‘Stir It Up’: Contestation and the Dialogue in the Artistic Practice of the Twin of Twins

Abstract

It is widely accepted in Caribbean studies that there is an ongoing resistance culture in Jamaica’s dancehalls. However, the notion of resistance has remained confined to the terrain of what Carolyn Cooper calls ‘border clashes’ – local versus global, culture versus slackness, uptown versus downtown, and popular culture versus high culture. This article underlines the distinctive creativity of dancehall artistes such as the Twin of Twins, whose artistic practice generates a textual arena where different discourses can interact dialectically in various forms. It primarily explores the Twins’ treatment of resistance culture in their represented spaces. It subsequently discusses the dialogic dynamics involved in the relationship between the dominant and dominated classes. These analyses reveal the relational ethos of dancehall DJs’ counter-narratives and the Twin of Twins’ ability to produce a dialogic relation to social reality.