Roots or Riddims?

[Gad]

When I started listening to reggae music, I did not quite differentiate between roots and riddims. That was way back in my young school days. However, with time I realised that these two categories are distinctive. For instance, I learnt that roots refer to the slow beat reggae tunes that the likes of Bob Marley, Peter Tosh and Burning Spear sing. They are the real deal. Many reggae fans would tell you that roots always have a message that they pass across.
There is this other type, riddims. I tend to believe that these are the new generation type of reggae. We have a producer releasing an instrumental to many artists and each of them comes up with a song. The likes of Christopher Martin, Alaine, Cecile, Busy Signal just to name a few. These songs are a bit faster and they mainly focus on entertainment. Which one do you prefer?

 

[DR KOKIL AGARWAL]

I will stay with the old and authentic roots that are a hallmark of big artists like Bob Marley. Though this does mean that I don't welcome riddims. I always look forward for advancements but when it is a question of preference I would go with the original and rather slow one.

 

[NicholasMukuha]

When I got introduced into the genre, I was crazy about the 'world boss', Vybz Kartel. His song Clarks, swept me off my feet. This attracted me to migrate from the local songs I was listening to, and join the riddim flock. However, my stay was short-lived. Though singers like Cecile, Alain, Christopher Martin and a few others sing nice songs, others sing songs that are contrary to our culture, which has killed my appetite for riddims. This has been worsened by the negative influence they have had on some of our youths, in our country.

At this point in time, though I do not listen to them much, I love reggae roots and think they are the way to go, for them that love this two genres. Most are mature, and do not have as much negative influence as some of the riddim songs.