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| Ragga | |
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| Stylistic origins | |
| Cultural origins | 1980s,Jamaica |
| Fusion genres | |
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Raggamuffin music (or simplyragga) is a subgenre ofdancehall andreggae music.[1] The instrumentals primarily consist ofelectronic music with heavy use ofsampling.
Wayne Smith's "Under Mi Sleng Teng", produced byKing Jammy in 1985 on aCasio MT-40 synthesizer, is a seminal ragga song.[1] "Sleng Teng" boosted Jammy's popularity immensely, and other producers quickly released their own versions of theriddim, accompanied by dozens of different vocalists.[1]
Ragga originated inJamaica during the 1980s, at the same time thatelectronic dance music's popularity was increasing globally. It differs marginally from its dancehall predecessor "other than a slightly more aggressive attitude, and an alignment with the kind of concerns of its youthful audience".[1] Ragga spread to Europe, North America, and Africa, eventually spreading to Japan, India, and the rest of the world. Ragga heavily influencedearly jungle music, and also spawned thesyncretisticbhangragga style when fused withbhangra. In the 1990s, ragga andbreakcore music fused, creating a style known asraggacore.
Ragga also brought with its own fashion designers. Andrew Dunbar working in London produced designs, one of which showed at the Victoria & Albert Museum's 1994 'Street Style'Street Style exhibition.
The term "raggamuffin" is an intentional misspelling of "ragamuffin", a word that entered theJamaican Patois lexicon after theBritish Empire colonized Jamaica in the 17th century.[citation needed] Despite the British colonialists' pejorative application of the term, Jamaican youthappropriated it as aningroup designation. The term "raggamuffin music" describes the music of Jamaica's "ghetto dwellers".
King Jammy produced the 1985 hit, "(Under Me) Sleng Teng" byWayne Smith.[2] In the late 1980s, Jamaican deejayDaddy Freddy andAsher D's "Ragamuffin Hip-Hop" became the first multinationalsingle to feature the word "ragga" in its title.[3]
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