Dem Bow

1990 song performed by Shabba Ranks "Dem Bow"Song by Shabba Ranksfrom the album Just Reality Released1990GenreReggae, dancehallLength3:36LabelVPSongwriterSteely & ClevieProducerBobby Digital "Dem Bow" is a song performed by Jamaican reggae artist Shabba Ranks, and produced by Bobby Digital. This song uses the "Ku-Klung-Klung"/"Poco Man Jam" riddim (based on the title of the 1990 Gregory Peck and Red Dragon song), also known as "Fish Market", 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. Elements of the song's dembow riddim as well as Dennis the Menace's "Pounder (Dub Mix II)" have been incorporated into over 80% of all reggaeton productions. 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. In examining this musical evolution, aspects of race, class, and cultu