CHUNE

Riddim: Chiney Gal

Producer: Ce’Cile and Skatta

Ah, the counteraction—when a big tune has so much impact (or sufficiently offends another artist) that other artists voice response tunes on the same riddim. “Changez” is basically the romance version of 50 Cent’s career-making “How to Rob,” with the sultry-voiced Ce’Cile discussing why none of dancehall’s current male stars and sound system selectors¹ are good enough to “run [her] program”:

Bounty Killa too stiff so him cyaan position
Mi nuh see weh gyal a run dung pon Elephant Man
Bwoy kinda cute but mi nah trust Baby Cham
Too much bobo spar with Capleton

Buju’s built like a lampost, Zebra looks like a leprechaun, Beenie Man’s “body look weak.” It’s a good-natured roast for the ages.

As you might expect, other DJs took umbrage, and Elephant Man and Beenie each jumped on the Chiney Gal riddim to fire back. Beenie admonished other artists for not doing the same: nuh man at all nuh fi counteract/Ce’Cile sing a song an unu laugh an drop. Ele gender-swapped the song’s entire premise, flipping the script to detail how he’d seduce female artists: di one Tanya Stephens/bwoy she run weh gwaan a Sweden/a gwaan breed har, give har two baby feedin’. Shots fired all the way around, mostly in good fun.

Additional Listening:

• Beenie Man, “Counteract”

• Elephant Man, “New Application”

• Biggie doing the same with R&B singers on “Just Playin’ (Dreams)”

1. Stone Love’s Rory, Metro Media’s Sky Juice, Tony Matterhorn, and Fire Links all get the treatment. ↩︎