No longer is it fine for a man and woman to merely rub-a-dub in the dancehall. The pages seem to have turned and some people now prefer 'daggarin'.

This type of 'rough' dancing between men and women has become almost commonplace at parties. Instead of the regular 'wining', some people have become rather acrobatic in their movements. The men sometimes spin, jam and twist the women and they respond by just making faces, which is also part of the routine. Oftentimes, trees, stairs, ceilings, vehicles and roofs are places on which their stunts take place.

Dancehall duo RDX, known for their popular dance songs like Everybody Dance and Dancers Boom, have translated this behaviour into songs with their newest single Daggarin, produced on their own label called Apt 19.

Here are some of the lyrics, "Hold har and pull har little closer, Daggarin/ Dat a weh di gal waan di most a, Daggarin/ Gal arch up yuh back an' bend ova, Daggarin/ Den mek up yuh face like a ogre (Shrek)."

Delomar of RDX says the song was done because of a slang, 'dagga morning', that was being used in the streets.

"It's a song to get up close and personal in the dance. Is a song fi woman and man dance to. People been saying the man dem a tek over the video light. Now everybody get to bruk out and gwaan wild," he said while 'bigging up' Bermuda Kid whom he refers to as the 'Dagga Master'.

"A nuh rough sex wi a encourage, wi jus' a party and enjoy wiself. When di music hit, yuh mind tell yuh fi do some crazy things. I guess a just that reach the dancers dem," Delomar said.

For some people this sort of dancing seems entirely new. However, Dr Donna Hope, lecturer at the University of the West Indies, says this is merely repetition. She noted that this might only be a reversal as some people used to dance like that in the 80s. In addition, she says, some persons might only be competing.

"There is more competition in the dancehall with the different dance troupes and groups. People are trying to outdo each other. It's getting more prominent, so there are less and less people just dancing for fun," she said.

RDX seem to have done their songs for mere fun and to get both sexes to dance together, but there are some songs like Tony Matterhorn's fast-paced Running Cow, which has some graphic lyrics.

Tony Matterhorn - file

In his song Matterhorn says, "I'm gonna squeeze her...and assign her pity and a running cow/ Girl all when yuh a scream .... I'll be hurting you."

In later lines he says, "Sympathy yuh looking for there is none round here/ I am Freddy vs Jason I am yuh worse nightmare."

In what at first listen seems like a nice little love song, Serani also gets 'rough' in She Loves Me. He says, " ... I bet you know what's gonna come next/ no fore play, no kiss, no caress."

He continues with, "Touch you mek you scream...nuh bodda wid di drama /Don' tell me to rip it cause I'm gonna /Give you a few style from sutra karma /Serani is the name will you scream it..."

RDX, Tony Matterhorn and Serani are not the only artistes who sing about behaving rough, as the list of artistes is long and varied. But, as for the 'rough' lyrics, Hope says use of such lyrics is not novel, as artistes simply build on existing concepts and lyrics.