Jamaican Dancehall: Gangster’s Paradise
Jamaican Dancehall: Gangster’s Paradise
The Sun Sets behind Tivoli Gardens on a warm Wednesday evening in late June, shooting streaks of burnt-orange light between this West Kingston community’s crumbling buildings. Tarrus Riley’s “Good Girl Gone Bad” blares from three-foot speakers inside a small storefront that sits on Spanish Town Road, across from the concrete wall that runs along the neighborhood’s northern edge.
The store, a faded white building with blue trim called Miles Enterprise, features a horseshoe-shaped counter; shelves behind it stock a spare assortment of bread, crackers, and other dry goods, along with a robust selection of booze.