Rastafari Movement in The United States - Reggae

Reggae

Reggae great Lee “Scratch” Perry was once quoted as saying that reggae combined “the riddims from the ghetto, and the music from the streets”. Reggae was known in Jamaica as a popular dance move until the late 1970s, when the Toots & the Maytals released their single “Do the Reggay”. From this point on, Reggae referred to a genre of music centered on a steady and regular beat played on a rhythm guitar, called the “bang”, and biblical lyrics pertaining to Rastafarian ideology. In Jamaica and around the world, reggae, and especially the music of Bob Marley, was used as a medium to bring about social and political change.

This was seen in Zimbabwe’s independence movement in 1980s, as Bob Marley’s hit song Zimbabwe is today seen as a second national anthem. But what is unique about reggae is that it rarely strays from its Rastafarian roots—reggae lyrics have a universal Rastafarian theme. Despite the fact that reggae has not always been as popular in America as in Jamaica, reggae music has deeply affected American culture, not only through the radio waves, but also through the ways of the Rasta man.