Roots reggae is a subgenre of reggae that deals with the everyday lives and aspirations of Africans and those in the African Diaspora, including the spiritual side of Rastafari, black liberation, revolution and the honouring of God, called Jah by Rastafarians. It is identified with the life of the ghetto sufferer, and the rural poor. Lyrical themes include spirituality and religion, struggles by artists, poverty, black pride, social issues, resistance to fascism, capitalism, corrupt government and racial oppression. A spiritual repatriation to Africa is a common theme in roots reggae.
Lee "Scratch" Perry was a Jamaican record producer, composer and singer noted for his innovative studio techniques and production style. Perry was a pioneer in the 1970s development of dub music with his early adoption of remixing and studio effects to create new instrumental or vocal versions of existing reggae tracks. He worked with and produced for a wide variety of artists, including Bob Marley and the Wailers, Junior Murvin, The Congos, Max Romeo, Adrian Sherwood, Beastie Boys, Ari Up, The Clash, The Orb, and many others.
Dub is an electronic musical style that grew out of reggae in the late 1960s and early 1970s. It is commonly considered a subgenre of reggae, though it has developed to extend beyond that style. Generally, dub consists of remixes of existing recordings created by significantly manipulating the original, usually through the removal of vocal parts, emphasis of the rhythm section, the application of studio effects such as echo and reverb, and the occasional dubbing of vocal or instrumental snippets from the original version or other works.
The Congos are a reggae vocal group from Jamaica which formed as the duo "Ashanti" Roy Johnson (tenor) and Cedric Myton (falsetto), later becoming a trio with the addition of Watty Burnett (baritone), and have been active on and off from the mid-1970s until the present day. They are best known for their Heart of the Congos album, recorded with Lee "Scratch" Perry.
The Upsetters was the name given to the house band for Jamaican reggae producer Lee "Scratch" Perry. The name of the band comes from Perry's nickname of Upsetter, after his song "I Am the Upsetter", a musical dismissal of his former boss Coxsone Dodd.
"Complete Control" is a song by The Clash, released as a 7" single and featured on the U.S. release of their debut album.
"Police and Thieves" is a reggae song first recorded by the falsetto singer Junior Murvin in 1976. It was covered by the punk band The Clash and included on their self-titled debut album released in 1977.
Rude Boy is a 1980 British film directed by Jack Hazan and David Mingay and filmed in 1978 and early 1979.
Junior Murvin was a Jamaican reggae musician. He is best known for the single "Police and Thieves", produced by Lee "Scratch" Perry in 1976.
Earl "Chinna" Smith, a.k.a. Earl Flute and Melchezidek the High Priest, is a Jamaican guitarist active since the late 1960s. He is most well known for his work with the Soul Syndicate band and as guitarist for Bob Marley & the Wailers, among others, and has recorded with many reggae artists, appearing on more than 500 albums.
Roy Anthony Johnson, better known simply as Anthony Johnson, is a Jamaican reggae musician who was a member of the group Mystic I and is known for the 1980s hit song "Gunshot".
War Ina Babylon is an album by Max Romeo and Lee Perry's backing band The Upsetters, released in 1976.
The Meditations are a reggae vocal harmony group from Jamaica formed in late 1974. They have released several studio albums and are still performing in the 2000s and today.
The soundtrack to the film Rockers was released in 1979.
Jah Lloyd, aka Jah Lion, The Black Lion of Judah, and Jah Ali was a Jamaican reggae singer, deejay and producer.
Reggae Greats: Lee "Scratch" Perry is a 1984 Island Records compilation album featuring the work of Lee "Scratch" Perry. It focuses mainly on his work as a producer/composer rather than a singer. Perry only sings on three of the songs. All of the tracks are from the period between 1976 and 1979, and were recorded at Perry's Black Ark studio. The album is generally considered a good introduction to Perry's Black Ark work, and is often chosen as the best single album by Perry, but with tracks drawn from Perry's popular late 1970s albums, it has also been described as "not essential" and containing "no surprises".
Arkology is a compilation album by Lee "Scratch" Perry. Released in 1997, the album collects tracks produced by Perry and recorded at the Black Ark studio.
The Clash Hits Back is a 2-CD, 3-LP best of collection by the Clash released in September 2013.
