I too must offer commentary on the Artaud upon returning from an exhausting field venture to the Virgin Megastore. I agree that the difficulty of the questions was on par with their general quality. Kudos to the directors for enabling me to play in a tourney that greatly dulled the physical and mental anguish of dancehall reggae fieldwork in the week to come. With that said, I feel that the ACF "canon" in general needs more decent hard reggae questions. As this material falls squarely into the purview of my academic endeavors, I have a few suggestions. First, refrain from such patently easy questions as identifying artists like Buju Banton and Supercat (by the way, the reggae bonus at the Artaud contained erroneous clues - it was Shabba Ranks, not Buju Banton, who was banned from the Tonight Show for his homophobic stance in 1992). Anyone who has taken a simple introductory course on dancehall reggae (a vast majority of us) should have no problem identifying Supercat. And if there ABSOLUTELY has to be a question on Beenie Man, let it be on works, such as the albums "Art and Life" or "Many Moods of Moses." And what about the other "men" of reggae, Yellowman and Ninja Man? Conversely, questions on women artists are sadly absent. Diana King, Chevelle Franklin, and Patra and have churned out imminently danceable hits and arguably, Shabba Ranks would not have found success with his songs, "Mr. Loverman" and "Ice Cream Love" without the vocals of the latter two, respectively. Also, even the more academic reggae questions skew towards the early '90's dancehall boom and ignore works such as Wayne Smith's "Under Me Sleng Teng" (which in 1985 became the first dancehall reggae song) and contemporary artists such as the Scare Dem Crew. I have the sneaking suspicion that the people who write reggae questions have no formal knowledge of the genre and are the same ones apt to file Bob Marley under reggae when they should be relegating him to religion or history. I am nevertheless pleased to see that dancehall reggae is now part of the ACF distribution, a testament to the legitimacy of diaspora studies. Thus, I advise question writers to focus on mixtapes, producers, technology (the Roland 808 drum machine, Casio keyboards), patois terms, and lesser-known artists. Try Hawkman, Eek-a-Mouse, Mad Cobra, Chaka Demus & Pliers, Tanto Metro & Devonte, Cutty Ranks, Capleton, Chuckleberry, Spragga Benz, Sanchez, Tony Rebel, and Josey Wales. Variety in the Caribbean-influenced urban music category in every single consecutive ACF packet won't kill anybody. --Quince Borbas UB40 Memorial Scholar, Doctorate Program in Ragga/Dancehall Culture (who did tolerate the single pop reggae bonus at Artaud.
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