Hardcore Continuum Autopsy
sadmanbarty
Well-known member
hope you explain what made you return to blogging after a seven year hiatus.
I was still blogging just not on that blog!
sadmanbarty
Well-known member
luka tribute act
sadmanbarty
Well-known member
my opinions are so commonsensically true that it's condescending for me to explain them.
john eden
male pale and stale
Because reggae became the dominant caribbean music in the UK from the late 60s onwards. Both in terms of the mainstream charts and also in terms of the subculture.
Reggae soundsystems all over London http://uncarved.org/dub/splash/directory.html
Also reggae record shops.
Soca and calypso were around but a bit of a sideshow.
UK reggae artists:
Mad Professor (Guyana)
Dennis Bovell (Barbados)
Eddy Grant (Guyana)
Plus a bunch I've forgotten - didn't matter where you were from, rasta and reggae where the main thing for black youth in the 70s and onwards (then dancehall, then hip hop).
john eden
male pale and stale
As to WHY reggae became so dominant, I assume it's just because the majority of post war immigrants from the Caribbean were from Jamaica?
According to wikipedia: "As of June 2007, the black population of London is 802,300 or 10.6% of the population of London. 4.3% of Londoners are Caribbean, 5.5% of Londoners are African and a further 0.8% are from other black backgrounds including American and Latin American. There are also 117,400 people who are mixed black and white"
So there is a gradual increase in the proportion of black Londoners of (immediate) African origin and they then become the majority in 2007.
Which presumably ties in with the increased African influences on 'nuum music like UK funky etc?
According to wikipedia: "As of June 2007, the black population of London is 802,300 or 10.6% of the population of London. 4.3% of Londoners are Caribbean, 5.5% of Londoners are African and a further 0.8% are from other black backgrounds including American and Latin American. There are also 117,400 people who are mixed black and white"
So there is a gradual increase in the proportion of black Londoners of (immediate) African origin and they then become the majority in 2007.
Which presumably ties in with the increased African influences on 'nuum music like UK funky etc?
Corpsey
bandz ahoy
Presumably different areas of London are more Carribbean-British or African-British. Just thinking of how road rap is a South London thing, by and large - is South London predominantly Carribbean-British, and is road rap too? Since Carribbean-British population of London has been around longer than the African-British, perhaps there's more of a disconnect with their cultural roots, which might partly explain why road rap is more of an American influenced thing than Jamaican (not to forget of course that Jamaicans had a big hand in inventing hip hop).
Only was thinking this from reading an article in the Economist
Only was thinking this from reading an article in the Economist
Corpsey
bandz ahoy
Seem to recall reading in 'Bass Culture' years ago that ska/reggae was a Jamaican take on early rock n roll. Perhaps explains in part why it had more crossover appeal for white Europeans/Americans than soca and so on.
sadmanbarty
Well-known member
I was going to make a somewhat similar argument yesterday; that the further away from the initial wave of migration a culture gets the more it'll be inclined to produce hybrid cultural expression. In the 70's and 80's british jamaican's were making reggae and dancehall, whereas by the 90's they were making jungle and whatever else.
thinking about my mates, they associate enough with afrobeats, they don't seem to particularly need a british take on it or to incorporate it into something else.
and just to hark on again about one of my pet theories, i'd argue that the drums in drill at the moment stem from dancehall, afrobeats, grime and folk memories of jungle.
william kent
Well-known member
That sample of Coxsone Dodd (?) at the start of Loefah's 'Root' seems to suggest that too.
"... then came the rock 'n' roll, but the rock 'n' roll didn't go over strongly so about that time we realised we had to really make some music of our own to keep the people happy..."
CORP$EY
no mickey mouse ting
Obviously I don't listen to enough drill or don't listen closely enough cos it just sounds like trap to me... (doubly confusing as chicago drill is being included in 'trap' there)
Slothrop
Tight but Polite
It was more jump-boogie (ISTR Louis Jordan was massive) than rock n roll proper, I think. Production in JA began in earnest when the US scene moved on to rhythm and blues and rock and roll but local audiences still wanted more boogie - that's what Coxsone was talking about.
CrowleyHead
Well-known member
UK Drill is just infinitely more British than the road rap that'd come before it.
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A record like this is just not happening in the US. No way, listen to those drums, the whole of the approach.
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Smvkz9Qggs0" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe>
A record like this is just not happening in the US. No way, listen to those drums, the whole of the approach.