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| Ragga | |
| Stylistic origins | |
|---|---|
| Cultural origins |
1980s, Jamaica
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| Typical instruments | |
| Fusion genres | |
| Ragga hip hop - Digital bhangragga | |
Raggamuffin music, usually abbreviated as ragga, is a sub-genre of dancehall music or reggae, in which the instrumentation primarily consists of electronic music. Sampling often serves a prominent role in raggamuffin music as well.
Wayne Smith's "Under Me Sleng Teng" was produced by King Jammy in 1985 on a Casio MT-40 synthesizer, and is generally recognized as the seminal ragga song. "Sleng Teng" boosted Jammy's popularity immensely, and other producers quickly released their own versions of the riddim, 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.
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The birth of ragga in Jamaica occurred contemporaneously with the ascension of electronic dance music in the Western 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 traditional musical instruments.
Ragga evolved first in Jamaica, and later in Europe, North America, and Africa, eventually spreading to Japan, India, and the rest of the world. Ragga heavily influenced early jungle music, and also spawned the syncretistic bhangragga style when fused with bhangra. 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 and breakcore music started to clash in the underground scene creating a style known as Raggacore.
Ragga continues to flourish and evolve, constituting the bulk of contemporary reggae music production.
In the late 1980s, influential Jamaican rapper Daddy Freddy's pioneering efforts in fusing ragga with hip hop music earned him international acclaim while helping to publicize and popularize ragga. (In 1987, Daddy Freddy and Asher 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, and Vybz Kartel.
The term raggamuffin is an intentional misspelling of ragamuffin, a word that entered the Jamaican Creole lexicon after the British Empire colonized Jamaica in the 17th century. Despite the British colonialists' pejorative application of the term, Jamaican youth appropriated it as an ingroup designation. The term raggamuffin music describes the music of Jamaica's "ghetto youths".
Download sample of "Under Me Sleng Teng" by Wayne Smith, an early example of ragga music.
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