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Do you use elements of Ragga in your dubstep??

I try to stear clear of it, as the sounds of Ragga have been beyond rinsed IMO

Not to say it should be used or should not be used.
Just wondering opions on it.

Awaiting flames if this topic has been beaten to death.

im not familair whith ragga but doesnt the bug use alot of it in his tune?

Reggae, Ska. Sorry i'm used to it referred to as Ragga.

ah right....i have used bits n bobs in tunes

buthe tunes all always are more reggae/dubby than dubstep

Right on, i feel ya.

Used to love Dub, specially with a sikkk skank hook.


Just find myself getting bored with Ragga based Dubstep lately.
Doesn't seem to hold my interest for very long.

Now some Punchy in your face Dubstep, keeps me locked for sure.

Gotcha,

Opions are subjective to personal taste.

Just recent dubstep ive been bumping lately, doesn't really have those elements.

Thought the genre might be moving away from Dub and into other directions.
Kinda like how you don't really hear much sunstained wobble, if any at all in recent dubstep.
Not including Rusko of course.


Oh well, carry on. lawlz

ill use reggae elements but i try to not use them in the typical/played out ways.

I'm reluctant to jump in on this because it's a very subjective topic, but I'm still bitter about DnB moving away from ragga. It was right around the time I got into it, 95-96, and the ragga sound was what hooked me. Problem was, most of the records coming out at the time were moving towards more dark tech-y sounds, and that was considered somehow "more serious". I think that shift turned DnB from a genre with potential for a broader appeal into something that was very insular and directed inward, i.e. you had to be a DJ to appreciate it. To me, it all started to sound the same. I think it's telling that there's been a real revival of ragga jungle and that's what's considered "classic" within that genre. (others may disagree with that statement, but look at record prices as an indicator) I know for me, I pull out my old ragga jungle records much more than the non-ragga stuff, even though I have lots of both styles.

I hope the ragga influence doesn't fade from dubstep, for me it's the part of the genre that's the most musical and seems most likely to have appeal beyond the immediate future. I'm not opposed to progress, but reggae as a genre has proved itself to be universal and timeless in its appeal, and I'd like to see that musicality continue to be a part of dubstep. That's my opinion.

Mudfoot))) wrote:I know for me, I pull out my old ragga jungle records much more than the non-ragga stuff, even though I have lots of both styles.

Same hear brother man...and I've caught a few of your vids on youtube. You got some gems. The prices for all of that stuff is so ridiculous anymore it's not even funny, but I still buy every now and then when I see something I can't resist that I don't have. Mark Ruff Ryder was selling 7 brand new JM plates on ebay not too long ago. He had 10 packs of them or something because he was just selling them out of his warehouse...10 people (well actually some bought multiple packs) paid over £350 each for a pack...that's just ridiculous, and shops like HTFR and Soundbytes don't help the prices either...especially when you're in the U.S.

Mudfoot))) wrote:I'm reluctant to jump in on this because it's a very subjective topic, but I'm still bitter about DnB moving away from ragga... Problem was, most of the records coming out at the time were moving towards more dark tech-y sounds, and that was considered somehow "more serious". I think that shift turned DnB from a genre with potential for a broader appeal into something that was very insular and directed inward, i.e. you had to be a DJ to appreciate it...

I hope the ragga influence doesn't fade from dubstep, for me it's the part of the genre that's the most musical and seems most likely to have appeal beyond the immediate future...

Very well said, man. It's nice to see someone articulate instead of bash mindlessly. Although in this case, I think the ragga/'darkness' split might've been a good thing in the long run, because - at least as I understand it - the reaction against ragga happened when the UK reggae crews essentially started co-opting jungle and turning it into a subgenre of reggae/dancehall, while a lot of junglists wanted to see it continue to evolve into new areas while staying underground, whatever that means anymore. (And spiking your sound with "evil" elements is one way to keep rastaman dem away - at least for a while. Until breakcore came along, that is...)

