Reggae is a genre of music that originated in the 1960s in Jamaica that has roots in ska, an earlier genre of Jamaican music, and American jazz. It is often recognizable from its heavy four-beat rhythm on the bass guitar, electric guitar, and drums. Traditionally, reggae was seen as an outlet for oppressed people to voice their concerns of political, social, and economic injustice. Overtime, a connection grew between reggae and the Rastafari movement, which centers around the relocation of the African diaspora back to Africa, the rejection of Babylon (western oppression), and the promotion of equal rights ¹.

Reggae has become a global phenomenon over the past few decades. New York City, with a large Jamaican community in Crown Heights and south Bronx, has become heavily influenced by this genre of music. One of pioneers in the New York reggae scene was Lloyd Barnes, a reggae music producer who immigrated from Jamaica to The Bronx in the early 1970s. He established the first reggae sound system and set up a recording studio which allowed more lesser-known musicians of Jamaican descent to come and join the music scene in the city. It was around this time that hip hop began to develop around the same area. Hip hop partly took inspiration from Caribbean music, as most of its early artists were of Caribbean descent ². For the Caribbean diaspora whose stories were typically quieted, such genres provided a stage to voice their experiences and struggles.

To learn more about reggae’s presence in New York City, we spoke to Karlene, the owner of Golden 7 Music Enterprise in Brooklyn who sells reggae discs in her store. Her husband, Huey, who passed away, was friends with some of the early reggae artists in New York City. One of his friends, Ken Williams, was one of the people who brought reggae over to the city. Reggae played a big role in opening the door for other Caribbean genres to come to the city. “It was from there that music from the other islands came,” she said. Even today, most people think of reggae when they think of Caribbean music. Often times people who are not of Caribbean descent who live in New York City come into Golden 7 Music Enterprise for reggae and in turn become exposed to the other genres of music sold in the store.

Today, reggae is prominent in mainstream media. Karlene mentioned to me a recent example of reggae being played on national television, which is shown below. “There was a [Chase] ³ commercial that played Mr. Lover Lover, Shaggy. My husband knew him, but he never got to hear Shaggy’s music playing on TV.” (For the transcript of the interview, click here)

Although on the surface this does not seem unusual since reggae has become so popular in the U.S., this example in particular is ironic considering that Chase Bank, which was founded in New York, is an emblem of western capitalism, which conflicts with the ideals held by many reggae musicians. Although Shaggy’s lyrics in “Boombastic” does not explicitly state anti-Babylonian ideas, it is still interesting that a song from a genre that has typically been against what the company represents was chosen for the commercial.

This commercial only scratches the surface of reggae’s spread and influence in New York City. Reggae has done more than become a familiar sound in the media or on the streets of Brooklyn. In fact, reggae’s biggest contribution to the city is more likely to be its Rastafarian philosophy found in its lyrics. As mentioned earlier, reggae music often promotes standing up against oppressors and empowering the oppressed. As reggae spread to New York, this mentality came along with it.

One of the most well-known reggae musicians who helped the genre reach a global audience is Bob Marley, whose face can be frequently be seen on merchandise and murals in New York, especially in neighborhoods largely populated by the Caribbean diaspora, such as Brooklyn. The image of Bob Marley found at the top of this page was taken while we were at the Flatbush Caton Market and is one of numerous depictions of Marley in the area. One of his songs, “Redemption Song” (found below) displays the ideas anti-oppression in its lyrics.

This song, which makes references to the enslavement of Africans by European colonizers, urges people to “emancipate [themselves] from mental slavery” because “none but ourselves can free our minds.” These particular lyrics were actually derived from a speech given by Marcus Garvey, one of the most influential black political activists who called for the movement of African descendants back to Africa. This song, along with other reggae songs that speak of strengthening and uniting people who are oppressed, has helped unify the people of African descent. In New York, where African-Americans and Afro-Caribbeans have had tensions on account of their differences in background and how they are perceived in society, the idea of unity that is preached about in reggae lyrics has helped bring solidarity between the two groups (4. Mwakikagile, Godfrey. Relations between Africans, African Americans and Afro-Caribbeans: Tensions, Indifference and Harmony. Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania: New Africa, 2007. Print.).

In addition to having an impact on the Caribbean diaspora in New York, reggae has also made its mark on non-Caribbean New Yorkers. For example at the 2015 Global Citizen Festival in New York City, an event that strives to end extreme global poverty, Beyonce and Eddie Vedder covered Marley’s “Redemption Song” ⁴. The lyrics in this instance are applied to poverty, and the oppressed people in this situation are the impoverished people. By singing this song to the crowd at Central Park, they are asking people to unite and stand against poverty.

However, while such examples of reggae being used to promote peace and unity are evident in New York City, it seems that reggae’s image globally has overwhelmingly been focused around the use of marijuana by Rastafarians. Often non-Caribbean people will use reggae and Rastafarianism as way to decriminalize the use of marijuana. The use of marijuana is often promoted by Rastafarians since many of them believe in smoking marijuana for spiritual purposes to help communicate with God. ⁵ With the ongoing war on drugs in New York City, and in the U.S. as whole, many people have used reggae to change the perception of marijuana from a menace to society to a spiritual tool.

Unfortunately, issues have come from this association, as when people began to use reggae music and figures such as Bob Marley to promote the legalization of marijuana, the rest of Rastafarian philosophy became overshadowed under this one aspect. Since law enforcement officials often saw drug users as the enemy and the cause for many crimes, people began associating Rastafarians with criminal violence and drug trafficking. In the 1970s, the group became targeted with the blame for shootings and drug smuggling (Boxill 120)⁶. People began to ignore the rest of the powerful messages found in reggae music and Rastafarian philosophy and instead selected the parts that they personally wanted to highlight. In an interview with Richard Salter, Mutabaraka, a Jamaican Rastafarian musician, explained this issue that come about with the globalization of reggae and Rastafarianism:

“…You can’t bag us, you see? And that is what these people try to do. They try to bag Rasta, and put Rasta into this little bag and say, “Most of the books I read about Rasta say….””- Mutabaruka (Boxill 50) ⁶

As Mutabaruka explained, most of the problems arise when people try to pigeonhole the description of the religion and movement. Like in other religions and movements, there is often variety in what the followers believe and which principles they choose to prioritize. So while the globalization of reggae has been able to promote Rastafarian principles of peace and equality amongst different groups of people and the stand against oppression, it has also brought the misunderstanding of Rastafarianism because of the aspects that the western world chooses to draw attention to.