Talk:Shabba Ranks

Latest comment: 5 years ago by 2600:1700:EA01:1090:8030:A5B5:3B3A:FFE5 in topic Restraint or what?

Origin of Reggaeton? edit

SR has never been credited as the originator of reggaeton, NOT even the instrumental track used on his tune "Dem bow". The true original instrumental track of reggaeton is the one used on Bobo General & Sleepy Wonder's "Pounder". —Preceding unsigned comment added by Big-latigo (talkcontribs) 23:36, 26 December 2009 (UTC)Reply

Ummm. Unfortunately you have therefore removed a paragraph from the main article with two separate references, whilst adding your own (previously) unsigned, and unreferenced, opinion. You may be completely correct - but you need at least one referenced cite to back up your claim. Otherwise it is purely POV.
Derek R Bullamore (talk) 02:19, 27 December 2009 (UTC)Reply

Why no mention of any of his pre-1991 work, including "Twice My Age" (which was probably the biggest reggae crossover hit up until the release of "Murder She Wrote" by Chaka Demus and Pliers), "Telephone Love", and "Pirates Anthem"? Also why no mention of "Ting A Ling", which is IMHO the best (and hardest) tune he ever recorded?

SweetP112 22:45, 16 January 2006 (UTC)Reply

The article still has a long way to go - add it. Though I don't know if I would agree with you on Ting-a-ling. Guettarda 23:22, 16 January 2006 (UTC)Reply

Mistah Ugly-Mon edit

Along with his homophobic lyrics, I suspect that the music video on In Living Color (the television series) may have damaged Shabba Ranks' reputation. In it, Shabba was referred to as "Mistah Ugly-Mon, The Ugliest In Town," with one of the actors portraying a very grotesque charicature of Shabba Ranks. Here's a link to the video in question.

Maybe this is a bit of a stretch, but I clearly remember that the bottom fell out for Vanilla Ice after his "appearance" on In Living Color. Everyone thought he was the greatest thing ever until his ego was deflated by Jim Carrey on the popular sketch comedy series. - M.Neko

You may well be correct. Be Bold and edit the article accordingly is my advice.
Derek R Bullamore 08:42, 29 July 2006 (UTC)Reply
No, actually please don't, unless you can find a reliable sources to support this idea. It seems rather far-fetched to me. Shabba's main market was never the US - it was Jamaica, the rest of the Caribbean and the UK. After a long run he faded from popularity - everyone does. Homophobia lyrics and an appearance on a US tv show that probably didn't air in Jamaica at the time are unlikely to explain his decline in popularity among his base audience. Guettarda 13:24, 29 July 2006 (UTC)Reply

Look for dancehall videos and you will see as far as people from his hometown NOT thinking to highly of Mr. Rexton looks AND performances. Rexton Gordan popped on the scene in the states gaining lots of respect and it wasn't until then that he started to get respect from back home in Jamaica.

Reggae King? edit

As much as I like Shabba Rank's music, He never was the best selling international "reggae" star, that title was already takened by Bob Marley, who sold many more albums. Therefore, I changed the word "Reggae" to "Dancehall" Stevo D 20:38, 26 August 2006 (UTC)Reply

He was ragga or dancehall rather than reggae. DavidFarmbrough (talk) 06:57, 6 February 2009 (UTC)Reply

unbalanced edit

The controversy to do with homophobic remarks has to mentioned in the article - but not in such a way that it makes up two-thirds of it. This is a contortion of what Shabba Ranks has produced, done and of what his music means to people. --84.188.228.122 23:34, 27 August 2006 (UTC)Reply

grammy edit

Shabba was actually not the first reggae artist to win a Grammy - it was Mad Cobra for "Flex" —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 142.204.74.157 (talk) 19:59, 7 March 2007 (UTC).Reply


anyone know if he s a rastafari or not? please add that if

1980s discography? edit

I remember dancing to him in the late 1980s, there are definitely singles missing from the discography, notably, "Twice My Age" which he recorded with Crystal.

