An unofficial history of Jamaican dancehall music told through its graphic design, Serious Things a Go Happen brings together more than 100 original posters and signs spanning the early 1980s to today. Drawn from the legendary collection of Jamaican film and television producer Maxine Walters—known as "the queen of Jamaican dancehall signs"—this volume celebrates the vibrant visual language that emerged alongside dancehall's rise from reggae in the late 1970s.

Featuring hand-painted street posters advertising local parties, concerts, and "bashments" across Jamaica's landscape, the book reproduces each poster in full color, one to a page. Essays by Vivien Goldman and others provide critical context for work that has long been treated as simply part of Jamaica's everyday fabric. Interviews with Rory Stone Love, Mikey Bennett, Denva Harris, and author Tony Winkler (The Lunatic) round out this essential documentation of a distinctive and influential design tradition.

Edited by J.C. Gabel and Vivien Goldman
Introduction by Marlon James
Designed by Taylor Giali