 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (September 2013) |
| "Dem Bow" | |
|---|---|
| Song by Shabba Ranks | |
| from the album Just Reality | |
| Released | 1990 |
| Genre | Reggae, dancehall |
| Length | 3:36 |
| Label | VP Records |
| Songwriter(s) | Steely & Clevie |
| Producer(s) | Bobby Digital |
"Dem Bow" is a song performed by Jamaican reggae artist Shabba Ranks,[1] produced by Bobby Digital.[2] This song uses the "Ku-Klung-Klung"/"Poco Man Jam" riddim (based on the title of the 1990 Gregory Peck and Red Dragon song) created by Jamaican producers Steely & Clevie in the late 1980s. The lyrics are anti-imperialist (the title is Jamaican patois for "they bow," with Ranks disparaging people who do so) and also anti-homosexual, as Ranks compares those who perform sodomy to those who submit to colonialism.[3]
Elements of the song's riddim have been incorporated into over 80% of all reggaeton productions.[4] Evidently, "Dem Bow" has shaped and informed transnational flows and shifts within the genre over time. Reggaeton articulates a particular “audible thread” that weaves together various flows (and waves) of music, people, and ideologies.[4] In examining this musical evolution, aspects of race, class, and culture are inextricably linked to sociocultural elements surrounding the genre. In harnessing "Dem Bow" as a point of centrality, this song speaks to various patterns of migration, commercialization, branding, and reforming within the context of reggaeton.
- ^ "Shabba Ranks: Dem Bow". Allmusic. Retrieved August 15, 2013.
- ^ Wayne, Marshall (2008). Dem Bow: Translation and Transnation in Reggaeton (PDF).
- ^ Mota, Jennifer (2019-01-28). "Recognizing Dominican Dembow: From Jamaica to El Alfa". People en Español. Retrieved 2021-11-30.
- ^ a b Marshall, Wayne (2008). "Dem Bow, Dembow, Dembo: Translation and Transnation in Reggaeton". Lied und Populäre Kultur / Song and Popular Culture. 53: 131–151. JSTOR 20685604.