p.Haney

bestrooftalkever:

A lot of people kinda give me weird eyes when I tell them how much I love Reggae, and for understandable reasons. To most people, Reggae beings with overplayed Bob Marley “Legend” compact discs from middle school, goes to “Don’t Worry, Be Happy,” somehow detours to favorite scenes from Cool Runnings, and eventually lands in the present at some weird Sean Kingston/Sean Paul intersection.

You get even weirder looks when you tell them you like Ska. It’s all like, “Mighty Mighty Bosstones were cool in like, 1999, bro” and you have to remind them that it was actually more like 1997, but even that is debatable.

Did you know that Ska preceded reggae? After World War II, a lot of American servicemen were stationed in Jamaica, and New Orleans radio stations were heard on their radios. Jamaicans, inspired by the American rhythm and blues, combined it with a calypso beat and gave birth to a completely new form of music. It wasn’t until Jamaica’s independence from the UK that the nation really adopted it, though. The streets were flooded with people dancing in celebration, and Ska was the sound of that era.

This fast tempo would later chill out and develop alternate musical arrangements, giving birth to Rocksteady and then Reggae. [Extremely abridged version]

I could go on for awhile about how fascinated I am with this music, but for now I’ll just link you to this playlist that I made with some of my favorite songs from that era. 

Subscribe to it and enjoy!