Dan Dabber

Sad to say, but I'll have to skip this month due to a family engagement. But the one and only Miss Supa Tang will be holding things down, and you couldn't be in better hands. 👐

🌴🌊🌴

Every summer reggaeville puts out a printed zine for Germany's Reggae festival season. This year, it includes two interviews I did, the first with 2005 World Clash Champions, Sentinel Sound, and the second with the highly talented and controversial Jah Cure. Check it out!!!

Festiville 2019 - reggaeville.com Reggaeville.com - World of Reggae in One Village

When I was 13-15 years old, I developed a deep and genuine interest in how Dancehall and Hip Hop Music crossed over into one another. During that period, the two genres were almost indistinguishable. Shabba was on Yo!, Chaka Demus and Pliers were on the Top 8 at 8, and even Ice Cube had a Jamaican dude sing a hook on his album.

As I got older and learned more, I realized that the connections between Hip Hop and Jamaican music were much bigger than the early 90's. I learned how Jamaican immigrants brought sound system culture to New York and sparked a musical revolution in the 70's that would eventually coalesce into Hip Hop. I learned about how Hip Hop and Reggae/Dancehall had consistently, although subtly at times, exchanged information since Hip Hop's beginning, through cover songs, samples, and homages like my favorite Fat Boys' tune, Hardcore Reggae. I learned that this was an ONGOING process and I watched it operate over the course of decades, often surging in waves that build every decade or so.

So when I first came across the work of Jamaican Trap artist, Fyah Roiall, I had a lot of context for it. He didn't shock me in the way that he shocks music fans in his own country. To me, this new blend of American and Jamaican music was inevitable, and I don't believe its inevitability makes Roiall's work any less special.

If you have any interest in the portion of the Venn diagram where Dancehall and Hip Hop intersect, check out my piece on Fyah Roiall for Irie Mag. (link in the comments)