Jamaican music

If you ask a random stranger on the street about what the saddest song they’ve ever heard is… Well, they’re probably going to answer with something by Nickelback, Coldplay or Fallout Boy. But if you ask a random stranger on the street who is not an angsty teenager with horrible taste in music, chances are they’re going to respond with Johnny Cash’s Hurt. “Hurt”, a cover of an equally depressing Nine Inch Nails song, was the last thing Cash ever recorded, and is basically an ode to the life he has led and a lamentation that it will be ending soon (he passed away seven months after the music video was shot). His somber voice that sounds so at peace with the thought of death while also singing lyrics that attack it for taking everyone from his life away is enough to bring most people to tears… And yet despite being one of the most famous “depressing” songs out there, despite the fact that it has appeared in numerous movies and TV shows such as “Smallville”, “Criminal Minds” and “Person of Interest”, “Hurt” hasn’t quite reached that classic song status that other hits from the past have in our popular culture. You don’t hear it on the radio. You don’t really hear people reference it in conversations unless they’re specifically talking about songs that made them cry. It’s not going to appear in your suggested videos on YouTube, or as a Pandora recommendation.

Naturally, that all changed when the first trailer for “Logan” – a movie about a much older Wolverine that has to deal with an ailing body and the fact that he has outlasted all of the people in his life – made excellent use of “Hurt”, with many calling it one of the best trailer song choices of all time. The song was so effective in its context that people are already calling “Logan” the best superhero movie of 2017, despite the fact that the two previous movies starring Wolverine were pretty terrible. But it actually goes both ways – the trailer actually gave the song a massive boost, to the point where while just two months ago its music video on YouTube had 23 million views, while now it had over 29 million – and that’s without counting all of the individual uploads of the song, which have also received a massive boost. But that’s arbitrary data, really. Let’s look at something a little bit more concrete… Oh, I know! Remember back in 2014, when Blue Swede’s “Hooked on a Feeling” was used in the trailer for “Guardians of the Galaxy” and arguably started this whole trend of using popular songs in trailers? Well, it actually gave “Hooked on a Feeling” its best week in sales ever, which is definitely saying something considering how popular the song was even without the boost that “Guardians” gave it. Other songs have experienced this too – “Bohemian Rhapsody”, one of the most popular songs of all time, was exposed to an entirely new generation thanks to its appearance in the “Suicide Squad” trailer. But it doesn’t just apply to trailers, oh, no. The most memorable sequence in this year’s “X-Men: Apocalypse” involved Quicksilver running at super-speed saving people to the tune of Eurythmics’ “Sweet Dreams” – a song that literally nobody had paid any mind to since the 80s.

Superhero movies obviously have a huge sway over the young generation. They’re popular, and as such get to decide what else is popular. So I was thinking… What if a superhero movie used a reggae song in its trailer or soundtrack? Would that cause it to rise in the charts and perhaps result in a bit of a resurgence for the genre, especially among a younger audience? Obviously, not even I would want to hear reggae in Ben Affleck’s new “Batman” movie, but considering just how experimental these movies have been getting lately, I genuinely don’t see why reggae wouldn’t be the right soundtrack for one. We’ve reached a point in our culture where old musical styles which used to be really popular, but have lost relevance, can be brought back into the spotlight through media (like how “Hotline Miami” brought back 80s electronica), so when is reggae’s turn going to come?

Blackjack is a special game because in order to win, you need a blend between luck, skills and strategy. I was never too fond of slots, for example, simply because I feel like I have no control whatsoever over the outcome. It doesn’t matter how hard you press the spin button or whether or not you manually stop the reels or simply let them spin. The outcome is decided by the RNG (random number generator) and that’s that. Online blackjack, on the other hand, gives you the opportunity to try more variations, which have different rules and features. Here are some of the most popular ones:

• Single Deck Blackjack
• Blackjack Switch
• Super Fun 21
• Pontoon
• Pick’em Blackjack

You can tell from the title that the first variation is played with only one deck of cards, which makes it one of the most profitable ones. Actually, this is something you should always consider when you are wondering which game to play: the less decks of cards it’s played with, the higher the RTP (return to player), so the better for the player. In fact, for Single Deck Blackjack, if the standard rules apply, the house edge is at a shy 0.001%, which means that the RTP is a generous 99.99%. With such a high return, who wouldn’t prefer this game instead of the others, especially when playing for real money? If you take a look at one of the best sites on this topic, you will find some pretty useful tricks to making the most out of your blackjack experience.

