- Ragga
Raggamuffin music, usually abbreviated as ragga, is a sub-genre of
dancehall music orreggae , in which the instrumentation primarily consists ofelectronic music . Sampling often serves a prominent role in raggamuffin music as well.Wayne Smith's "Under Me
Sleng Teng " was produced byKing Jammy in 1985 on aCasio MT-40 synthesizer, and is generally recognized as the seminal raggasong . "Sleng Teng" boosted Jammy's popularity immensely, and other producers quickly released their own versions of theriddim , accompanied by dozens of different vocalists.Ragga is often used as a synonym for dancehall reggae, but more typically, it is used for dancehall with a deejay chatting rather than singing on top of the
riddim . The term ragga is not used in Jamaica according to some sources. In Europe and the US, however, it is more popular than dancehall.Origins of ragga
The birth of ragga in
Jamaica occurred contemporaneously with the ascension of electronic dance music in theWestern world at large. Electronic music proliferated rapidly throughout the 1990s, and ragga was no exception: it revolutionized reggae music. One of the essential reasons for ragga's swift propagation is that it is generally easier and less expensive to produce than reggae performed on traditionalmusical instrument s.Ragga evolved first in Jamaica, and later in
Europe ,North America , andAfrica , eventually spreading toJapan ,India , and the rest of the world. Ragga heavily influenced early jungle music, and also spawned the syncretisticbhangragga style when fused withbhangra . Jungle music is heavily influenced by ragga motives and artists, with many ragga vocalists appearing on its tracks, not surprising as early jungle had definite roots in the basslines and vocals of ragga. In the 90s, Ragga andbreakcore music started to clash in the underground scene creating a style known asRaggacore .Ragga continues to flourish and evolve, constituting the bulk of contemporary reggae music production.
Ragga and hip-hop music
In the late 1980s, influential Jamaican rapper
Daddy Freddy 's pioneering efforts in fusing ragga withhip hop music earned him international acclaim while helping to publicize and popularize ragga. (In 1987, Daddy Freddy andAsher D 's "Raggamuffin hip-hop" became the first multinational single to feature the word "ragga" in its title). As ragga matured, an increasing number of dancehall artists began to appropriate stylistic elements of hip hop music, while ragga music, in turn, influenced more and more hip-hop artists.Some ragga artists believe that the assimilation of hip-hop sensibilities is crucial to the international marketability of dancehall music. Indeed, appeals to the contemporary rhythm and blues and hip hop music audiences in the English-speaking world contributed substantially to the multinational commercial success of such dancehall artists as
Beenie Man , Shaggy, Snow,Vybz Kartel and theAustralian hip hop groupDef Wish Cast .Etymology
The term "raggamuffin" is an intentional misspelling of "" (also a recognized
cat breed ), a word that entered theJamaican Creole lexicon after theBritish Empire colonized Jamaica in the 17th century. Despite the British colonialists' pejorative application of the term, Jamaican youth appropriated the term as aningroup designation. Raggamuffin music is, therefore, the music of the Jamaican "ghetto dwellers".Sample
of "Under Me Sleng Teng" by Wayne Smith, an early example of ragga music.
ee also
*
Soca music
*Raggacore
*Ragga jungle
*Bhangragga
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