Following the Broadcasting Commission's move to ban beeped songs from local radio, dancehall artistes have been forced to find more creative ways to tell their stories.

However, while some music enthusiasts are comfortable with the situation, there are others who feel that dancehall has been gagged, and is less effective as a communication agent.

Like soca and calypso artistes have been doing for many years, dancehall now relies on witty wordplay and far-fetched metaphors to get its message across. However, dancehall artiste Curly Lox of the Twin of Twins duo believes the hard-core element of dancehall is being compromised.

"In my view, it limits the artiste because we can't effectively communicate what needs to be communicated. Therefore, it minimises the message the song is supposed to send. Based on the nature of dancehall and its roots, it's like our culture speaks Spanish and now the music is using a different language. So it's watered down to the extreme," Curly Lox said.

The artiste believes the banning of beeps on radio is an outright fight against dancehall music. He also highlighted that certain classic songs that are etched in dancehall's history would not have made any impact under the strict rules now enforced on the industry.

"Dancehall was the voice of the downtrodden youth and it was communicated in their language. Bounty Killer's Anytime was one of those songs that made people understand the psyche of a ghetto youth and he was able to reach important ears because of the manner in which the story was told. But if Anytime were to be produced now, it would have no impact, because he could not say 'Anytime mi hungry again yu a guh see mi nine', he would have to say something frivolous like 'Anytime mi hungry again, mi a guh spray yu with tin spray'," Curly Lox said.

beep free

Curly Lox says the radio stations are beep free as it relates to dancehall content, yet some persons are still complaining. This he sees as an indication that some critics simply want to see the genre's demise. He, has, therefore, called for the industry to unite in order to defend itself.

Dancehall/reggae producer Matthew 'Esco' Thompson believes dancehall is still an effective communication agent. However, in order to be both hardcore yet radio friendly, artistes will have to be extremely skilful with their metaphors. He supports the anti-beep system, citing that artistes can still be explicit if they do two separate versions if their songs.

With the exception of Mad Cobra's crossover hit Press Trigger, Esco holds the view that less-explicit songs are more likely to receive commercial success.

"The cleaner music is, the more successful. Clean music is what brings the visitors to Jamaica. However, Press Trigger shows that a properly crafted hardcore song can cross over and become commercial. It was hardcore, but it wasn't overly explicit, which is what dancehall artistes should strive to accomplish. It requires clever workmanship. Vybz Kartel mastered that too, because some of his clean versions are even better than the raw ones," he said.

When asked if dancehall music will eventually have less global appeal, like its Caribbean counterparts soca and calypso, because of its diluted content, Esco replied: "I don't think dancehall will reach that stage because it is not seasonal. We always have new styles, and it's always changing, whereas soca and calypso is always the same rhythms, and it's seasonal," he said.

Esco recently released a one drop reggae rhythm compilation called the Anti Crime rhythm, featuring Assassin, Kabaka Pyramid, Bounty Killer, among others. He also released a collaboration video called Bad Bounce-Cypher featuring himself, Konshens, Nitty Kutchie, Bounty Killer, Bling Dawg, among others.

Twin of Twins are currently wrapping up their US tour and will be heading to the UK tomorrow, then on to Africa in coming weeks.