But since most operators that feature Single Deck Blackjack use other rules to raise the house edge, Blackjack Switch is actually the variation with the highest RTP – 99.87%, which is not at all bad. There are however certain differences between this game and the rules that vary affect the overall RTP. For example, if the game is played with 8, instead of 6, the house edge is raised by 0.02%; if the dealer draws on soft 17, add another 0.30%. The best part of playing Blackjack Switch is that, as the name says, you can switch your top two cards of the two hands that you play. This means that if you have, for example, one hand with 15, with the 5 as the top card and one hand with 16, with the face card on top, you can end up having one 11 and one 20. That is what I call a rule to the player’s advantage. But even so, if you play side best such as the Perfect Pairs, the house edge will go through the roof and cripple your chances of accumulating a nice profit in the long run. Although the payouts are pretty appealing – 25 to 1 if your first 2 cards are the same value, suit and colour, the probability of winning is so low, that you might as well forget about this side bet.

Bob Marley is definitely one of my all-time favourite music artists and it wasn’t an easy task narrowing down all the songs of his that I love to only five. Well, I somehow managed to do it and trust me, it wasn’t an easy task. So here it is, a list of the five Bob Marley songs that I love the most:

1. Rastaman Chant (ft. Busta Rhyme) – Don’t get me wrong, I also love the original version of this song, but the remix with Busta Rhyme has a really special place in my heart. It’s my favourite song out of one of my favourite albums – Chant Down Babylon which is a tribute album produced by Stephen Marley which features great and truly classy remixes of some of Bob’s most beloved songs. And that bassline… How can you not love this song!

2. Is This Love – Yeah, OK, I’m a softy. I can’t help but being moved by the innocent, almost naïve lyrics of this song. Released in 1978 as a part of the Kaya album, this is one of Marley’s most romantic songs. And, you know, most of his songs were not romantic in the man-woman sense of the word, but rather in a social-political way. Still, we are all human and secretly or not that secretly crave for love and that’s exactly what this song is about.

3. Get Up Stand Up – Undoubtedly one of the most popular Bob Marley songs, this reggae classic is always in my playlist. The song was written by Bob himself and then band member Peter Tosh and was released in 1973. It’s a part of the Burnin’ album and was often performed in concerts. A true classic with a universal social message.

4. Three Little Birds – There’s nothing better than waking up and putting this song on! The whole days is brighter and shinier under the sounds of one of the simplest yet most positive reggae songs out there!

5. Satisfy My Soul – Though it’s not the most popular song of his, it’s definitely my favourite. It always calms me down and makes me feel happy. Even the most tedious activity becomes easier and more pleasant with this song. It definitely satisfies my soul and will forever be one of my all-time favourite pieces of music!

What about the songs that almost made it into the list, you might ask. Well, I had so many contenders it’s hard to list them all. Still, the strongest among them were definitely Trench Town Rock, Root Rock Reggae, Small Axe, Buffalo Soldier, Could You Be Loved, Kinky Reggae and No Woman No Cry. In the end I decided that Satisfy My Soul, Three Little Birds, Get Up Stand Up, Is This Love and Rastaman Chant are my favourites. Which are yours?

To the whole world Bob Marley is a musical genius, a symbol of the Rastafari movement and philosophy and the face of reggae. While there are a handful of singers that have achieved this type of legendary status, only a small part of the general public knows about his really humble beginnings and his life before forming the Wailers. So this is exactly what we’ll talk about in this article.

Bob Marley (full name: Robert Nesta Marley) was born on February 6, 1945, in the village of Nine Mile in Saint Ann parish, Jamaica, to Cedella Booker, an Afro-Jamaican eighteen-years-old girl, and the much older Captain Norval Marley, a white man from England who used to work for the government. Cedella and Norval married the same year, but, though he provided financial support, Bob’s father was constantly absent. In fact, Bob saw him only a handful of times before Norval died from a heart attack in 1955.

