Reggae: Kingston’s Gift to the World
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What musical styles preceded and helped shape the birth of reggae in Jamaica?
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Welcome to Stuff You Should Know, a production of iHeartRadio.
Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh, and there's Chuck, and Jerry's here, too. She even said, right before we started recording, because this is Stuff You Should Know, reggae edition.
That's right. And here's a little thing you probably didn't even notice, my friend, is we always clap on the count of three when we go to record so we can sync our sound. Here's a little behind the scenes for you, everybody. Sure. But I clapped on the four. Did you? Just to, you know, make it super reggae.
That was pretty great. Yeah, because, so what you were doing was skanging. That's right. And skang is slang for gun in Kingston. Yeah. And Kingston in Jamaica is the world capital of reggae. It's where I was born. It's one of those things where you're like, well, where'd jazz come from? Where'd blues come from? Well, it came from here and here. No, reggae 100% came from Kingston, Jamaica. And it was built from all this other stuff, all these other influences, but there is no question where it actually emerged, and that was Kingston.
Yeah, for sure. I was playing golf yesterday with my friend Justin, who you know.
Justin from Trenchtown?
Justin from London, which will also play a part. But he asked what we were recording on today, and I told him reggae. And he was like, did you know that reggae is like fairly new? And I said, he was like, I always thought it was like in the 40s and 50s. He was like, but true reggae was like the late 60s.
You make Justin sound like a real milk toast. I can tell everybody that is not what Justin sounds like.
Yeah, but that was, you know, that's true. And we'll get to all that and the timeline and everything. But yeah, reggae is a, I mean, on the general timeline of music history, it's a pretty new form.
Yeah, almost just a little over 50-ish years old.
Yeah, I mean, I'm 55. I was born in 71. So you do the math.
No, I'm not doing the math. Yeah, I think 1968 tends to be like the year that people pretty much put their finger on when reggae was born. But let's talk about all this. Let's get to the beginning, I guess, okay?
Yeah, which means we've got to talk about Jamaica as a place, right?
Yeah, because one of the things about reggae, Livia helps us with this, so hat to Livia. One of the things about Jamaica and reggae is that they're like a melange of different people and cultures who are all kind of brought together, a significant number of them against their will, and all kind of formed this society where it was all mixed together.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What musical styles preceded and helped shape the birth of reggae in Jamaica?
0:00–8:31
2
How did Mento, ska, and rocksteady evolve into modern reggae?
8:31–16:59
3
What is the distinctive reggae rhythm and how does it differ from rock?
16:59–24:01
4
How did Rastafarianism influence reggae’s lyrics and themes?
24:01–33:17
5
Why is Bob Marley considered the global ambassador of reggae?
33:17–40:57
6
What role did Jimmy Cliff and the film *The Harder They Come* play in spreading reggae worldwide?
40:57–48:44
7
How did dub, DJ culture, and producers like King Tubby lay the groundwork for hip‑hop?
48:44–57:01
8
How did reggae travel beyond Jamaica to London, Africa, and Latin America?
57:01–1:05:48