Anyway, it was reactionary on both parts, but I think that in the long run it might've been good for both by allowing each to solidify into essentially two separate musical forms from one - so now you've got classic ragga and techstep, et. al. - something for everybody. DnB never had the chance to sell out in a big way precisely because it mutated so damn fast. How many different camps are there in DnB now? Same thing sorta happened with punk for a long time, 'cuz it mutated and splintered into so many factions by the time anybody got signed the underground was already on to the next sound.

re: the original subject of this thread - the music undoubtedly owes big to dub reggae (it's called Dubstep for a reason), but sooner or later it too will fracture into many different sub-scenes... more than it has already. There will be something for the skankers, something for the head-nodders, something for the MC-lovers, something for the nerds... and so on.

Offcourse i use them dub is an element of reggae, ragga is just mc's pertaiing to the dancehall vs the culturehall, but nowadays you have ragga deejays that are singing real positive and sound grimy as fuck. its perfect to mix over dubstep, i work for vp records in nyc so i get allot of accapellas early, i don't see how it could be played otu if no one even used it before.
plus its great becuase everyone loves a good reggae , dancehall tune then you hear the dubstep version and its loike woah fuk yeah .!!
would you rather it just stay voiceless, i mean technically that is what dub is.. just a version of the vocal tune.

i would like to stay in the element of dubstep and ragga vs dubstep turning to experimental and getting played out like breakore and drum and bass..

I had to bring back this old topic as I was just cleaning all the drum and bass off of my record shelf. Growing up with a Trinidadian mother there was a lot of reggae, dancehall, soca (cousin plays the steel pan). Grew up listening to punk rock. Walking into that Ragga jungle party at 13 was the first thing that brought everything that I knew together. It made sense.

I only spin records 92-96 and I have to admit the ragga dubstep is what catches me. Hope it never leaves or I will just be again rinsing shit specifically from ONE time period only.

Great junglist...horrible DJ. I play what I like

i thought ragga was a funny out-of-date word from the late 80s/early 90s that only the French still used regularly? i havent really heard it used elsewhere since like shinehead or the ragga twins or something came out. dont most ppl just say dancehall or bashment? or is there a difference i havent picked up on?

Battle Gong wrote:i thought ragga was a funny out-of-date word from the late 80s/early 90s that only the French still used regularly? i havent really heard it used elsewhere since like shinehead or the ragga twins or something came out. dont most ppl just say dancehall or bashment? or is there a difference i havent picked up on?

In a rave context, that's sorta true; ragga is an abbreviation of Raggamuffin, which was a chat/toast (vocal) style developed in reggae that was largely the forerunner of today's dancehall. It came into its own when reggae made the transition from live bands to 'lectronic riddims.

There's really not much point in the context of reggae of discussing ragga because it's done, already happened, that stuff on the old Wayne Smith records from the 80's. In Jamaican musical time, anything that old might as well be fcking Elvis... although in time there'll often be several revival waves by producers raiding old samples too (and there have been somewhat recent ragga-ish tunes made by name artists). That's just how Jamaican music is though.

As a vocal delivery style paired with other non-reggae styles though it's valid because it's almost always associated with:

1) people "chatting" or "toasting" with varying degrees of patois vocabulary
2) limited tonality, half sing-song, half rap, more rhythmic, chant-like, & fast usually than regular sung vocals... although that changes artist by artist.

I'm not always the biggest fan of MC's but a good ragga DJ (and yes I meant DJ, that's what they call MC's in JA) can be really good for a live set. They have to have imagination and restraint to be exceptional for me.

In terms of the musical elements of dancehall rather than the vocals, I think it sounds more interesting beatwise, bit more lively. Used to be quite a lot of later 2 step tunes with some dancehall style beats (maybe more soca at times).

Shonky wrote:In terms of the musical elements of dancehall rather than the vocals, I think it sounds more interesting beatwise, bit more lively. Used to be quite a lot of later 2 step tunes with some dancehall style beats (maybe more soca at times).

totally! basically that steve gurley remix of zed bias' "neighbourhood" is pretty much a sped up dancehall beat (at least to my ears).