Feeling good I got this silly beer at a large tent blasting entry-level reggae.
This term, “entry-level reggae”, from Jacob’s scene report at the Minnesota State Fair, perfectly captures a solution to a personal mp3/id3 genre madness that’s afflicted me for years…I love Augustus Pablo, Sugar Minott, Cornell Campbell, Scientist, Roots Radics, King Jammy, Junjo Lawes, Yellowman, etc, but I kinda can’t stand Bob Marley. For a long time I would call the Jamaican music I listen to any name but reggae: “Dub”, “Dancehall”, even “Roots Reggae”…really anything that didn’t signify Bob Marley. No disrespect to Bob! But now I have entry-level reggae, which captures this distinction within the beautiful and wide world of Jamaican music. Entry-level reggae is the stuff I hear playing at my son’s vaguely-caribbean themed swim school waiting room. It’s probably the only Jamaican music some people will ever encounter…and that’s OK, because entry-level reggae as a taxonomical distinction allows me to live in peace with reggae itself as a genre again!!