“Tuck in Yuh Belly”: Imperatives of Female Slenderness in Jamaican Dancehall Music

Reggae songs such as Clancy Eccles's (2010) “Fatty, Fatty” and Buju Banton's (2000) “Di Woman Dem Phat” have traditionally celebrated the fat, black woman's body as an agent of desire. However, some more recent discourses such as Left Side and Esco's (2005) “Tuck in Yuh Belly” suggest an impending reversal of this celebration of fleshiness. The author explores representations of female fatness in masculine discourses from the Jamaican dancehall music arena, specifically those discourses that pathologize fat and suggest the preferred desirability of slenderness.