Quote:
Originally Posted by Gavin B.
Ironically it was the success of reggae that contributed to it's decline. The Jamaican deejay music and dub music became a big influence on the rising American hip hop and rap music scene, in the late Seventies. As a result, reggae producers began experimenting with different tempos and began adding synthesizer tap loops to dancehall music. Roots reggae was mutating into a form of tropical hip hop. As hip hop went international, the one-drop riddims of real roots reggae got lost in the mix.
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I mentioned something similar to this on the forums a year or two back but the consensus seemed to be that it didn't influence Hip Hop which I find incredulous considering 'toasting' over beats was in force in Jamaica many years before Hip Hop came to the fore and the correlation between the use of words and experimental beats was very similar even though Hip Hop used European Electronica and Funk/Soul cuts to provide the backbone but the processes involved were very similar.
Gil Scott Heron is (quite rightly) heralded as an early pioneer of Hip Hop but other similar artists are not given their due. Linton Kwesi Johnson was another phenomenal artist who deserves far more recognition and not just because of the template he used regarding words and music. His spoken poetry over beats regarding social and political issues put him far ahead of his time.