Bob spend his early years in his grandparent’s house in Nine Mile, living a simple life as a country boy, without electricity, helping his family with their farming activities. When he was little, and even in later years, he was teased for his appearance and even called ‘half-caste’ because of the fact that he was born to a black mother and a white father. As a child, he attended the Stepney Primary school where he met Neville O’Riley Livingston, known as Bunny Wailer, with whom he became good friends. It was in that school that the two boys started playing music together. The boys even became stepbrothers, as Bob’s mother and Bunny’s father got together and had a daughter, Pearl.

When Bob was 12, his family moved to Trenchtown, Kingston, a place known around the world for the huge number of musicians it produced. So, even though life in the ghetto was tough and Bob went to bed hungry on numerous occasions, his new-found home turned out to be extremely valuable for his musical development. He was now exposed not only to the more traditional Calypso and Mento and the new ska music, but to the latest music that was from the American radio stations that reached Jamaica. Trenchtown is, in fact, considered to be the birthplace of ska, the famous predecessor of reggae which derived from the American R&B and soul music which the difference that the accent was put on the offbeat. Then, it also saw the development of ska into reggae music. The neighbourhood became a reoccurring theme in Bob Marley’s music and was immortalised in his hits Trench Town, Trench Town Rock and No Woman No Cry.

In this tumultuous but culturally rich environment, Bob started developing his voice and musical abilities and formed a vocal group with his stepbrother Bunny Wailer, Beverley Kelso, Peter Tosh and Junior Braithwaite. In 1959, he began hanging around and working with the already successful musician Joe Higgs who tutored the group on their vocal harmonies and taught Bob to play the guitar. The same year Bob left school and focused solely on his musical career which we’ll take a closer look at in our next articles.

Usually, I am not the type to walk around with the phone everywhere and that’s why I don’t have a lot of apps on it, either. But recently I came across this app and it kind of intrigued me, so I wanted to share my impressions with you. If you are on the lookout for a Jamaican themed slot game to play on the move, then the Rasta Slots app is right up your alley. I came across it when I was about to take a long trip to the countryside to help my grandmother out with some work, so I figured I better stack up on games, as I just got my new iPhone and I have very few apps on it so far. So, even though I had promised myself not to go back to my old habits – gambling, obviously, I figured it will be a long ride, so I decided to at least try some play-money slot apps. And this is how I found the Rasta slots app and the thing that I liked best about it is that it couldn’t cost me any money. Hmm, or can it? What I quickly noticed about the app was that, while you can download it from iTunes totally free of charge, there are things, like coins and Reggae songs that you will have to pay for anyway. So, my first thought was why would I wanna pay for coins in a play-money game, where I can’t win anything, right?

I mean, don’t get me wrong, the game is nice and all, you can play slots and even poker, on the ‘irie’ reggae beats of Dub Easy, Stay Conscious and The Home Grown Kush Band, which is all pretty nice and swell, but the fact that I would only put in money, but could get nothing out was kind of a turn off right from the start. I know, it’s the gambler in me speaking right now, but I mean even the quality of the app cannot be compared to the games offered by real online casinos and their apps can feature up to 200 or 300 games to play on the move, most of which slots. I guess you could say that I like mobile slots with real money better and can you blame me?

When I think of all the mind-blowing slots that NetEnt has released lately, it makes my head spin. And what about Playtech? Whoever is or has ever been a slots enthusiast has heard of these names and knows that what they are creating is sheer magic. Not to mention the enchanting prospect of actually winning something for real, instead of paying real money for bogus coins. And you guys really have to see the difference between play and real-money apps, especially in terms of graphical and sound effects. Even the bonus rounds are much more fun, with fun animations, not to mention rewarding. So, guys it’s up to you what you wanna play, but if you ask me, my money’s on the real-money apps.

