Show 17: Hip-Hop's Roots in Reggae

Last Sunday was the first official day of summer and warm summer nights make me want to listen to reggae. Reggae is the quintessential summer music -- Jamaica's balmy tropical climate has embedded itself in the genre's very fabric. In celebration of the solstice, I did a whole hour of reggae and reggae-influenced hip-hop. I realize that this is somewhat unorthodox since it is a hip-hop specialty show. But I feel justified in straying from the genre because I wasn't really straying very far. In many regards, hip-hop is a direct descendant of this island music. In addition to the influence that Jamaican toasting (the sing-talking characteristic of much reggae) on the development of rapping, the father of hip-hop himself Kool Herc hailed from Kingston. Herc transported the very Jamaican musical tradition of MCs toasting over dub beats to the block parties of the Bronx. That's hip-hop 101, folks. So in essence, we took it back to the roots of hip-hop.


Show 17: Reggae 22 June 2009

1. Stephen Marley - "The Traffic Jam," Mind Control (2007)
2. Mic Break: Bob Marley & the Wailers - "Stir It Up," Legend (1984)
3. Bob Marley & the Wailers - "Rolling Stone," Let's Do Rocksteady: The Story of Rocksteady (2002)
4. Lee "Scratch" Perry - "People Funny Boy," Let's Do Rocksteady: The Story of Rocksteady (2002)
5. Tenor Sax - "Ring the Alarm," Ring the Alarm (1985)
6. Shabba Ranks feat. KRS-One - "The Jam," As Raw As Ever (1991)
7. Dilated Peoples feat. Capleton - "Firepower," 20/20 (2006)
8. Mic Break: Augustus Pablo - "Chant to King Selassie I," East of the River Nile (2002)
9. Chaka Demus & Pliers - "Murder She Wrote," All She Wrote (1993)
10. DJ Prince - "Justify My Thug," Red, Gold & Green Album (2006)
11. Toots & the Maytals -"54-46 (That's My Number)," In the Dark (1976)
12. Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley - "Welcome to Jamrock," Welcome to Jamrock (2005)
13. Sister Nancy - "Bam Bam," One, Two (1982)
14. Bob Marley & the Roots - "Burnin' and Lootin'," Chant Down Babylon (1999)
15. Mic Break: Sound Dimension - "Full Up," Full Up: The Bst of Studio One, Vol. 2 (2006)
    
16. The Fugees - "No Woman, No Cry," No Woman No Cry