it's interesting how the jamaican influence was pretty thoroughly weeded out of hip hop early on despite supplying the sound system/talkover model, not to mention kool herc (ja) and flash (bajan). possibly because the caribbean population was more in north bronx, brooklyn and queen's? herc has said that south bronx dancers didn't really get with reggae so he switched to funk, salsa, etc.
toronto hip hop has always had a more overt caribbean influence. kardinal offishall can be quite good.
I dunno, I've always thought there's been a strong give-n-take over the years, though mebbe not as overt as in Canada. Biggie tracks often throw in some patois (his mother was West Indian); Method Man too -- "What the bloodclot?" And Missy Elliott!
Caribbean flavors are a continued source of exoticism in hip hop:
Obie Trice - Jamaican Girl
She'll slit ya throat, mess around with O
She move a pound of coke, like brown with hopes
Of being close to folk, if you clown ya poked
No joke, murder she wrote, provoke me no a rotty
Be a dead body, it be that dread hotty
Me no know no one that more potty
Down on her knees, up in the party to please my body
Jamaica is a popular tourist destination for black Americans, maybe that's part of it. When I was tutoring almost all my middle class students had been there. See also: Stella getting her grove back!
There's also a slim genre of reggae pulp films aimed at the hip hop market, along the lines of straight-to-DVD rapsploitation flicks like State Property:
Reggaeton has something similar under way:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0467017/
Oh, here's that compilation I was talking about:
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Dancehall and hip hop go together like peanut butter and jelly, but Def Jamaica considerably spices up this perennial musical favorite. The wide-ranging and ambitious compilation showcases dancehall’s hottest names in combination with an unusual selection of American MCs, all flexing yard style over strictly hardcore riddims. And a goodly amount of stylistic diversity is presented. The first-rate "Together" teams Jamaican dub poet DYCR with the Jungle Brothers and American spoken word artists La Bruja and Black Ice, while the scratch-happy "Nah Mean" pairs Delano (of the hip hop-friendly Jamaican sound system, Renaissance Disco) with legendary turntablist crew, the X-Ecutioners. Elephant Man and Ghostface Killah match energy for energy on "Girls Callin’" but the album’s standout cut is the Tony "CD" Kelly- produced "Murda," which seamlessly combines T.O.K.’s Kingston badman lyrics with Scarface’s no-nonsense Dirty South delivery.
Again, the mixing of styles is not meant to blend; the difference is supposed to be put in stark relief -- exoticism, not hybridity.
T&T has been advertised like crazy as a tourist spot; maybe we'll see some soca influence popping up in HH soon?
