A speaker stack at The Great Antipodean Reggae Soundsystem Carnival in Sydney, Australia, in 2016.
© Kane Hibberd/Red Bull Content Pool
Music

How Jamaican soundsystem culture conquered music

From Jamaican sound clashes of the 1950s to DJ Kool Herc and beyond, soundsystem culture has played a pivotal role in music's evolution.
By Chris Parkin
4 min readPublished on
The idea of the Jamaican sound clash — a fierce battle between rival soundsystems — took off around the world in the 1990s. A series of World Clash events showed just how far soundsystem culture had traveled — from the Caribbean to the U.S., Japan to Scandinavia — since its early days on the streets of Kingston in the '50s.
Since then, Red Bull Culture Clash has been keeping the spirit of the sound clash alive. Before Mike WiLL Made-It, Popcaan, Tinie Tempah and WondaGurl do battle at Red Bull Culture Clash Atlanta 2017 on Aug. 25, here's a quick look at how Jamaican soundsystem culture conquered the world.
Jamaican soundsystems started out playing U.S. R&B records
Reggae and dancehall were just a twinkle in their pioneer creators’ eyes when the earliest soundsystems were set up in the 1950s. These systems — stacks of speakers set up on the streets of Kingston, playing U.S. rhythm and blues records — were led by Jamaican hall-of-famers Tom Wong, Duke Reid and Sir Coxsone, earned their regal ranking by winning sound clashes, a then-informal battle between two soundsystems set up near each other.
"Jamaicans on whole, they love the competition," roots reggae star Luciano told Red Bull Music Academy. "They love to prove themselves that they can really outrun someone. It's just our nature of 'I and I' people. That's why you have so much creativity and so many great singers, because the competition level is so high right here."
The reggae veteran Johnny Clarke performing live at the Outlook Festival in Croatia.

Jamaican singer Johnny Clarke

© PYMCA/UIG via Getty Images

But things evolved — and fast
In the 1960s and '70s, DJs and selectors became just as important as the music. They had to cherry-pick from mountains of fresh, local music by the likes of King Tubby, Joe Gibbs and Lee "Scratch" Perry. Dub pioneer Tubby started creating "specials" (or exclusive tracks) to be played by his and other systems.
This morphed into something else entirely with the advent of dancehall, and DJs like Yellowman, Tenor Saw and Burro Banton. They introduced live vocalists and MCs, who talked down their rival soundsystems and tested out new music, paving the way for the dubplate: pre-existing tracks cut with a shout-out for their soundsystem. Some of the earliest dubplates, says UK reggae and soundsystem veteran David Rodigan, came from Jamaican sound systems Bass Odyssey and Killamanjaro.
Soundsystems have always been a team effort
Everything about Jamaican soundsystem culture is rooted in competition, including the size of a crew's speakers. As things got more and more out of hand, speakers began to tower over audiences, with stacks reaching 12 feet high and wide. This kind of ambition required a team effort, though. Soundsystem crews would look after their own bookings; build their own amps and speakers, designing them for specific sonic requirements; test their own systems to ensure they worked properly and build everything around their in-system selectors and MCs.
Soundsystem culture quickly spread to the UK ...
Jamaican immigrants to the UK in the 1950s and '60s started gathering in houses and basements for events called blues parties. These required a soundsystem and partygoers paid an entrance fee to cover the costs. Lloyd Coxsone's Sir Coxsone Outernational were one of the UK's best-known early systems, and were followed by Jah Shaka, Channel One, Iration Steppas and Saxon Studio International.
The biggest names in Jamaican music came over to perform with these soundsystems and this unique take on the culture had a huge influence on the style of Yellowman and others back in Jamaica. In the UK, soundsystem culture dominates Notting Hill Carnival and has influenced everything from rave and free parties to festivals and, of course, Red Bull Culture Clash.
Soaking up the sounds from a soundsystem at Notting Hill Carnival 2006.

Notting Hill Carnival

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… and to the U.S.
Selector Tony Screw set up one of New York's early reggae soundsystems, Downbeat International, in the 1970s. But just as pivotal was DJ Kool Herc. Born in Kingston, Jamaica, Clive Campbell — Herc's real name — witnessed firsthand the dancehall parties thrown by neighborhood soundsystems, and experienced Jamaican MCs delivering their rapid-fire toasts. Moving to the Bronx, Herc eventually set up his own soundsystem, creating the break and laying the foundations for hip-hop in the process. His Herculords soundsystem was a massive influence on Grandmaster Flash And The Furious Five and Afrika Bambaataa's Zulu Nation, among many others. The rest, of course, is history.
The NYC hip-hop legend DJ Kool Herc shows a new generation how it's done in Blackpool, UK, in 2000.

DJ Kool Herc

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Part of this story

Red Bull Culture Clash Atlanta 2018

Inspired by Jamaican sound clashes, Red Bull Music Culture Clash will bring big sound and fierce competition to 787 Windsor on Friday, August 24.

United States787 Windsor, United States
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