy Cliff as a singer trying to make it in the music business.

The Artists of Screwface Music
Screwface Music was founded in the late 1970s by Mikey Smith, a DJ who played a mix of reggae, rocksteady, and soul on the Jamaican radio station JBC. Smith named his label after the film The Harder They Come, which starred Jimmy Cliff as a singer trying to make it in the music business.

The Future of Screwface Music

Screwface music is a genre of reggae music that is characterized by its dark, aggressive sound. The term “screwface” comes from the Jamaican Patois word for “frown,” and it is often used to describe the grim, intimidating expressions that dancers make while dancing to this type of music.

While screwface music has been around for decades, it has only recently begun to gain mainstream attention. This is due in part to the increasing popularity of dancehall music and the rise of artists like Vybz Kartel and Popcaan, who have popularized the genre with their hits “Clarks” and “Raving”.

Despite its growing popularity, screwface music is still relatively unknown outside of Jamaica. This is because most screwface songs are not released on major record labels, and they are not promoted by radio stations or TV networks. Instead, they are distributed by small, independent labels or sold as pirated CDs at street markets.

This lack of exposure means that screwface music is often overlooked or dismissed as being too dark and violent. However, those who have heard it know that it can be incredibly catchy and addictive. If you’re looking for something new to listen to, screwface music is definitely worth checking out.

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