Dancehall is a type of Jamaican popular music which developed around 1980.
The style is characterized by singing and rapping or toasting over raw and danceable music riddims. The rhythm in dancehall is much faster than in reggae, sometimes with drum machines replacing acoustic sets.
Dancehall, the musical genre, is long considered to be the creation of Henry "Junjo" Lawes in 1979 and further refined by King Jammy in the early 80's during their transition from dub to dancehall.

Dancehall owes its name to the space in which recorded popular Jamaican music was consumed and produced by the DJ. Dancehall is not just recorded speech with musical accompaniment therefore, but a space as well as an institution or culture in which music, dance and community vibes merge.
Dancehall is just short of being a movement, but does have the characteristics of a cosmology as it is a culture and a lens through which people see the world.

Dancehall has energised Jamaican popular music because it has spawned dance moves that help to make parties and stage performances more energetic. Many dance moves seen on hip-hop videos are actually variations of dancehall moves such as the butterfly, the bogle, the heel and toe, the blaze blaze, the pon the river, pon the bank, and the dutty wine.