Dem Bow

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"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.