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In every country, there are social traditions that provide societal glue. Common among these is folk music, which not only brings countrymen together, but also served as a political tool to help form an identity as a country. Think about what America would be without its long history of racism, folk tunes, and eventually country music. It has changed and influenced the cultural landscape for over a hundred years and helped provide the political climate we find ourselves in today. Having a particular kind of music belonging to your country helps those that listen to it feel stronger and a more cohesive group. It solidifies their way of life as legitimate, and nowadays it even confirms for a lot of people that their way of life is the best way of life and everyone else across the globe lives in an inferior manor. The Internet has only expanded upon this, bringing together the racist from Arkansas with the racist in Arizona. Without this music to bong all the rural folk together, how would they have developed so much convert (and recently not so covert) racism against anyone that doesn’t fit into their 3:30 second ideal view of society.

Reggae originally came from Jamaica in the late ’60s. While Americans often use the term to describe the sound of all Jamaican dance music, the term actually describes a specific kind of sub-genre that was heavily influenced by not only the ska and rocksteady movements of 1960s Jamaica, but also traditional calypso and African music as well as American R&B and jazz. Another major influence was the Rastafarian movement, with many important fasts drummers playing on reggae records. Perhaps the most identifiable characteristic is its offbeat rhythems. The chords are staccato and played by a guitar or piano on the offbeats of the measure. In 1968 the first real reggae records were released, and almost instantaneously its influence spread across the globe. Before the year was over Johnny Nash had already introduced a bastard form on reggae to American radio. To this day, reggae has an influence on American radio, most recently from the radio smash ‘rude’.