The Anti-Informer and Anti-Snitch Discourses in Dancehall and Rap Songs

Abstract

Some Jamaican dancehall DJs and American rappers hang out with gangs and perform at their parties and have committed violent crimes. These artistes also exhort violence in their songs against the traitors in their communities whom they call informers and snitches. The goal of this article is to gain insights into the anti-informer and anti-snitch discourses in dancehall and rap songs respectively, because there is a lack of research in this area. The question I seek to answer is: how do dancehall and rap songs talk about the informer and the snitch respectively? I start with an outline of discourse theory which is followed by a review of some published works on dancehall and rap songs. Next, I use discourse theory to discuss the lyrics of selected dancehall and rap songs that talk about informers and snitches respectively.