Word: jamaican
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...street outside club Asylum, ragga (a rap-influenced form of reggae) booms out of parked cars. Young Jamaican men with white scarves tied around their heads vibrate to the music, thrusting their hips at passing Suzuki Samurais. The youths have now begun to slow up traffic, and police close in on them like parentheses. Is a confrontation brewing? One young reveler reaches into his car and turns up his stereo. The voice of Elephant Man, the latest local ragga star, blares out, heavy with attitude and thick with patois: "Badman nah run from police inna shootout/Whole crew a government...
...Marley, the great Jamaican Reggae star, once posed the question "Won't you help me sing these songs of freedom?" Music can be a tool: for relaxation, for stimulation, for communication--and for revolution. In fact, it is often a rhythm of resistance: against parents, against police, against power. The U.S., in this one-superpower age, has perhaps never been so dominant--economically, militarily, culturally. That strength attracts immigrants, who bring with them new forms of music. And that strength also inspires competition, as musicians and performers in other countries, mindful of the American hegemony, assert their national identities...
...Independence Day is coming. It's late evening on Knutsford Boulevard in Kingston. The young Jamaicans who were outside club Asylum are safely inside. The riots, the tension--all forgotten, and perhaps they were overplayed by the press from the start. Jamaican tunes blast from the speakers; the dance floor is packed. One of the most popular ragga songs this season is Shake Yuh Bam Bam by the group T.O.K. The song samples Ricky Martin's hit Shake Your Bom-Bom but adds ragga's roughness. When Bam Bam comes on, the crowd goes wild...
FREEDOM SONGS The Jamaican reggae band Bob Marley and the Wailers finds itself stranded in London when its tour goes bust in 1971. While the band is there, Island Records chief Chris Blackwell makes a deal with the group to release a record. The result is the album Catch a Fire, which melds reggae spirituality with rock-'n'-roll attitude. In later years, a wide range of acts, from rock guitarist Eric Clapton to hip-hop-soul singer Lauryn Hill, draws from the Wailers' work...
...useless work. But I'm quite happy about rhyming greasy with Assisi. Happiness is in the details. An indolent man awakes in the morning and thinks, "Wow. A shower with shampoo with aloe in it. Then orange juice not made from concentrate. Seven-grain toast with butter. Jamaican coffee. One Across: A waitress (slang)," and he gets all giddy and happy...