From
then
To Now
Reggae
Bob Marly is perhaps one of the best well known global artists of all time. His full name is Robert Nesta Marley, born in Nine Mile Jamaica on February 6th 1945. The musician, singer, and songwriter started off his career as a band member of the group The Wailers with Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer. Originating 1963, they produced songs in the genres that would follow up to the reggae genre, such as Ska and Rocksteady. One of his most memorable songs, titled the song of the millennium, is “One Love”. The international hit song was originally recorded in 1965 with more of a Ska and Rocksteady feel and was then rerecorded in 1977 with the reggae sound we know of today. Bob Marley helped increase Jamaican visibility all throughout, especially with his peace and loving embracement of Rastafarianism. However, his ultimate message was to rise up against oppression and injustice to make way for peace but was sadly met with an attempt of assassination in his home in 1976. This caused Marley to Move to London where he then created the songs “Jammin” and “Three Little Birds”. He was also seen as an innovator for having female backup singers in the genre. Overall Bob Marley is a well loved and renowned artist.
Toots and Maytals is an Honorable mention due to the fact that their song “54-46” is the first Reggae song to ever be a hit. The song was made in 1968 but was fragmentalized in the forms of ideas when Toots was thrown to jail. “Do the Reggay” is another song by them that coined the genre “Reggae”. The title comes from the Jamaican urban term “Raga Muffin’. It refers to poor people who’d have raggedy clothing, essentially making the genre for THE people. The group also opened for The Who in 1975. Ultimately intimidated by the crowd and the crowd knowing nothing about the genre, they began with their song “Pressure Drop” which took the crowd by storm.
The singer, Toots, is Federik Hibbert. He became inspired to partake in music after Jamaica's independence boomed in music and celebration. He began to participate in church as a vocalist, to then later make his own guitar and also play the bass after his favorite band member from the Skatilites. He also worked with Jamaica's famous producer Coxone Dodd who is responsible for the multitude of famous artists in the Island.
Dub
Amongst all the pioneers Lee ``Scratch” Perry is probably one of the most highly credited producers responsible for a wide range of genres in the making, such as hip hop, rap, dubstep, and remix culture overall. The mastermind was born on March 28, 1936, in Kendal, Jamaica. He is a producer, songwriter, singer, and DJ who built his studio “Black Ark Studio” in his backyard. Originally the icon was named “Chicken Scratch”, and is eccentrically known to have even blown Marijuana smoke to anoint his finish tracks to the “vibe”. Unfortunately, he burned down his studio in 1980 but still successfully persisted. He partook in The Wailer's early instrumental production and many other artists for his sound. It’s noted that he was extremely resourceful with what he had, including duct-taping an Echoplex Delay Box and a Mu-Tron Phasor together. A lot of his work was done with a 4 track studio and a tape recorder still producing surreal futuristic tracks that pushed the tempos of music and its respected genres.
Another Producer’s name seen around a lot in Jamaican music is Coxsone Dodd. Born in Kingston, Jamaica in 1932. Dodd is the founder of his first black owned “Studio One” record label where he would even help record many of Bob Marley's hits. Overall participating in many of Jamaica’s new rising genres. Due to his parents owning a business combined liquor store and restaurant, he began dabbling in spinning American Jazz records for customer entertainment. In the 1950s after finishing highschool, Dodd moved to the United Stated in pursuit of finding new and rare sounds amounting to staggering collections in records to then later return to Jamaica. During his stay, he found a fascination with American R&B. He had interests and contributions in R&B, Jazz, Calypso, Ska, Dub, and Dancehall and even had “Lee “Scratch” Perry working under him.
Dubstep Origins
Dubstep Origins
A groundbreaking developer in Dubstep is Skream, known for his song “Midnight Request Line” in 2006. The song is the darkening of dubstep in the making, making what gives dubstep that pulled over black hoodie in the middle of questionable city streets at 2 a.m. type of vibe. The song was an overall invitation to expand Dubstep to its well beloved weird vibes bridging in alien themes. Ollie first started Djing and making beats at the age of 15 on a pirated version of Fruity Loops music production software. He later on began to join Big Apple records as a 15 year old and met Benga to form an electronic band with another producer and DJ Artwork named “Magnetic Man”. The band Magnetic Man came up with the song “I Need Air” which ended up on the UK’s top ten charts. After later contributing to dubstep, he went onto focusing more on disco, house, techno, and anything under the umbrella of Electronic Dance Music. Skream became so successfully established that he even produced songs for Sony’s corporation in the music sector, and played parties from opening to closing time. What also pushed Dubstep to become well known on behalf of Skream is his remix of La Roux’s “In for the Kill”. A song before being remixed that gained popularity once broadcasted on MTV’s morning music video stream. This thus gained Dubstep a wider audience for anyone who looked for the La Roux's music on youtube.
The future continues with Benga, for his song “Night” featuring Coki in 2008.The song night just like Skream’s “Midnight Request Line” His name is Beni Uthman, born in 1987 from Croydon Uk. Starting as a young as 14 years old, the producer started with his PlayStation and then later on began moving into Fruity Loops music production software program once his parents bought him a computer. His mother states that all she would hear from his room is music from him all day everyday. Benga drew inspiration from a 2-step artist Wookie and also joined UK’s grime and garage scene. Just like Skream, he joined Big Apple records at the age of 14 and was best friends with the artist and band member of Magnetic Man. In 2007 he streamed some of his songs “Diary of an Afro Warrior” onto BBC’s radio and released the album in 2008. Benga and Skream altogether left Rinse FM in 2011 to DJ on BBC radio in 2012, helping spread the word of dubstep even further out.
Modernized Dubstep
Aside from Bob Marley, Skrillex is one of those artists names that becomes synonymous to its respective genres that it comes from. Asking any young person or person of musical interest, when thinking of dubstep Skrillex is the name that people unusually instantly think about. The musician, singer, songwriter, producer, and Dj is part of the reason why dubstep has exploded to such a large proportion with his distinctive sound, opening up the floodgates of modern dubstep.
Skrillex’s birth name is Sonny John Moore. Sony was born in 1988 in Los Angeles. He then later on moved to San Francisco at the age of two and back to Los Angeles at the age of twelve. He stated in an interview that his love for music began with and obsession over his harmonica as a young toddler, but it was until he moved back to Los Angeles where he integrated with the alternative punk scene sculpting the path to his career.
Another big house name in Dubstep is Excision. The genius behind this is no other than Jeff Abel born on April 29, 1986, from Kelowna, Candia. With his launch in the music industry as a promoter, Excision brings in his own distinctive metal-based sound. Where Skrillex’s sound is more drill-like, loud, and “party” based than original dubstep, Excisions is more rhythmically riff-like, and dark in terms of metal. Both of these artists derive from metal and hip-hop influences like many other dubstep artists. Jeff Able even states in an interview that he was captivated by rhythmical elements from metal and hip hop which is what drew his interests in Dubstep.