Also, I would question this wording "A protégé of deejay Josey Wales, he arrived on the international stage in the late 1980s, along with a number of fellow artists including British vocalist Maxi Priest, reggae singers Cocoa Tea, Crystal, Michael Rose, and R&B singer Johnny Gill." I can't see any connection between Shabba and Maxi Priest (who was more reggae than ragga) or between Shabba and Johnny Gill who was basically a pop singer. Michael Rose was around since the 1970s. Unless anyone can give any justification for this strange paragraph, I shall reword it. No, I shall fix it anyway, and anyone who disagrees is welcome to explain here why they think Rose, Priest, and Gill are linked.

Finally, I would query the use of the term homophobic in this context. Again I am changing it. DavidFarmbrough (talk) 06:56, 6 February 2009 (UTC)Reply

Umm why? Homophobic is the right word. It's meaning is just that, and it fits much better. Nar Matteru (talk) 02:59, 1 May 2009 (UTC)Reply

In 1992, during an appearance on Channel Four music show The Word, he quoted the verse from the Bible condemning homosexuals, and was subsequently condemned for his comments by presenter Mark Lamarr who said that what Shabba was saying was "absolute crap".

Well, if Ranks was simply quoting a verse from the Bible then what Lamarr should have said was that the Bible was talking absolute crap - but I suppose he didn't have the balls to say that. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 213.225.149.5 (talk) 13:05, 11 November 2011 (UTC)Reply

Copyright problem edit

  This article has been reverted to an earlier version as part of a large-scale clean-up project of multiple article copyright infringement. (See the investigation subpage) Text entered in [1] duplicated at least in part material from [2]. Other content added by this contributor may have been copied from other sources and has been removed in accordance with Wikipedia:Copyright violations. Earlier text must not be restored, unless it can be verified to be free of infringement. Content added by other contributors subsequent to the introduction of this material can be restored if it does not merge with this text to create a derivative work. For legal reasons, Wikipedia cannot accept copyrighted text or images borrowed from other web sites or printed material; such additions must be deleted. Contributors may use sources as a source of information, but not as a source of sentences or phrases. Accordingly, the material may be rewritten, but only if it does not infringe on the copyright of the original or plagiarize from that source. Please see our guideline on non-free text for how to properly implement limited quotations of copyrighted text. Wikipedia takes copyright violations very seriously. ----Moonriddengirl (talk) 19:08, 12 January 2010 (UTC)Reply

That's fine but you have removed adequately sourced information in the process. 80.47.83.202 (talk) 10:49, 27 January 2010 (UTC)Reply


Shabba Call edit

this actually first came to peoples attention in housecall not Mr Loverman and the Mr loverman version is just recorded from Housecall (1990) Load housecall on youtube and you will hear it (User talk:QueenAlexandria) 10:49, 4 June 2012 (UTC)Reply

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Restraint or what? edit

Reading the section "References in other media", I note with no small interest that, more or less eschewing hyperbole to some extent, the phrase "somewhat unprepossessing" has been kind of used to hint that Shabba Ranks' physical attractiveness is seen, at least in part, by one observer as rather ill-favoured, perhaps to the extent that he could be said to be not much to look at.

I cannot find it within myself to fully embrace the notion that Wikipedia should encourage language which might suggest that its editors are inclined to be less than frank, especially in relation to a video which is titled "Mr. Uglyman". Does his reputation as a dancehall artist imply that we should dance about and avoid descriptions that accurately represent an opinion that is less than complimentary about his perceived physical beauty? I suspect that it might be time to replace the phrase "somewhat unprepossessing" with something a tad less restrained. I considered that "less than beautiful" and "not particularly gorgeous" were inadequate, also that "mildly repulsive" might have been one step too far; all were inappropriate. Even though I am a little unwilling to engage in understatement for the sake of propriety, I decided upon "unattractive" in favour of "repugnant". It is an opinion, after all. 2600:1700:EA01:1090:8030:A5B5:3B3A:FFE5 (talk) 21:18, 26 August 2018 (UTC)Reply