The evolution of Ragga!

After the tragic death of Bob Marley in May of '81, reggae made room for yet another Jamaican musical style born from the island's great creativity. The new reggae was called dancehall, which means dance hall, and the singing style became known as raggamuffin`.

The Jamaican generation born in the 70s and raised listening to American hip-hop (originally influenced by the Jamaican sound) combined their style of rhyming over electronic beats with the tropical rhythm of reggae. That crowd took the 90s by storm, bringing a new concept of reggae and establishing it as an international musical style. In the late 70s singers like Yellowman, Gregory Isaacs and Frankie Paul were already mixing electronic beats into their mischievous reggae. In the 80s came the classics Dennis Brown, Black Uhuru and Aswad.

Understanding what is said in ragga is complicated, because its lyrics are loaded with slang and the difficult Jamaican dialect (patois), a mix of English and words of African origin. Ragga parties resemble big ghetto dances, with hundreds of powerful sound systems (the famous Sound Systems), where various talents are discovered still in childhood! That is a very common case in this type of reggae.

The first striking style of dancehall was Slackness, extremely mischievous and sexist. Shabba Ranks dominated in that era and was the first dancehall artist to break out worldwide and receive awards such as the Grammy. Later, influenced by Gangsta Rap, new singers appeared with a rougher style called Guntalk (gun talk) recounting the violent reality of Jamaican slums and rhyming about guns, sex and drugs. But many of the top DJ`s (the name given to ragga singers) such as Bounty Killer, Buju Banton, Capleton and the no. 1, Beenie Man, "converted" to Rastafari and changed the theme of their lyrics, increasingly direct and conscious, still portraying the unjust reality of Babylon. It was the beginning of the return to the origins, to the roots of reggae, updated with today's sound and vibration. The African spirit was on the rise again, arriving to raise awareness among the new generations.

The production is top-notch, mixing rhythms such as HipHop, R & B, roots Reggae, Drum'n Bass and Soca (highly danceable Caribbean music) and featuring appearances by established artists such as Fugees, Wu-Tang Clan, DMX, Shyne, Destiny`s Child, Toni Braxton, Busta Rhymes, Big Pun, etc. An interesting fact is that in dancehall several identical backing tracks (called "riddims" - rhythms) appear in different versions by many DJ`s. Sometimes an entire album features several DJ`s singing over the same riddim.

Dancehall conquered major cities around the world, with representatives in various countries with their own styles, such as in the USA (Born Jamericans, Mad Lion and Yankee B.), England (Macka B., Apache Indian and General Levy) and France (Lord Kossity, Raggasonic and Nuttea). The old guard keeps itself updated and still successful. That is the case of Ini Kamoze, Mykal Rose, Junior Reid, Barrington Levy, Tony Rebel.

Some other big names that are hot in the new reggae are (on the more conscious side) Luciano, Anthony B, the Morgan Heritage family and Sizzla; and Red Rat, Elephant Man, Lexxus, Mr. Vegas, Sean Paul, star Shaggy, plus strong women like Lady Saw and Patra (sponsored by dancehall king Shabba Ranks - today also converted to Rastafari). In short, whether in roots reggae, dancehall, jungle or hiphop-reggae, the positive message continues to be spread around the world. Embark on this journey, because reggae did not stop in time!