There is probably not a single person in the world who’s life hasn’t been touched at least once by Bob Marley’s fantastic reggae beats. Perhaps the most influential figure in the reggae music industry, Marley was among the first singers to actually release an entire album with the Jamaican beats that everyone got to love and cherish so much. I have always loved his music and this genre altogether and always caught myself dreaming about how it would be like to go to Jamaica and get a feel for the culture that inspired this trend. So, when I heard about the Bet365 Bingo promotion, I said to myself: ‘This is it! This is my chance to live my dream, all while doing something that I love just as much: play bingo!

The promotion is one of the most exciting that I ever took part in and the big prize is an all-inclusive Jamaican holiday not for one, but for two, so I could even bring my cat with me. I’m just kidding, I meant my friend. All that is asked of you is to play in the exclusive Reggae Shack room, with tickets for as little as 5p and 10p. If you have never tried this site before, I suggest you give it a try and you can even play on your mobile device. For further info on the games that this operator features, you can read up on Bet365 Bingo offers.

The thing that I like best about this promotion is that you have the freedom to choose a different date or even destination, as long as it adds up to the same value of the prize. Imagine having the chance to spend 7 days at the Jewel Dunn’s Beach Resort and Spa with all expenses paid, from plane tickets, all the way to an excursion to Dunn’s River Falls and a Zion Bus tour. The winner has to book the travel date within 6 months from the day that the voucher has been issued, but he may still use it after this period, provided the booking was made within this period. Bet365 Bingo even goes as far as giving all players that participate in the promotion a share of the £1,000 Community Jackpot, sort of a consolation prize, if you ask me. This is but one of the many generous offers that you can find on all sites that are part of the same bingo network.

And just in case you are wondering, Bet365 is yet another generous bingo site part of the Virtue Fusion network – a subsidiary of the world-class software provider Playtech. Having said that, you surely guessed that the quality of the services that they offer is unequalled and this is precisely the reason for which we prefer Virtue Fusion Bingo sites. And, of course, the fact that they have the biggest progressive jackpots makes us love them even more. So good luck and see you in Jamaica, man!

Reggae’s origins are actually shrouded in quite a lot of mystery. We don’t know exactly how it originated, or even why it was named like that. We know that the name Reggae means “ragged”, so we can probably assume that the very first anonymous pioneers of the genre came from lower class households. Early reggae was a combination of Jamaican folk styles such as the traditional Mento and the contemporary Ska, as well as the American Rhythm & Blues and jazz. The latter two were often broadcast on stations across the States due to their growing popularity there, and since Jamaica is located rather close to Florida, the radiowaves could easily reach it. It’s rather important to note that at the time Jamaica was still a British colony still firmly under the Queen’s rule, so perhaps an adoption of styles that were so typical to the American culture could be seen as a peaceful form of protest.

Another peculiar thing we know about the early Reggae artists was that many of them belonged to an interesting religion called Rastafari (as you may have figured out, that’s where the word Rasta comes from). Rastafarians worshipped the emperor of Ethiopia as the Messiah and preached a return to Africa for Jamaican people. Africa and its various cultures obviously were a great influence to Rastafarians, who subtly incorporated several African musical styles into Reggae, giving it the modern sound that we all know and love. Rastafari also affected the lyrics of the songs, which, in the genre’s early days, used to be about typical concepts for music such as love and peace. Rastafarians, though, often sang about socio-political and religious themes. They praised Jah (God) and stood against the oppressions and injustices perpetrated by Babylon (the West). The lyrics, while nigh-incomprehensible to English speakers, often inspired young Jamaicans to participate in activities commonly associated with the Rastafari religion, such as smoking Ganja, or marijuana (which was used as a sacrament). Rastafarians believed that smoking cannabis brought them closer to Jah, but once their songs became popular in the late 60s and early 70s their lyrics were often misinterpreted as an excuse to get high. This misconception gave birth to the “high Jamaican” stereotype character that is often depicted on T-shirts and figurines.

Throughout the 60s, reggae began slowly spreading throughout Jamaica, eventually leaving it and spreading to the UK and US, especially after Jamaica’s independence in 1962. In 1967, Prince Buster’s song “Al Capone” started a short dance craze in the UK, which brought reggae into the public eye in the country and gave birth to several non-Jamaican artists and bands who dipped their toes into the genre. For a time, reggae was associated with gangs and violence in the country, not unlike how hip-hop and rap are associated with it in the US today. It wasn’t until the release of Jimmy Cliff’s “Wonderful World Beautiful People” in the late 60s, which came back to reggae’s origins of love and peace (rather than the Rasta propaganda that had become popular with many reggae artists at the time) that managed to present reggae in a different light.

