Roots reggae
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Roots reggae is a spiritual Rastafari subgenre of reggae music with lyrics that often include praise for Jah Ras Tafari Makonnen, Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia; the Emperor of Ethiopia. Recurrent lyrical themes include poverty and resistance to the oppression of government.
The heyday of roots reggae is usually considered the late 1970s, with singers such as Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, Johnny Clarke, Horace Andy, Barrington Levy, and Lincoln Thompson teaming up with producers such as Lee 'Scratch' Perry, King Tubby, and Coxsone Dodd. The experimental pioneering of such producers within often-restricted technological parameters gave birth to dub, and is seen by some music historians as one of the earliest (albeit analogue) contributions to modern dance music production techniques. Some of the most popular artists in the 2000s Jamaican roots reggae scene are I Wayne, Richie Spice, Sizzla, Capleton and Jah Cure.