‘Bad Like Brooklyn Dancehall’ Review: A Compelling, But Standardized, Introduction To The Musical Genre [Tribeca]
A compelling introduction to the cultural history of the Jamaican musical genre dancehall, Ben DiGiacomo and Dutty Vannier’s “Bad Like Brooklyn Dancehall” sheds light on what one interviewee calls the associated “attitude, culture, and lifestyle” that crops up around dancehall music. Produced by Shaggy, one of the most notable names to push the genre into popular culture, ‘Bad Like Brooklyn’ may seem paint-by-numbers in its formal approach to introducing and dissecting a cultural movement — there are a lot of talking heads, archival footage, etc.