Genres in the Reggaeverse

Genre Jazz mid-20th-century Jamaican jazz and dance-band culture → ska era and beyondKingston bandstands, schools and studios

The training ground behind Jamaica’s horn power.

Genre Mento 19th-century roots · commercial recording boom in the 1950s · living traditionJamaica · rural communities and Kingston recording rooms

Jamaica’s homegrown folk-pop before ska: acoustic strings, rumba box, dance rhythm, jokes, gossip and social commentary with a distinctly Jamaican swing.

Genre R&B 1940s–50s major imported influence · continuing exchangeUnited States → Jamaican radio, sound systems and studios

The American records Kingston sounds fought to own: New Orleans shuffle, jump blues and rhythm and blues poured from radios and imported 78s, then Jamaican musicians bent that…

Genre Soul 1960s major vocal influence · continuing exchangeUnited States → Jamaican singers, studios and sound systems

American soul gave Jamaican singers a harmony language they made their own.

Genre Ska c. 1961–66 first Jamaican wave · later global revivalsKingston · Jamaica → the world

Fast, bright and made for the dance: Jamaican R&B was recut around an offbeat guitar and piano pulse, walking bass and horn lines.

Genre Rocksteady late 1966–68Kingston studios · Jamaica

For two short years the tempo cooled and the bass moved forward.

Genre + studio methodology Dub c. 1968–72 emergence · living practiceKingston studios → the world

Reggae pulled apart and rebuilt with bass, space, echo and the mixing desk itself.

Style Early Reggae c. 1968–72Jamaica → Britain and wider international audiences

The first years after rocksteady: organ shuffle, heavier bass, sharper offbeat and records moving quickly between Jamaican dances and British youth culture.

Style Reggae Pop international Jamaican hits from late 1960s · recurring pop crossoverJamaica and diaspora → global radio

Reggae shaped for broad radio without losing every trace of the island: concise hooks, polished production and crossover arrangements.

Genre Roots Reggae early 1970s consolidation · living practiceJamaica → the world

Reggae with history, faith and resistance close to the surface: heavy bass, spacious grooves and voices confronting Babylon while looking toward Africa, justice and spiritual…

Genre Hip-Hop early 1970s Bronx formation · living global cultureThe Bronx · New York City → the world

Built in the Bronx by Black and Latino youth from funk, soul, disco, Caribbean sound and neighborhood invention.

Style Rockers mid-1970s emergenceKingston studios and stages → roots reggae worldwide

Reggae’s drums push harder.

Genre Dancehall late 1970s emergence · digital turn 1985 · living cultureKingston and across Jamaica → the world

The dance became the engine: deejays, riddims, selectors and producers reshaped Jamaican popular music around the sound system.

Style Rub-A-Dub late 1970s–early 1980sJamaican studios and sound-system dances

Late-1970s and early-1980s reggae built for the dance: stripped riddims, singers and deejays sharing the same musical ground, and sound-system energy moving toward dancehall.

Style Digital Dancehall mid-1980s breakthrough · central through 1990s and beyondKingston studios and sound systems → global dancehall

The riddim moves into machines.

Style Digital Dub mid-1980s digital turn → living international sceneJamaica and Britain → Europe and global sound systems

Dub built with drum machines, sequencers, synth bass and digital effects while the sound-system mix stays alive.

Style Ragga mid-1980s–1990s peak usage · still used internationallyJamaica → Britain, Europe and worldwide scenes

A widely used name for digital-era dancehall: programmed riddims, deejay-led records and hard electronic pulse.

Hybrid / discovery lane Hip-Hop Reggae late-1980s/1990s crossover roots · major 2000s–present laneJamaica ↔ the Bronx and wider diaspora → global scenes

Reggae and hip-hop meeting as equals: riddim, bass and dancehall or roots language carrying rap cadence, sampling, boom-bap, trap and 808 weight.

Hybrid umbrella Reggae Fusion late-1980s/1990s naming and crossover · living umbrellaJamaica and diaspora → worldwide pop circuits

Reggae refusing one border: dancehall, hip-hop, R&B, pop, rock, soca and electronic production mixed in different proportions.

Style Reggae Rock 1970s punk-reggae crossings · major US scene from 1990sBritain and North America · especially Southern California → wider world

Reggae groove meeting rock-band volume, punk energy, ska bounce and often hip-hop cadence.

Genre Reggaeton 1980s roots · 1990s Puerto Rican underground · global breakout 2004Jamaica ↔ Panama ↔ Puerto Rico → the world

A Caribbean and Latin urban music built through several routes at once: Jamaican dancehall riddims, Panamanian reggae en español and Puerto Rico’s underground hip-hop scene.

Style Ambient Dub early 1990s naming and scene formationBirmingham and wider UK electronic underground → global downtempo

Dub bass and studio space stretched into early-1990s electronic drift.

Electronic hybrid Dub Techno Berlin formation c. 1993–95 · living electronic lineageBerlin → global electronic music

Techno reduced to pulse, grain and echo.

Electronic umbrella Dubtronica 1990s electronic crossover → presentmultiple electronic and reggae scenes worldwide

Dub’s bass, space and remix logic inside modern electronic production.

Electronic scene term Psydub late 1990s–2000s scene formation · living festival/downtempo laneUK psychedelic electronic scene → global festivals and studios

Psychedelic downtempo with dub in its bloodstream: deep bass, long delays, global instrumentation and studio worlds that keep folding in on themselves.

Artist-coined microgenre Dubadub 2000s development · named through Stand High PatrolBrittany · France → European dub network

Stand High Patrol’s private dialect: early digital reggae and dub rebuilt with hip-hop drums, jazz color, new wave, house and the dry drawl of Pupajim.

Artist-led microgenre Vapor Dub 2010s development · clearly named by 2017France → European reggae/dub network

Biga*Ranx’s hazy French mutation of dub: rub-a-dub swing, cloud-rap softness, slowed textures, tape blur and electronic glow.