Hip-hop and Reggae Week - Commentary

Yes, I have been covering a lot of hip-hop and reggae this week. That is a good thing. Here is some very swank, authentic Jamaican dub for you to enjoy:

As you approach the Gates of Heaven it will sound like this.

Before I go on, a moment of deep appreciation.

I would like to thank everyone, including my friends, for promoting the blog and visiting this part of the Internet. I've only been putting the word out since late September, and it's already gone past 1,000 legitimate pageviews in ten countries around the world including India, France, China, South America, Russia and Poland. 

I promise to use my power wisely.

A very special thanks to hip-hop superhero Montage One, who was ultra-cool in posting a hyperlink to this blog on his own website. You, sir, rock the house.

More thanks to Bay Area hip-hop musicians Jahn the Baptist and Illuminati Congo. They put up a link to my blog on their site as well, and I can't think of a nicer compliment. I very much appreciate it!

A few days ago I interviewed Unity Lewis for Culture Magazine. What a scholar. He schooled me on the connection between hip-hop and reggae, and I got into authentic Jamaican reggae and dub in a much bigger way because of him. The interview will be published in November, and I will certainly post a copy of it over here.

I'm putting together a blog post about an artist from the United Kingdom named Tricky. I've been looking forward to writing about this producer and hip-hop musician, and I promise that his approach to the genre is one worth appreciating for fans of the music.

Until then, here's one of my favorite all-time songs from my hardcore ska days, "Soundsystem" by Operation Ivy, from the album Unity. Thanks to Unity Lewis, I finally understand what the title of the song is referencing.

I always loved ska, hip-hop and reggae, and now I understand how they are all fundamentally connected.