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Europe vs Jamaica For Foundation Reggae Music.

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Dancehall Reggae sound clashes have unfolded all over the world and can happen on any given night. You can find yourself a good sound clash though there is a difference in the tone of music played by the different sound systems around the world. With of course Reggae music being organized in Jamaica, the Jamaican and mostly North American sound systems are going to prefer a different type of vibe then your European counterparts who also have a devotion for Dancehall Reggae but much more for foundation then what is actual ruling right now.

Any time you have a matchup with two sounds one hailing from Jamaica or North America and the other from Europe, if you listen close you can tell the difference in the selections that are being played. Both sounds are going to use dub plates (that's a given in a sound clash) but what you'll find is the mostly European sounds are going to choose selections from foundation Reggae artists rather than the newest vibe that's going around the Dancehall . Take for instance world clash where you have sound systems from different parts of the world all playing Dancehall Reggae music. You can hear the difference from the Jamaican sounds versus the European sounds in these selections that they play. The Jamaican sounds and North American sound are going to play the up-to-date artist with the newest riddims and the European sounds are thus selecting foundation riddims & the foundation artists.

Is this to say that one sound system from one part of the country or world is better than the other? Not at all it is just a cunning feeling that you can get from the respect of the music from two sides of the world. Everyone can agree that Reggae music got its love and start in Jamaica without a doubt but it seems that the European sound systems like One Love, David Rodigan, Sentinel, Heavy Hammer (who won Riddim Clash 2010) and so many others, have far more respect for the foundation of Reggae music than it seems their counterparts. Do Jamaican sound systems have deep, deep dub boxes with foundation artist & riddims, of course they do but, they don't get played as much in the Dancehall compared to what you would hear from a European sound who would mostly play the whole set or pretty near their whole set if they could of foundation music. It just goes to show that the love for Reggae music is truly worldwide but with a little tip more on the European side to the love of foundation Reggae music.
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Reggae Dancehall Sound Systems Little Bios

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Sound systems are a part of Dancehall education in Jamaica and it's a way for the people to hear Reggae music and for the top artist also sometimes act. With so many sounds starting out in Jamaica and in a foreign country we are here to shed light on just a few to help you learn a bit more about them and have the chance to hear them as well.

Prepared and ready for you is a list of a few known sound systems from both the 70's to 90's to see where some of your favorites got there start!

African Star sound system was originally founded in Canada by Stewart Brown and then moved to the island of Jamaica to stay in 1986. Capleton, who is now an international Dancehall Reggae star got his start on the sound back around 1989. Along with the sound, Stewart also formed African Star record label. Nuff singles were released by Capleton on the label as well as artist like Terry Ganzie, the late Pan Head, Don Yute, the late Dirtsman, Michael Rose and a whole group of others.

Ambassada hails from Wembley London and played during the 1980's. They were not a huge sound system but still played out dances. DJ's acting on that sound were Winston Irie, Bullet Dread, and other locals from the area

Arrows HiFi was a good sound outta Dunkirk. It was a family thing with its owners of the sound begin Ivan & Phillip Linton (brothers). Through out the 1970's some of the artist to call Arrows home were Sinbad, Crutches & the singjay style of Puddy Roots. Moving to the 1980's the sound then toted Cutty Ranks, Liberty, Shaka Shamba, ZuZu, Chicken Chest, & Mellow Ranks.

I'm sure there are masses more sounds from this time period in history that we can refer to here but at that time not all were as known as the ones above. Good to know that sound systems are still performing and clashing everyday some where in the world advertising Dancehall Reggae music to the max!

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Slackness Dancehall DJ General Echo

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It is an unquestionable fact that Reggae is counted among one of the most ruling music genres of all time. If we look back into the history, we will find out the fact that Reggae is a music formed from the island of Jamaica. History is filled with names of Reggae artists, who have created their own place in the world and General Echo is one of these unbelievable artists.

General Echo is one of the known names in the world of Dancehalll Reggae , and is plainly one of the talented DJ's in this genre. His real name is Earl Anthony Robinson, but he was more famous as General Echo. The Reggae artist was born on 8th of December, in the year 1955. He delivered his slackness style in Kingston, one of the Jamaican cities, which boosted his popularity in the Dancehall.

