Over the past few years there’s been a noticeable Caribbean (mainly reggae and dancehall) influence in pop. It’s in some of my favorite songs over the past few years (The Blacker the Berry and I’m In It, both of which feature Assassin). Busta Rhymes uses Patois throughout We Got It From Here. He and Phife have been using it to spice up their verses for decades, but I was surprised at how heavily I fucked with it on the last Tribe album.
A few nights ago, I looked up the samples on Famous from TLOP. I recognized the Patois the first time I heard Kanye’s song, but it was with a different voice. My grandmother played the original Bam Bam by Toots & The Maytals (theirs was reworked by Sister Nancy who was sampled in Famous) a lot when I was growing up.
I’ve been feeling guilty for liking these American renditions since I used to distance myself from Caribbean, specifically Jamaican culture as much as possible. My mother used to fly me back to Jamaica every summer and I always hated it. As time went on, we couldn’t afford to go as often and eventually she stopped taking me with her because I kept complaining. Now, I’ve got family out there I haven’t seen in years.
I’m still in the process of unlearning the internalized cism I started picking up as a toddler. At this point I don’t even know where I would go to find good reggae or dancehall music. The caucasity in most of the places I discover new music online is overly prevalent. With hip-hop this doesn’t really bother me too much since I started listening way before I was reading any “prestigious” music criticism. I have a wider appreciation for the genre than the stuff that usually gets covered in the press. I’m worried that if I go looking for Jamaican music without the same grounding that I did for hip-hop, I’ll end up only being exposed to stuff that appeals to white Americans. I’ll start by asking my grandmother what she grew up listening to.
What Caribbean music do y’all listen to if any?
Toku’s Jamaican right? Does any of this sound familiar?
My family also played this one a lot. Chaka Demus & Pliers - Murder She Wrote. Turns out that one’s been sampled by a bunch of American artists as well.
