View source for Ragga

{{Short description|Sub-genre of dancehall music and reggae}}
{{redirect|Ragamuffin music||Ragamuffin (disambiguation)}}
{{Distinguish|Raga|Raga (disambiguation)}}
{{More footnotes|date=October 2025}}
{{Infobox music genre
| name              = Ragga
| stylistic_origins = {{hlist|[[Dancehall]]|[[reggae]]|[[Electronic music|electronic]]|[[rocksteady]]|[[ska]]}}
| cultural_origins  = 1980s, [[Jamaica]]
| derivatives       =
| subgenrelist      =
| subgenres         =
| fusiongenres      = {{hlist|Ragga hip-hop|[[Bouyon music#Bouyon-muffin|bouyon-muffin]]|[[Jungle music#Ragga jungle|ragga jungle]]}}
}}

'''Raggamuffin music''' (or simply '''ragga''') is a subgenre of [[dancehall]] and [[reggae]] music.<ref name="LarkinReggae">{{cite book|title=[[Encyclopedia of Popular Music|The Guinness Who's Who of Reggae]]|editor=[[Colin Larkin (writer)|Colin Larkin]]|publisher=[[Guinness Publishing]]|date=1994|edition=First|isbn=0-85112-734-7|pages=215/7}}</ref> The instrumentals primarily consist of [[electronic music]] with heavy use of [[Sampling (music)|sampling]].

[[Wayne Smith (musician)|Wayne Smith]]'s "[[Sleng Teng|Under Mi Sleng Teng]]", produced by [[King Jammy]] in 1985 on a [[Casio MT-40]] synthesizer, is a seminal ragga song.<ref name="LarkinReggae"/> "Sleng Teng" boosted Jammy's popularity immensely, and other producers quickly released their own versions of the [[riddim]], accompanied by dozens of different vocalists.<ref name="LarkinReggae"/>

==Origins==
Ragga originated in [[Jamaica]] during the 1980s, at the same time that [[electronic dance music]]'s popularity was increasing globally. It differs marginally from its dancehall predecessor "other than a slightly more aggressive attitude, and an alignment with the kind of concerns of its youthful audience".<ref name="LarkinReggae"/> Ragga spread to Europe, North America, and Africa, eventually spreading to Japan, India, and the rest of the world. Ragga heavily influenced [[oldschool jungle|early jungle music]], and also spawned the [[wikt:syncretistic|syncretistic]] [[bhangragga]] style when fused with [[Bhangra (music)|bhangra]]. In the 1990s, ragga and [[breakcore]] music fused, creating a style known as [[raggacore]].

The term "raggamuffin" is an intentional misspelling of "[[wikt:ragamuffin|ragamuffin]]", a word that entered the [[Jamaican Patois]] lexicon after the [[British Empire]] [[Colonialism|colonized]] Jamaica in the 17th century.{{fact|date=October 2023}} Despite the British colonialists' pejorative application of the term, Jamaican youth [[Reappropriation|appropriated]] it as an [[ingroup]] designation. The term "raggamuffin music" describes the [[music of Jamaica]]'s "ghetto dwellers".

==Ragga and hip-hop==
[[King Jammy]] produced 1985 hit, "[[Sleng Teng|(Under Me) Sleng Teng]]" by [[Wayne Smith (musician)|Wayne Smith]].<ref>Katz, David (2014) "[https://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/feb/20/wayne-smith-sleng-teng-revolutionised-dancehall-reggae Wayne Smith's Under Mi Sleng Teng&nbsp;– the song that revolutionised reggae]", ''[[The Guardian]]'', 20 February 2014</ref> In the late 1980s, Jamaican deejay [[Daddy Freddy]] and [[Asher D (rapper)|Asher D]]'s "[[Ragamuffin Hip-Hop]]" became the first multinational [[Single (music)|single]] to feature the word "ragga" in its title.<ref>Wynn, Ron "[http://www.allmusic.com/album/ragamuffin-hip-hop-r27604/review ''Ragamuffin Hip-Hop'' Review]". [[AllMusic]]. Retrieved 16 November 2020.</ref>

==See also==
*[[Reggae]]
*[[Ska]]
*[[Bouyon music#Bouyon-muffin|Bouyon-muffin]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Bibliography==
*Todd Souvignier: [https://books.google.com/books?id=VJfi4DcwrjMC&dq=count+machuki+dj&pg=PA120 ''The World of DJs and the Turntable Culture''] 
* Stascha (Staša) Bader: ''Worte wie Feuer: Dancehall Reggae und Raggamuffin''. ''Words Like Fire.  Dancehall Reggae and Raggamuffin''. Dissertation Thesis at the Zurich University, 1986. Buchverlag Michael Schwinn, Neustadt, Deutschland, 1. Aufl. 1988, 2. Aufl. 1992
* René Wynands: ''Do The Reggae. Reggae von Pocomania bis Ragga und der Mythos Bob Marley.'' Pieper Verlag und Schott. 1995 {{ISBN|3-492-18409-X}} (Pieper), {{ISBN|3-7957-8409-3}} (Schott) [http://www.oktober.de/reggae/ Online-Version] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080501201544/http://www.oktober.de/reggae |date=2008-05-01 }}
* Norman C. Stolzoff: ''Wake the Town and Tell the People. Dancehall Culture in Jamaica.'' Durham; London: Duke University Press, 2000. {{ISBN|0-8223-2478-4}}

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{{reggae}}
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[[Category:Ragga| ]]
[[Category:Dancehall]]
[[Category:Jamaican styles of music]]
[[Category:Reggae genres]]