General Echo was loved and respected by most of the people in Jamaica, but was not always embraced by other entertainers due to his slack (vulgar) lyrics. Apart from General Echo, Earl Anthony Robinson was also known by the name of Ranking Slackness. No matter what name you speak of, they knew who you were talking about.

General Echo did DJ for some of Jamaica's highest sound systems like Stereophonic , Stur Gav & Virgo. He was more inclined towards the sexually explicit lyrics. And, it really worked because it helped him to connect with the fans as well. Slack lyrics today are common place but back then General Echo was really a one man show.

General Echo is always counted among the original deejays since Big Youth, U Roy, Briggy and many others. But, he had the most tragic end of his career. In the year 1980, General Echo was shot dead by the police and he took his last breath in the same city of Jamaica, Kingston.
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Reggae Dancehall Sound Systems Mini Bios

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Sound systems are a part of Dancehall experience in Jamaica and it's a way for the people to hear Reggae music and for the top artist also sometimes show. With so many sounds starting out in Jamaica and out of the country we are here to shed light on just a few to help you learn a bit more about them and have the chance to hear them as well.

Outfitted for you is a list of a few known sound systems from both the 70's to 90's to see where some of your favorites got there start!

African Star sound system was originally founded in Canada by Stewart Brown and then moved to the island of Jamaica to stay in 1986. Capleton, who is now an international Dancehall Reggae star got his start on the sound back around 1989. Along with the sound, Stewart also formed African Star record label. Nuff singles were released by Capleton on the label as well as artist like Terry Ganzie, the late Pan Head, Don Yute, the late Dirtsman, Michael Rose and a whole pack of others.

Ambassada hails from Wembley London and played during the 1980's. They were not a huge sound system but still played out dances. DJ's operating on that sound were Winston Irie, Bullet Dread, and other locals from the area

Arrows HiFi was a good sound outta Dunkirk. It was a family thing with its owners of the sound begin Ivan & Phillip Linton (brothers). Through out the 1970's some of the artist to call Arrows home were Sinbad, Crutches & the singjay style of Puddy Roots. Moving to the 1980's the sound then carried Cutty Ranks, Liberty, Shaka Shamba, ZuZu, Chicken Chest, & Mellow Ranks.

I'm sure there are great deal more sounds from this age that we can speak of here but at that time not all were as known as the ones above. Good to know that sound systems are still performing and clashing everyday some where in the world displaying Dancehall Reggae music to the max!
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Black Kat Soundsystem. A Dancehall Battering Machine!

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Black Kat soundsystem is a popular killing machine out of Spalding, Manchester Jamaica. As a result Pink Panther, its selector, has been clashing with other major sounds in the business. He has the talent and talk, and is definitely one of the most highly skilled selectors worldwide. One of his killing traits is his speech which that alone can kill a soundbwoy.

Pink Panther has been In this game for along time. Since the days of school yard clashing with a radio he is now taking his skills across the world and defending the Black Kat soundsystem in many soundclashes.

When he was just starting out he would look up to sounds in the area and one in particular was SuperSaint. From there he would start off slowly and build a small rep on now the sound that is known as Black Kat

Black Kat sound is not like other soundsystems in Jamaica. They are known as a strict clash sound where, as they wont do any juggling dates or jiggy jiggy dances. Hardcore is what you could call this soundsystem.

Since being in the sound trade, he has played among the great sound systems like BodyGuard, Mighty Crown, David Rodigan, Luv Injection, One Love, Jaro and many more. He has yet though to clash with Stonelove and this goes for many other sounds for that matter.

Black Kat has played the world over and has a deep deep dub box that has helped them win sound wars. They have a few anthems that many Black Kat fans know and once it hits the turntable pure air horns & lighters a flash in support.

With the many wins over the years Black Kat sound system is still out there killing sounds. They can be found clashing on most big clash events such as World Clash, Death Before Dishonor, and many other clashes held all over the world.
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Dubs In The Dancehall. A Soundsystems Weapon!