In the States, reggae first found mainstream popularity in the most unlikeliest of places – cinema. We’ve often stressed the importance of movies and other mainstream media as ambassadors for different cultures and styles, both on this site and in real life. A popular movie or videogame can introduce hundreds of people to new things that they may not have known about, but could easily fall in love with. “Avatar: The Last Airbender” introduced a whole generation to Buddhism and Eastern teachings, “Hotline Miami” showed many that 80s disco could still sound great today, and musicals such as “Les Miserables” gave people a new appreciation for musical theatre. Similarly, 1972’s “The Harder They Come”, which tells the story of a young man trying to survive the harsh Jamaican life on the streets by selling marijuana, had a soundtrack that consisted of nothing but reggae. The movie became an enormous success, being cited by film critic Barbara Mennel as “possibly the most influential of Jamaican films”. Needless to say, it was what brought reggae into the public perception in the 70s, and it hasn’t left since.

We can’t talk about reggae without mentioning Bob Marley, one of, if not the, most influential and popular reggae performers of all time. His face has been on almost anything, from T-shirts to soft drink cans (I’m not making this up, I’ve drank one myself), and there’s barely anyone who knows anything about music but hasn’t heard of Marley’s name. A devout Rastafarian himself, Marley’s often sang about socio-political topics, which he later backed up with more than songs during his career as a political activist. He and his band The Wailers released some of the very first reggae albums ever, and Eric Clapton’s cover of “I Shot The Sheriff” brought Marley and his music to the attention of the Western world. Despite his early death in 1981 from cancer, to this day Marley remains the face and soul of reggae worldwide. Several of his children, such as Damian Marley, have chosen to follow in their father’s footsteps and create reggae music (Damian’s single “Make It Bun Dem”, for which he collaborates with Skrillex, was featured in the recent videogame “Far Cry 3”).

Today, reggae sadly isn’t doing too well. It would be a lie to say that there aren’t any active reggae artists right now – in fact, there could be almost as many as there have always been. But the genre’s popularity has dropped significantly since its peak in the 70s, and nowadays most people who even know about it regard it more as a joke than as an actual piece of music history. You’d be hard-pressed to find any media at all using any reggae songs at all (the “Far Cry 3” example above is one of the very few exceptions, and even that track was made with the collaboration of a popular, modern artist and isn’t purely reggae). If this keeps on, reggae might be completely forgotten within the next 50 years, which would be a gigantic loss for the music world considering just how unique this genre is, being a mixture of Jamaican, African and American styles. Still, we’ll all do our best to help keep the genre in the public consciousness, and who knows, maybe eventually it’ll see a renaissance. We can only hope!

What’s a musical genre without its albums, right? Whether it’s Bob Dylan’s “Bringing It All Back Home” for modern rock, the Beatles’ “Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” for pop music or Frank Sinatra’s “Songs for Swingin’ Lovers” for… Well, a whole lot of things (it’s a great album, what can I say), it’s usually albums, and not singles, that create genres, destroy them, reconstruct them and change their course. As it has been proven time and time again, a single good album can completely change the trends for years to come, and if its impact is deep enough, its influence could easily be felt in the genre forever. The same holds true for reggae as well – in fact, it might hold true for it more than for any other genre! There have been just so many fantastic, influential reggae albums over the genre’s life that if we were to list them all we’d be here all day! I can think of about a hundred right now, that’s how many great albums we got, it’s insane! But since I don’t have the time to describe them all and you don’t have the patience to read it, I’m only going to list a couple of the absolute best, most influential reggae albums of all time! Remember – this isn’t a top 5 list! Even though I’ve got some opinions on the matter, I’m not saying which albums are better and which one is the best, mostly because such a statement would be highly subjective. Instead, I’ve elected to describe the albums chronologically. Ready? Here we go!

