vitriol said:

No, I don't have to. You're only misinterpreting my post because you disagree with me.

ludwig said:

What is it about reggae music you don't like ludwig? It does tend to have the same type beat. What I don't like about it, is when some reggae artists redo popular songs into a reggae bit. I prefer they just make "original" songs. It's not my favorite genre, but I do have to say I like calypso and new orleans' type music, because I feel new orleans' music was born out of calypso music, plus calypso music is much more lively than reggae. I do however, appreciate Bob Marley's music.
[Edited 5/9/10 13:10pm]

2elijah said:

Reggea music is just boring as hell. And I really hate when grown men sing like teddy bears.

ludwig said:

I'm laughing because right now I'm watching a movie, where the background tracks happen to be reggae music. Yes, I do find some reggae songs to be boring, but not the ones that have a nice dance beat, like some songs from Sean Paul and Shaggy, because most of the time, their music is a bit more upbeat, I guess because I'm from a Caribbean background. is why I could appreciate some reggae music just a bit.

Now another form of reggae, combined with latin beats, is Reggaetone, which in my opinion is just another form of "Calypso" upgraded. Anyway, like I said, reggae doesn't appeal to everyone, but then again it does depend on who the artist is and the level he/she takes the reggae beat in their music. I only heard the "Sun, Moon and the Stars" and Ripogodazippa" from Prince's music, but I like the "Sun, Moon and the Stars" better than "Ripogodazippa".
[Edited 5/9/10 13:33pm]

ludwig said:[quote]

vitriol said:

Interesting. So what you think is 'the fucking truth', huh?

vitriol said:[quote]

ludwig said:

You really don't understand what I said. No one is objective, so there is just no need to point out that this is a personal opinion. If you like ice cream and another one says that ice cream is super you wouldn't argue like you did it with me. You would just say "Fuck yeah! You're right. Ich cream is the best.".

^Forget it. You didn't get me from the start.

ernestsewell said:

probably only because the font didn't allow for it.

i really hope he leaves reggae alone. his version of it is the same crap that i'm inundated with whenever i go to hawaii for work. this brand of reggae is a creative cul-de-sac

errant said:

yep, not his best effort unfortunately

AFAIK Prince has only released 2 "reggae inspired" tunes...Rippagodazippa and Blue Light. Rippa is a great song and a lot of fun, but Blue Light, not so much.

Sun, Moon and Stars has a slight Carib feel but not reggae at all.

The intro to New Position has the steel drum sound but again there's nothing even remotely reggae about it.

If Prince wants to try out some reggae as well as other Carribean sounds with this new guitar player, I'm all for it. There's a lot more to Caribbean music than just reggae and some interesting jams could happen.

babynoz said:

I love the rhythm of reggae, and enjoyed Prince's past attempts at it, cheesy as they may have been. I'd be very interested if he ever decided to delve deeper and explore more authentic sounds.

god lets hope not!

Kara said:

I love it too...there's a lot of good, authentic sounds for him to work with.

Damn. How can anyone dismiss reggae as anything less than a wonderful, soul-stirring musical art form? Songs like Bob Marley's "Redemption Song" and Jimmy Cliff's "Many Rivers To Cross" should be in the music library of anyone with working ears and a heartbeat.

Not a big fan of Prince's take on the genre, though.

squirrelgrease said:

Truth.

Seriously, some of you people disturb me. I do not get how you can dismiss an entire genre of music and say it's not good just because you personally don't like it.

I mean, I never want to listen to classical music, it bores the shit out of me, but I would never say "Classical music is shit". Clearly, there's some amazing classical music out there and you have to acknowledge that even if you don't have a personal interest in listening to it.

There's some incredible reggae out there that would make everyone in this thread who said they hated reggae retract that statement. Unfortunately, their ignorant attitudes will probably prevent them from ever being exposed to it though.

Besides which, there are so many subgenres of reggae that even making that statement doesn't even make sense. It's like saying that about rock music. You can't say "rock sucks" because, for example, country-rock, punk, and speed metal do not sound anywhere near the same.

With reggae, you've got roots reggae, dancehall/ragga, LoversRock, Dub Reggae, Ska, etc, etc, etc, etc. They all sound completely different.

Militant said:

Thank you, Militant, for your brilliant summation
And I will just also add that if anyone can add a new dynamic
layer to the already multi-faceted expressive art form that
is Reggae, then it is Mr. Nelson himself.
Taking also into serious account and consideration that
Prince's audience is in no way confined to the limited four
corners of Prince.org.

squirrelgrease said:

I like yours too, Squirrelgrease

Love33 said:

Apart from this sentence, of course: "Not a big fan of Prince's take on the genre, though"

Militant said:

Agree. You also have calypso and soca that came before it, and then there's reggaetone which is a mixture of calypso and reggae and latin beats,.
[Edited 5/11/10 7:03am]

squirrelgrease said:

My dear brotha from anotha motha....I just hate it. I had a gal pal who worked at Borders and sent me a stack of CDs that they had used for store play. There was a reggae one in it. (She has an eclectic taste in music and thinks I share that to the same degree.) I just couldn't make it through the CD. It wasn't the first time I'd heard reggae of course, but it's so droning and mind-numbing and repetitive and annoying as fuck sometimes. What's worse is when a rapper tries to adopt some island accent and then speed rap like Tony M through a "song". I've just never found a reggae song that doesn't sound like another reggae song and that makes me want to listen.

Well, I guess reggae is the kind of music you either love or hate. It plays a major part in music history but that doesen't mean you must like it. It has probably more to do with appreciation of the style because without reggae, we wouldn't have such artists like Afrika Bambaataa, George Clinton and The Clash. Ok, and Reel 2 Real. (Wow, that's a blast from the past eh?)

It's like blues and Robert Johnson. His back catalogue is essential in the evolution of the blues but do you know anyone who listens to his music? The quality of the recordings are quite dreadful, I'd rather listen to a mad owl next to my ear.
Still, without Johnson's stuff we wouldn't have Santana, Clapton, Bob Dylan, John Lee Hooker etc. And without the influence of blues and Santana, what do you think Prince would sound like today?

Reggae's power is in the lyrics. I remember some newspaper asked people, can they remember lines from Martin Luther King's speeches. Most of them couldn't but they could quote lines from Bob Marley songs, like "Buffalo Soldier" and "Get up, Stand up." Those type of songs with a strong message are usually the best ones. Does anyone listen to Bob Dylan because of his singing voice?

What's my point here? I can't remember anymore, what do you think?

squirrelgrease said:

Preach it 'lil bro.

Reggae's not everyone's cup of tea and that's okay, but to diss the entire genre for that reason is too opinionated.

Princey only skimmed the surface of it as he does with many things. If he took a serious interest in it I'd be curious to hear the result.

MrGravyLumps said:

You cool! You are not rambling! I heard you..deeply

babynoz said:

And we know Baby ain't no surface skimmer! He likes to get
all up in it and turn it loose

ernestsewell said:

Understood. I ain't gonna try to convert you, but I'm sure there's a reggae song out there with your name on it.

In Love (or whatever the 2nd tune on For You is called, Falling, maybe?) has a reggae feel, too, at least during the verses

ludwig said:

Where are you from?

I spent half a year in the Caribbean recently and pretty much only listened to to reggae and while it's not exactly my kind of music there are sure some beautiful reggae songs and there are other genres of music I like far less. And I don't only say that because my bf makes reggae music himself . I love Ripopgodazippa and don't really care about the other reggae songs he has done.

MrGravyLumps said:

Well said, in the last months I started to understand the positive lyrical power behind many reggae songs