Born in the garden parish of St Ann, Busy Signal - born Reanno Gordon - sta… Read Full Bio ↴Born in the garden parish of St Ann, Busy Signal - born Reanno Gordon - started singing hymns at his Mother's church, which is where he received his first encore. When church was over, Reanno would sit on the corner with his friends and flip the devotional lyrics, until his Mother's guiding hand cautioned him for altering the Lord's songs. Reanno continued performing at school, beating his fists in time on his desk and deejaying Bounty Killer's songs (he claims to know all of Bounty's lyrics) before progressing to his own material.

Since stepping out onto the dancehall scene in 2003, Busy Signal's undeniable talent and lyrical dexterity has taken him quickly to the front of the pack. Busy's breakout hit single - "Step Out" - was one of dancehall's hottest songs for 2005 and with a thugged-out video to match, it signalled the arrival of dancehall's next superstar.

Busy Signal, an alias given to him by a friend because of his constantly busy persona, has always approached his craft from a different perspective, not trodding the usual road of trying to voice on every rhythm out there to try and catch a break. Instead, Busy chose to record songs with concepts attached to them on purpose-built rhythms. The first such track to catch the attention of a wider audience was "Born and Raised", a song in which Busy Signal reps his birthplace and narrates the gritty realities of Jamaica.

"Even though I was an unknown artist and there was no-one else on the riddim," says Busy, "the track got good airtime which encouraged me to keep doing what I was doing. Producers don't want to give young artists a break more time, so young artists can get stifled. I just work hard on putting creative flows and melodies together and so far people have been feeling it." Already with a big following worldwide, Busy doesn't see his music as stopping in Jamaica. A slew of Busy Signal mix CDs flooded the streets from Halfway Tree to Brixton to Flatbush and beyond, creating and spreading the hype that lead to Busy being the strongest young artist to emerge from 2005.

Busy's self-production and businesslike approach to the industry has seen him already launch his own label, Network Records. The first releases, "Tell Santa Dis" and "Where I'm From" are distributed worldwide and are selling well.

Although Busy didn't rely on familiar rhythms and producers for a break, he has no problem recording for other labels, such as Renaissance, for whom Busy recorded "Not Going Down," showcasing his singing and deejaying abilities. Other tracks from Busy include "Because of You," with Tami Chin on the Throwback Giggy beat, "That Bad," and "Pharmacy" for Don Corleon, "Fade Away" for John John and "Too Much Gun," which sees Busy in explosive form, delivering rapid fire lyrics atop the reworked Man Fi Dead (Petty Thief) soundbed.

The end of 2005 saw Busy Signal garner immense critical success from show-stealing appearances on all the major stage shows across Jamaica, including the Smirnoff Experience alongside Sean Paul, Bobby Valentino and others, as well as Island Explosion, Camp Fire and West Kingston Jamboree. And of course there was the already-legendary debut appearance at 6.45am on the toughest stage in the world - the infamous Sting reggae concert. Busy stepped out in the rising sun adorned in full black and underlined why he is here to stay.

2006 has seen no ease up in Busy's momentum, with a headline grabbing performance at Reggae Sumfest 2006, where he performed solo on Dancehall Night and was also called up by G Unit on International Night. With successful tours of the UK, the Caribbean and Japan already knocked down and with Step Out breaking new ground on the esteemed Billboard chart, Busy is already being heralded as a new icon in the business.

Beep
Busy Signal Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

aaaaaah
I wonder why this ting a come to(come to)
what dem a deal wid(believe)
wah gwaan? (dem could ban this)
certain things no right no right
where is the focus?
above what dem a focus (focus)
yeah

jamaica!

