YouTube Comments From Africans About The Jamaican Dancehall Records "Bam Bam" & Murder She Wrote"

Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post showcases 2014 vlog (video blog) posted by Ghanaian blogger Clifford Owusu entitled "The Song That Keeps Africans On The Dance Floor".

Although Owusu likes to keep his viewers guessing about which songs he's talking about, for the purpose of this pancocojams post I'm revealing that in that vlog he showcases the Jamaican Dancehall records "Bam Bam" and "Murder She Wrote".

This post features comments from Africans writing on that vlog's discussion thread about those two songs.

This pancocojams post also showcases a YouTube example of "Bam Bam" and presents several comments from Africans who posted on that discussion thread. In addition, this post showcases a YouTube sound file of songs with the "Bam Bam" riddim and highlights one discussion thread comment from a person who lived in Malawi and shares his memory of that "Bam Bam" riddim in that Southeastern African nation.

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The content of this post is presented as a means of documenting the popularity of certain examples of Caribbean music throughout most of the African continent.

The content of this post is also presented for cultural, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to Pliers and Chaka Demus & Pliers for their musical legacy. Thanks also to Clifford Owusu for hosting an entertaining and informative video blog. Thanks also to all of those who are quoted this post and thanks to the publishers of these YouTube examples and all of the singers/musicians who are featured in those examples.
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Other pancocojams post about "Bam Bam" and "Murder She Wrote" can be found by entering those titles in pancocojams' internal search engine or by clicking the "dancehall reggae" tag below.

Also, click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2018/03/the-song-that-gets-africans-on-dance.html for a closely related pancocojams post entitled "The Song That Gets Africans On The Dance Floor", Vlog Part 1 , Part 2, & Part 3 (vlogs & selected comments)

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SHOWCASE YOUTUBE VGLO - The Song That Keeps Africans On The Dance Floor



Clifford Owusu, Published on Sep 14, 2014

At an African event, most Africans only want to hear African songs. However, a good DJ can't only play African music. There are certain non African songs that get Africans excited the same way an African song would. Check out this video to see one of those songs.
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True confession- I also used to think that "Bam Bam" & "Murder She Wrote" were the same song. However, let me take the liberty of correcting Clifford Owusu-"Bam Bam" & Murder She Wrote" are actually not recorded by the same artists.
(Read my comment about this after the sound file given as Example #2 below.)

Also, for informational purposes, the song playing at the end of that vlog is a short clip of Sister Nancy's version of "Bam Bam" which was recorded years before Plier's version of that song.
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Here are some comments from that vlog from Africans about the Jamaican Dancehall records "Bam Bam" and "Murder She Wrote" (One of these comments is from a person from the Caribbean who writes about his or her experiences with Nigerians regarding those two records).

The following comments are numbered for referencing purposes only.

2014
1. Alyon Isreal
"Wha ta bam bam. Even sound like an African word. Lol:"

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2. Mrs. Uzochukwu
"OMG hahhha the party did not happen if that Murder She Wrote na play Charlie!"
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Explanations below for the word "na" and the word "Charlie" can be found in the pancocojams comment section below.

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3. Sara K
"I used to think BAM BAM and Murder she wrote was one African song not 2 different non-African songs! Lol

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REPLY
4. chantelle ballard
"O wow I didn't noticed until this video lol"

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5. Beverley Natasha
"I'm one of those that thought the song was african (smh)"

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2015
6. Tony Martins
"I used to think Bam Bam was an African song until I was about 16. That jam was so popular in Nigeria, everyone knew the song. That was my jam."

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7. Baby1luvu
"lmao too funny. I am West Indian and I just got back from Nigeria. I swear the I had to give a whole lesson on Caribbean music. My brother in law swore half of them was African songs. needless to say I was cracking up watching this."

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8. Nina Nanyonjo
"I come from Uganda and I have heard all of thoes songs."

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9. Evalynn N
"love to see africans from different countries still have the same taste in music! kenyans play the first 4 on repeat, i swear"

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2016
10. Dinnik Beats
"I get why people thought Bam Bam was an African song because we used to sing it as "Daniel Omokachie" popular soccer player at the time."

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11. Jerome Hassib
"when I go to family parties this turns them up I am sierra leonean"

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2017
12. Zyon Cetshwayo
"I thought dancehall was African music when I was younger"

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2018
13. Keishe Borlay
"IN LIBERIA THAT IS ONE OF our THE BEST TRANSITION SONGS......happy that we all have the same taste of music."

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SHOWCASE VIDEOS
Addendum Video Example #1:

Chaka Demus & Pliers - Bam Bam [sound file]



Luis Frade, Published on Feb 28, 2008
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I read this discussion thread and a few others for songs to see if I could find any conformation for Clifford Owusu's statement that is found in the vlog embedded above that many Africans not only know the songs "Bam Bam" & Murder She Wrote", but also many Africans believe that "Bam Bam' & "Murder She Wrote" are African songs.

Note that this now classic Jamaican Dancehall record was recorded by Pliers only. The also classic song with the same riddim entitled "Murder She Wrote" was recorded by Chaka Demus & Plier.
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Here are selected comments from this sound file's discussion thread:

1. MacD Kanye, 2010
"wall hahaha ahaha ha this man what a gwanaaa well loved in Zimbabwe"

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2. orion219ful, 2011
"from sunny south africa - brings back so much memories......"

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3. mindcontrol31, 2015
"This song was played at every West African and Caribbean party I went to in the late 90s and early 00s"

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4. Bemsi Wallang, 2015
"African party playlist lol"

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REPLY
5. clearence Quick, 2017
"Bemsi Wallang this not African this jamaking"

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REPLY
6. Arianna Hamilton, 2018
"clearence Quick Jamaican*"

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REPLY
7. A Crisթ Kinց Deás, 2018
"Jamaican music is played at West African parties too"

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8. GraalOnlineEra, 2016
"This song is in every African Party lol."

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9. Tomatorah Button, 2016
"this song was on top chart in Brazzaville Congo for 1 year at least"

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Example #2: bum bum ( bam bam ) riddim mix - vp records 1992 digi dancehall( delroy wilson, ricihie steps,)



Kingstoned - soundzz, Published on Apr 17, 2009

kee here's a new mix with a 90ties riddim , not everybody's cup of tea ,sounds a bit like a early ring tone riddim but it is a bubbling one with some nice lyrics so enjoy !!!
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Here's a comment from a person living in Malawi about the Dancehall record "Bam Bam":
Peter Swain, 2012
"Just found this, it really takes me back. I was living in Malawi between 92 to 94 and just about every street bar and bus I went in had this blasting out on a tinny system. It got under my skin and the only source I could find there were poor quality cassette tapes. Mine fell to pieces a long time ago. Thanks for the memory !"

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