Dancehall Rebel — Stacey Robinson BOOK REVIEW

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DanceHall Rebel 🇯🇲 🎧 💿 was such a fun and eye-opening read for me. I loved every bit of it. I am so appreciative of the composer for creating this book and for helping me and others like me who love the Caribbean culture, put the Jamaican and Caribbean Canadian Culture in full perspective — as well as for helping me understand the roots of Jamaican music history, family dynamics, their religion and DanceHall music (Denise Brown). I felt the writer’s love and passion for her Jamaican heritage, reggae culture (rum cake) and loved how she never lost sight of it by bringing it with her to Toronto for the world around her to explore and enjoy — through each page of this book. I understand her civic duty to keep reggae DanceHall alive while navigating challenging conversations surrounding sexuality, technology, family, education, identity and acceptance. I admire her for that.

My highlighter has lit up the pages in this vibrant book and my ear drums are still rattling from each of the songs I played (on the loud speaker) that are highlighted in the book as I read along. This method of experiencing DanceHall Rebel is what made this read very fun, entertaining and special, and which heightened my love for Jamaicans throughout the world. I felt at home in Kingston, Jamaica, Ottawa & Toronto, in Denise’s family basement and on the Skylarking Twitch stream with Denise’s friends and growing streaming community.

Denise and her friends are such a profound unique group of teens that exemplifies the true meaning of friendship, love, joy, togetherness and being free — all which I needed to understand the wave of the new generation. They challenged the future of Jamaican culture, specifically reggae music, sexuality, identity, love, grief, freedom of expression, respect and acceptance — all which are very edgy and much needed topics of discussion in order for the forward advancement of the Reggae legacy. After concluding my read, I now understand the importance of DanceHall music which is to radiate good energy by bringing people together — One Love — and I hope the rest of the world will learn that very important lesson after reading this beautiful book. Music is Happiness, Music is Love. DanceHall Rebel is just that.

Job well done, Stacey.

— Cleveland Author Jameel Davis