()
just through di beep(beep)
I and I cyaan speak
warn to freedom of speech
just through di beep(beep)
we can express weself inna di song
and now di beep fulfill it
just through di beep(beep)
I and I cyaan talk
cyaan tell mi fans everything inna mi thoughts
dem only waan mi music play pon sidewalk
certain things dem want, bright cause

(verse 1)
but a wah di beep a gwaan
wah di beep a gwaan
mi chat certain things cant ban me
mi chat bout di system dem cant stand me
sing fi di girls is like dem more hungry
a wah the beep a gwaan
but really a gwaan
mi chat certain things dem fight me
pon dem chart dem nuh waan fi highlight mi
keep unno a want cah dem think yuh no spite mi
so mi seh
powah we fi do
den
powah we fi do
we nah go wata down between just fi please a loo
is like dem really waan mi grow over crack end up pon buss
is like dem waan give much find fi talk
is like dem want to morph ourself inna reverse?
dat naah happen, we cyaan happen, could nevah!
we haffi ambition, we dignity, we pride
we proud of we culture, none so cyaan hide

()
just through di beep(beep)
I and I cyaan speak
warn to freedom of speech
just through di beep(beep)
we can express weself inna di song
and now di beep fulfill it
just through di beep(beep)
I and I cyaan speak
cyaan tell mi fans everything inna mi thoughts
cyan talk everything inna mi thoughts
hotthead hotthead

(verse 2)
question
where we gonna go from here
what's the focus
is like dem waan dancehall fi disappear
who's gonna help us
fi ask stop this all violence dem blame us
and from live inna we culture dem refrain us
restrain us
but no matter wah dem try dem cyaan tame us wid dem

()
beep(beep)
I and I cyaan speak
warn to freedom of speech
just through di beep(beep)
we nah express weself inna di song
and how di beep fulfill it
just through di beep(beep)
I and I cyaan talk
cyaan tell mi fans everything inna mi thoughts

dem only waan mi music play pon sidewalk
certain things dem want, bright cause

Overall Meaning

The song "Beep" by Busy Signal tackles the issue of censorship and restrictions on free speech in the music industry. The lyrics express the artist's frustration at not being able to discuss certain topics or speak his mind freely, as his music is censored and limited by the authorities. The phrase "just through di beep" refers to the constant bleeping and muting of certain words or phrases in songs, which prevents the artist from expressing his true thoughts and feelings. Despite this, the artist still tries to convey the struggles and challenges faced by the Jamaican society, such as violence and discrimination. The lyrics call for unity and pride in Jamaican culture and a rejection of attempts to suppress its music and voice.

Line by Line Meaning

I wonder why this ting a come to(come to)
I am curious about why this situation has come up

what dem a deal wid(believe)
What are they dealing with or what do they believe in?

wah gwaan? (dem could ban this)
What's going on? They could ban this

certain things no right no right
Certain things are not right

where is the focus?
What is the main focus?

above what dem a focus (focus)
They are focusing on something else instead of the main focus

just through di beep(beep)
Only through the beep sound

I and I cyaan speak
I cannot speak freely

warn to freedom of speech
I am being warned about my freedom of speech

we can express weself inna di song
We can express ourselves in our music

and now di beep fulfill it
The beep sound is fulfilling our expression

I and I cyaan talk
I cannot talk openly

cyaan tell mi fans everything inna mi thoughts
I can't tell my fans everything that is in my thoughts

dem only waan mi music play pon sidewalk
They only want my music played on the sidewalk, not in other places

but a wah di beep a gwaan
What's happening with the beep sound?

mi chat certain things cant ban me
I speak about certain things that can't be banned

mi chat bout di system dem cant stand me
I speak about the system that can't stand me

sing fi di girls is like dem more hungry
Singing for the girls is like they are more hungry for it

mi chat certain things dem fight me
I talk about certain things they fight me on

pon dem chart dem nuh waan fi highlight mi
They don't want to highlight me on their chart

question where we gonna go from here
Asking where we are going from here

is like dem waan dancehall fi disappear
It's like they want dancehall to disappear

who's gonna help us
Who will help us?

fi ask stop this all violence dem blame us
To ask them to stop blaming us for all the violence

and from live inna we culture dem refrain us
They refrain us from living in our culture

beep(beep)
The beep sound

we nah express weself inna di song
We cannot express ourselves completely in our music

and how di beep fulfill it
And the beep sound is fulfilling our expression

dem only waan mi music play pon sidewalk
They only want my music played on the sidewalk, not in other places

Writer(s): Bunny Ann Georgette Fletcher, Shane Connery Brown, Reann Devon Gordon

Contributed by Alaina T. Suggest a correction in the comments below.

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