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The Casio employee behind the “Sleng Teng” riddim that revolutionized reggae

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141–150 of 223 posts

Re: The Casio employee behind the “Sleng Teng” riddim that revolutionized reggae

#141
post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's just a euphemism for marijuana. "Unda mi sleng teng" is being under the influence of marijuana.

Lots of reggae/ragga is slang for ganja. But not all. So quite offtopic, but it reminds me of a related topic, but not as funny or peaceful. In my youth, this song was popular in the clubs we went TOK - chi chi man https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xCrhfXjIEvY We loved it. Very energetic. (my body still wants to dance hearing that riddim) It was much later, that I learned, what "chi chi man" and "bun them" means. Burn th…

Very good story, thanks for sharing. There's dissonance in every culture and we must take a good look at things like this, if we want to understand our human nature.

Re: The Casio employee behind the “Sleng Teng” riddim that revolutionized reggae

#142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't buy that using a default demo sample from an electronic keyboard could ever count as cultural appropriation. Even in the most extreme case, the 'rock' sample in question that Casio offered up would ostensibly trace its roots to afro-caribbean origins anyway.

A Japanese person creating this after inspiration from listening to reggae music is cultural appropriation.

I assume you're kidding, but if not... get a load of this.

https://www.google.com/search?q=japanese+cholo+culture&sourc...

Re: The Casio employee behind the “Sleng Teng” riddim that revolutionized reggae

#143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, I suspect we know each other's points already, but I always am curious about how this particular element of the topic is defined by adherents of the group-to-which-I-don't-belong. If we both define what's appropriate, and our definitions don't match, how should that disagreement be settled?

First of all, just to make sure we're on the same page about maybe one single thing, I don't think anybody thinks the subject of the linked article is cultural appropriation. I sure don't. Ultimately everything is somewhat of consensus in society, right? I mean, even near-universal truths like "murder is generally bad" or "helping your neighbors is good" are just sort of things most societies kind of agree on. Someti…

> But a lot of people from group ABC feel like it's pretty crappy for me to use XYZ.

There is no meaningful comparison between the use of racial slurs and cultural appropriation.

It’s not even a straw man. They just aren’t analogous.

Re: The Casio employee behind the “Sleng Teng” riddim that revolutionized reggae

#144
post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hehe, I remember telling an American friend about 10 years ago that I was really into dubstep at that time. She was appalled and couldn't understand why a somewhat decent person like myself could listen to that kind of music. Much later, it dawned on me that she was thinking of US bro-step like Skrillex, while I in fact was listening to "UK Bass Music" like Benga and Skream and Digital Mystikz and Loefah.

All my homies hate Skrillex! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hLlVVKRwk0

That was excellent. :) Thanks for sharing.

Re: The Casio employee behind the “Sleng Teng” riddim that revolutionized reggae

#145
post #44

For people wondering "what's the sleng teng riddim?" here's some examples: Original "under mi sleng teng" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wjw7m-BKmQ8 One of my favorites, "The Don" by peter metro: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnZuTOH2zoc 90 minute sleng teng mix (here's a bunch): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwLKc61dVWQ related: Under mi sensi (doesn't actually use sleng teng riddim but it's a riff on the sleng…

Facebook recently used a version of this song in their first ad for the Meta rebrand:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2W9YVkkn9U

"Way in my brain"

Re: The Casio employee behind the “Sleng Teng” riddim that revolutionized reggae

#147
post #7

The Sleng Teng riddim is one of my favorite reggae riddims. Americans might best know it as the bassline from Sublime's Caress Me Down ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_LP4IU6XD4 ). But you might really love the lyrics of Tenor Saw's Pumpkin Belly, which a song of the "old time proverbs": "Whatsover you want / You have to work very hard to gain." https://genius.com/Tenor-saw-pumpkin-belly-lyrics

How water walk go a pumpkin belly??

Re: The Casio employee behind the “Sleng Teng” riddim that revolutionized reggae

#148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The actual riddim sounds completely uninteresting to my American ears Dub and reggae are a part of the so-called soundsystem culture. That booming bass line is meant to be heard over an enormous PA system (often home built) designed to rattle your bones!

I remember not getting dubstep (also derived from dub before it’s export to the US and commercialization) because I was listening to it on my PC speakers. When I finally played it through my hifi it was like a whole sonic landscape suddenly appeared and only then did I finally get it.

I remember not getting DnB, until hearing a story about how it rattled the listener's chest in London's clubs. I get the idea in theory now, at least.

Re: The Casio employee behind the “Sleng Teng” riddim that revolutionized reggae

#150
post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I like to tell people that reggae artists (more specifically dub artists) created electronic music. I don’t know if it’s entirely true, but there is some evidence to suggest this.

Well, electronic music in the broad sense is at least thirty-five years older than Sleng Teng. I doubt, say, Schaeffer and Xennakis were very clued in to what was happening in Jamaica. But it's absolute true that you reggae and dub had a profound impact on dance music music in all its forms from the 90's onwards, both culturally and in the production methods and sound. I'm not sure I've ever heard any of the original…

> I'm not sure I've ever heard any of the original Detroit artists reference Jamaican music as an influence

Agreed, I've never read anything from Atkins and his progeny regarding Jamaica at all, frankly.

For those interested, though, the cross-pollination of "dub techno" that happened later is quite wonderful (and makes for great programming music). Moritz von Oswald brought reggae to Germany in the 90's and a dubbed out and cold brand of techno flourished from it. I recommend artists like Moritz's own Basic Channel[1] and the newer Echospace[2]

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLr52XxTfCc

[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnubPGFQzPQ

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