Reggaeton roots is built on Shabba Ranks

Whats up Mad Music People . We all Love Reggaetón with superstars like Daddy Yankee and J Balvin  but  do you know the true history to reggaetón.

Well jump back in the music time machine to 1990 when Shabba Ranks created the song "Dem Bow" a classic dancehall anthem taken from Shabba's 1991 album Just Reality. To this day, elements of the song's accompaniment track are found in over 80% of all reggaetón productions

The song and riddim produced by Bobby Digital inspired an instrumental in Puerto Ricoin the mid 90s  called "Dem Bow' which its distinct drum pater became characteristic of the sound of reggaetón 

Steely & Clevie, creators of the Poco Man Jam riddim, are usually credited with the creation of dembow

 

 Here is the reggaetón derivative, I am sure you here the similarity....maaaad

 

Shabba Ranks the King of Krossover

This weekend Shabba Ranks is the show headliner for the 20th staging of Reggae Sumfest, after a 11 year absence from Jamaica ostensibly because he was not been offered the right money and the right recognition for his contribution to reggae music.

Well it appears he has got both, as the Reggae Sumfest has finally acknowledged both  by honouring him with a commendation this Friday night and of course his highly anticipated performance on the Sumfest stage.


What people don't realize is that  Shabba was doing cross over dance music long before it became fashionable. Here is a gem of a song from 21 years ago ((1991) British punk group Scritti Politti  featuring Shabba Ranks.  "She's a woman", the song is actually a cover of a Beatles song, the original Beatles song  was released as the B-side to "I Feel Fine" in 1964.

and here is the original not as funky

a mee maan SHABBA...maaaahd.

Oh BTW Shabba has sure got better looking with age.