Reggae Sub Genres

There were many sub genres of reggae music as if became widely popular very quickly. With so much going on in such a short time, things expanded quickly. During the early days of reggae there was a title of skinhead reggae attached to the reggae in the United Kingdom due largely to the fact that the popularity of the music from the working population. Much of reggae was also being incorporated into the ska music genre of the UK which was mostly punk music that the skinheads listened to.

Roots Reggae was the next sub genre of reggae that started to arrive. This form was mainly a spiritual type of music that sent praise to Jah the Jamaican God. Reoccurring themes in the roots reggae genre were poverty and resistance to government and racial oppression. Many of Bob Marley's and Peter Tosh's music can be considered roots reggae.

Dance Hall reggae started in the 1980's and became very popular in the United States. This was a type of music that was stylized by a deejay singing over raw and fast rhythms. This was a later creation of the genre as the original was not ever meant to be fast. Most of the music used in this genre is electronic or samplings, small clips of every genre of music pieced together. As of February 2009, any Dance Hall music with sexually explicit lyrics has been banned from the radio according to the board of commission of Jamaica.

Raggamuffin music was the next sub genre to pop up in the early 1990's. This was a term coined by the "ghetto youths" as this was their genre. This type of reggae includes almost a rap style music to a reggae beat making it hard to follow for most. It was the genre used by the younger generation to express their political views. It is electronic music set to hip hop lyrics. This was a huge contributor to what hip hop music is today.