The Harder They Come

Artist: Jimmy Cliff
Year: 1972
Amazon

Remember back at the history page where I spoke about a Jamaican movie called “The Harder They Come”? You know, the one whose soundtrack was all reggae and helped jump-start the genre’s popularity in the West almost single-handedly? Well… This album is its soundtrack. And it is MAGNIFICENT! “The Harder They Come” is one of those very rare albums that solidify a genre, giving listeners a taste of just what exactly that kind of music is capable of. While it’s true that Jimmy Cliff has only contributed a couple of tracks to the album that bears his name, almost every single song here is pure gold. I don’t even know what else to say about it – this album made thousands of people fall in love with reggae, and it just might make you fall in love as well!

Catch A Fire

Artist: Bob Marley
Year: 1973
Amazon

Bob Marley was not a perfect man, not by a long shot. He held some very questionable beliefs (which, indirectly, ended up costing him his life) and engaged in a lot of activities, like a number of affairs (some of which resulted in children) that would have been seriously looked down upon in modern society. Bob Marley was not the highest selling, most prolific or even the most famous reggae artist of his time. And yet, somehow, to this very day he has remained the face of the entire genre, with his likeness adorning numerous products and his music being fondly remembered even by people who don’t know anything about reggae. He has truly turned into a larger-than-life legend, and his albums can truly show us why. Out of all of them, I chose “Catch A Fire” to represent him, as I believe it represents its style flawlessly. It’s also the one with “Stir It Up”, so, y’know. If you haven’t listened to “Stir It Up”, just do yourself a favour and YouTube it right away, alright?

Legalize It

Artist: Peter Tosh
Year: 1976
Amazon

Well, it’s fun to see that weed lovers have been desperately trying to get their favourite recreational drug legalized for at least 40 years now. Peter Tosh, a founding member of The Wailers (Bob Marley’s band) who left the group in ’73 in order to pursue a solo career apparently wanted it legalized so badly that he named a single and his début album after the cause. Despite their controversial themes, the tracks on the album are still very, very solid, and a must-listen for every reggae fan out there. Too bad Peter Tosh seemed to forget that marijuana was not, in fact, legalized yet when he smoked a joint on stage in 1978, which resulted in his arrest and led to a downward spiral which ended his career. Regardless, “Legalize It” represents one of the pioneers of the reggae genre at arguably his finest, which definitely makes it worth a listen.

The Original Reggae Hitsound Of Desmond Dekker And The Aces

Artist: Desmond Dekker
Year: 1985

Boy, that’s a mouthful, isn’t it? Bob Marley is widely (and fondly) remembered as THE reggae artist, the man who popularized and perfected the genre, and for most people who just know about reggae from popular culture, he’s the face of the entire genre. However, for people who love reggae and have listened to quite a lot of albums, another name often pops in mind as the person who solidified and perfected it. That name, obviously, is Desmond Dekker. While Dekker didn’t have nearly as many albums as Marley did, he had just as many – if not more – absolutely amazing singles, a good chunk of which are collected in the Hitsound album, which is definitely worth a listen. The coolest thing about it is that it’s not only a fantastic collection for reggae fans, but also a great introduction to beginners, so either way there’s no excuse not to listen to “The Original Reggae Hitsound of Desmond Dekker And The Aces”!

Foundation Ska

Artist: Skatalites
Year: 1996
Amazon

Don’t let the date deceive you – despite being released in 1996, all of the tracks on this album originated in 1963 and 1964. “Skatalites” are just one of numerous bands reggae band that popped up in the early 60s following the genre’s rise to popularity in Jamaica. They only existed for about 14 months, quickly being drowned in the sea of other successful reggae artists without even releasing a single album. They made quite a lot of singles, but they were never collected officially… Until 1996. You see, unlike most reggae bands of the time, which were mostly forgotten, for some reason “Skatalites” endured. Something about the band’s music remained – most likely a little something called “ska”, which is the sound that would remain an integral part of reggae throughout its history. Despite their initial dissolution in 1965, the band found new success and fame after being rediscovered over 20 years later, and they’ve been around ever since. Let’s just say, there’s a perfectly good reason for that.