Bob Marley's Influence On American Culture

Bob Marley was a dedicated Rastafarian who infused his music with a sense of spirituality. He is considered one of the most influential musicians of all time and credited with popularizing reggae music around the world, serving as a symbol of Jamaican culture and identity. Hearing and learning about him was how I first became acquainted with the sound of Jamaican music. Having a cousin who is half Jamaican, I found myself somewhat submerged in the culture. His father would listen to Jamaican music and speak fluent creole around us. He even sang lullabies in that language to my cousin so that he would start to understand at an early age. There was one specific song I remember him always singing to my baby cousin. He explained it to be one …show more content…
The music of Jamaica is said to be the most powerful art form and cultural heritage of the island. Today, there are many diverse music forms of Jamaica, which all resulted from the evolution of Jamaican folk music. New cultural traditions were practiced, which allowed for new social norms to emerge after the Spaniards invaded the island and when the English took over. Jamaican Creole also known as Patois was formed because of the mesh between the English and the different cultures that were present in Jamaica, one being the African culture. Creole/ Patois was the language used by the people there to sing Jamaican folk …show more content…
They were the most popular styles of music in Jamaica during the 1980’s. Ragga barely took the lead over dancehall as the most dominant form of music in Jamaica at that time. Dancehall music is basically formed by the coexistence of speechifying and a basic drum beat commonly played on electric drums. The typical lyrics of this genre were somewhat violent and would concentrate on less serious topics rather than issues such as religion and politics that were the focus in the 70’s. Similar to the electronic studio effects recognized in dub music, ragga music has/ uses computerized beats and sequenced melodic tracks.
Until the mid 1990’s there were still variations of dancehall that were considered popular. Then in the late 1990’s the sub genre reggae fusion gained its famous day view. As its name suggests, this style of music is a fusion of reggae and dancehall/ragga with elements of other genres such as hip hop, R&B, rock and roll,jazz, and indie. It is quite popular across countries today. There have been some recent hits in the US that would be considered music of this genre, such as Cheerleader by