ragga

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Raggamuffin music, usually abbreviated as ragga, is a sub-genre of dancehall music or reggae, in which the instrumentation primarily consists of electronic music. Sampling often serves a prominent role in raggamuffin music as well.

Wayne Smith's "Under Me Sleng Teng" was produced by King Jammy in 1985 on a Casio MT-40 synthesizer, and is generally recognized as the seminal ragga song. "Sleng Teng" boosted Jammy's popularity immensely, and other producers quickly released their own versions of the riddim, accompanied by dozens of different vocalists.

Ragga is now mainly used as a synonym for dancehall reggae or for describing dancehall with a deejay chatting rather than deejaying or singing on top of the riddim.

	"Under Me Sleng Teng" by Wayne Smith a 30-second example of early ragga music
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Origins of ragga

The birth of ragga in Jamaica during the 1980s occurred at the same time that electronic dance music's popularity was increasing globally. One of the reasons for ragga's swift propagation is that it is generally easier and less expensive to produce than reggae performed on traditional musical instruments.

Ragga evolved first in Jamaica, and later in Europe, North America, and Africa, eventually spreading to Japan, India, and the rest of the world. Ragga heavily influenced early jungle music, and also spawned the syncretistic bhangragga style when fused with bhangra. In the 1990s, Ragga and breakcore music fused, creating a style known as Raggacore.

Though ragga in its original form is no longer popular, it continues to thrive due to the prominence of ragga jungle and reggae fusion.

Ragga and hip hop music

In the late 1980s, influential Jamaican rapper Daddy Freddy's pioneering efforts in fusing ragga with hip hop music earned him international acclaim while helping to publicize and popularize ragga. In 1987, Daddy Freddy and Asher D's "Ragamuffin Hip-Hop" became the first multinational single to feature the word ragga in its title. In 1992, Canadian hip hop group Rascalz released their debut album under the name "Ragga Muffin Rascals". As ragga matured, an increasing number of dancehall artists began to appropriate stylistic elements of hip hop music, while ragga music, in turn, influenced more and more hip hop artists, most notably the Boot Camp Clik and Busta Rhymes.

Some ragga artists believe that the assimilation of hip hop sensibilities is crucial to the international marketability of dancehall music. Indeed, appeals to the contemporary rhythm and blues and hip hop music audiences in the English-speaking world contributed substantially to the multinational commercial success of such dancehall artists as Beenie Man, Shaggy, Snow, and Sean Paul.

Etymology

The term raggamuffin is an intentional misspelling of ragamuffin, a word that entered the Jamaican Patois lexicon after the British Empire colonized Jamaica in the 17th century. Despite the British colonialists' pejorative application of the term, Jamaican youth appropriated it as an ingroup designation. The term raggamuffin music describes the music of Jamaica's "ghetto youths".

See also

• Reggae fusion
• Soca music
• Ragga jungle
• Bhangragga

External links

• Short article covering major Ragga songs
• Actual Ragga Top 10 Charts
• Allmusic entry for Ragga

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