Reggae Fusion - Origin

Origin

Although artists have been mixing reggae with other genres from as early as the early 1970s, no official term had been used to describe this practice. Artists such as UB40 were described using terms that joined the various genres they performed (e.g. reggae funk, reggae pop). It was not until the late 1990s when the term was coined.

The sub genre predominantly evolved from late 1980s and early 1990s dancehall music which instrumentals or riddims contained elements from the R&B and hip hop genres. Due to this, some consider dancehall artists such as Mad Cobra, Shabba Ranks, Super Cat, Buju Banton and Tony Rebel as pioneers of reggae fusion. For some of these artists, such as Buju Banton, reggae fusion became a staple throughout their careers.

Although there were a few recognized reggae fusion artists in the late 80s to mid-1990s, such as Sublime, Maxi Priest, Shinehead, UB40, 311, First Light, The Police and Inner Circle, their style of fusing genres was subtly done. Other acts, such as Third World, not only commercially blended reggae with other genres but performed a wide variety of genres outside of reggae. Artistes such as Diana King, Patra, Buju Banton, Ini Kamoze and Shabba Ranks followed in their footsteps, however, creating a less subtle fusion by further blending heavier Jamaican dialect as well as more hardcore and sexual lyrics in their songs. This led to a lot of crossover success for these artists with songs such as Here Comes the Hotstepper reaching number one on the Billboard Hot 100 as well as topping charts all around the world. As the sub-genre began to take shape, the mid to late 1990s saw artists becoming more innovative as many began to mix genres that were not similar nor typically associated with reggae, such as techno and house, leading to the sub-genre gaining a more distinctive following and really beginning to grow. Ironically, however, a major contributing factor to the sub-genre garnering further international prominence was due to the lack of marketability of dancehall, especially in its rawest form, in the United States. By the late 1990s, dancehall had lost its footing in the American market as while initially an appreciated novelty, it had gotten too hardcore lyrically and started using even heavier Jamaican dialect and less standard English making it harder to understand what was being said. It had also come under heavy criticism from the international markets due to the homophobic lyrical content which sought to bash, condemn and instigate violence against the act as well as those who supported or participated in the lifestyle. This led dancehall artists who were trying to break into the U.S. market, to fuse the dancehall style of toasting or deejaying over softer and predominantly pop and hip hop instrumentals as well as to diversify the content of their songs while moving away from homophobic lyrics. Traditional dancehall acts, such as Shaggy and Beenie Man experienced commercial success in the American markets with the release of their albums in 2000. Shaggy's album, Hot Shot, especially helped further propel the sub genre internationally, as his album spawned two #1 singles on the Billboard Hot 100, "It Wasn't Me" and "Angel". No Doubt's 2002 massive hit album Rock Steady, with worldwide reggae fusion hits such as "Underneath it All" featuring Lady Saw and "Hey Baby" featuring Bounty Killer, further propelled the sub-genres popularity to new heights. This was especially because it marked one of the first times a pop/ska punk act had made a complete reggae fusion album, since the mid-90s and opened up the genre to a new fan base as reggae fusion was, at that point, mainly utilized by reggae artists trying to break into the mainstream market and not by already established acts, such as No Doubt.