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A Quick Crash Course on Dubplates - A Noob Friendly Guide

For those of you who are new to soundclashes as well as dubplates, you will want to read this article. In this article, you will learn the essential information about soundclashes and dubplates.

It all goes way back to when soundsystems has just begun in the year 1950 as an underground culture. This all began shortly after the World War 2 had ended. Jamaicans began buying large amounts of radios. The radios were bought mainly for two purposes:

1. They wanted to listen to the USA military channel.

2. They needed some sort of entertainment channel, which was provided via a huge continuous wave of popular American music.

During the earliest phase of this trend, soundsystems were made up of some very basic devices. They usually consisted of a record player, a simple amplifier and pre-amp, and any large speakers they could find.

Sound systems gather up all the musical equipment they could get and held live musical events all over Jamaica. Over time, local music began to rise as a culture and trend, and has since then replaced any other type of foreign music. With this happening all over the country, soundsystems started becoming the local celebrities and garnered more followers and fans than any other local celebrities. This is the point that they started to name there soundsystems. Some of the earliest were Duke Reid, Coxsone Dodd & a host of other smaller sounds. Now there are hundreds if not thousands across the globe and some of the top are Jaro, Mighty Crown, Bass Odyssey, Downbeat, and many, many more

As time passed by, the equipments used by the sound systems got better and better. A system now consists of several Disc Jockeys, sound engineers, and MC's and usually plays Dancehall, Reggae, Hip Hop and Jamaican music genres. Events known as sound clashes are being held, where different soundsystems would compete for the crowd's support.

These competitions usually are held outdoors. If not, they are held in dancehalls, clubs or larger venues. The way they decide the winner of the competition is easy - which ever soundsystem gets more support and better response from the crowd.

It all depends on the support of the crowd. The best way to make a soundclash really intense is by playing dubplate specials.

If the specials are new and exclusive, the crowd will show a greater degree of support. Without a single doubt, this music trend has boosted the popularity of many Jamaican musical genres all over the globe.

So, What Are Dubplates?

Now you might be wondering, just what dubplates refer to. Dubplates can refer to dubs, specials and samples. All of these three have their own unique characteristics which you will find out soon enough.

A dubplate is a recording done by some Dancehall or Reggae artist which "bigs the soundsystem up".

The effect of a dubplate is simple - it serves as a very important endorsement by a artist for the soundsystem. It instantaneously boosts the stage cred of the system as well as the crowd response.

We must also understand that dubplates hold important roles in soundclashes for a few reasons:

1. It can be hard to locate celebrities and artists who are willing to big it up for you.

2. It's an expensive effort. Expect to pay thousands of dollars to get a dubplate done from a top performing Dancehall Or Reggae artist.

For these reasons, the audiences usually hold very high regards for soundsystems, which are capable of getting them. If the sounds plays a dubplate specials done by a very popular and respected singer or DJ, then the crowd will show the support and respond at a much higher degree.

Dubplates vs Specials Vs Samples
Most amatuers always confuse the difference between a dubplate, a special and a sample. A dubplate is a song that any sound that can get from an artist, if they can afford it. A special is a song that the artist agrees to make for only one particular sound system, which means no other sounds can play the special, and it adds up a lot to the exclusivity part of the game.

A sample is very much like a special, except that it's unique and has a style that the world has never witnessed before.

Getting Dubplates:
There are a few ways to get dubplates. Nowadays, we can even purchase dubplates online. But in the end it still comes down to connections and who you know. If your new to the soundclash game then its best to seek out others who you can trust to help you obtain dubs from smaller less known artist until you build up a trust for someone else to handle larger sums of money for the bigger artist.

To get a dubplate created by a newly rising star, expect to pay about dollarsignr50-75 at the very least. The price of the dubplate goes up to dollarsignr500 to dollarsignr1000 depending again on who you know, the artist, etc.

Another way to get dubplates is via the traditional route. You will have to have a huge connection to get a dubplate this way, but if you do have the influence, then you will be able to locate highly respected artists and celebrities to do dubplates for you. This can cost you at least a few thousand dollars.
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