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

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

#171

Post by tinco »

hutzlibu wrote: post #133
wzy wrote: 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…

Oh no way.. we danced so much to that song. Thanks for teaching me that even though it makes me sad. I would totally randomly put it on to liven up a party.

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

#172

Post by Spastche »

yardie wrote: post #56
teachrdan wrote: post #4

For those who don't know, "Riddim is the Jamaican Patois pronunciation of the English word 'rhythm'. In the context of reggae and dancehall it refers to the instrumental accompaniment to a song and is synonymous with the rhythm section... A given riddim, if popular, may be used in dozens—or even hundreds—of songs, not only in recordings but also in live performances." The actual riddim sounds completely uninteresting…

You're listening to it wrong. /s Dancehall riddims are tuned for the dancehall and, occasionally, the car show. It's a vibe and atmosphere that doesn't translate well to headphones. I can listen to 2 DJs in a clash go back and forth for hours with just 1 riddim. But after 1 play of Cash Money riddim, for example, I'm pressing FFWD for something else. Because the moment is gone.

I agree. I tried listening to Clint Eastwood's Jah Lights Shining earlier today thru a speaker system I'm DIYing and it's really not the same unless you've got proper speakers.

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

#173

Post by Spastche »

blacksmith_tb wrote: post #38
Simon_O_Rourke wrote: post #8

There's no decent reggae after the early 1980s, apart from UB40 knock off bands. Give me the Pioneers, Dave and Ansel Collins or Justin Hinds any day.

Presumably plenty of Jamaicans (and others) would disagree, but I do personally like the sound of the 70s recordings best, especially the dubs, The Revolutionaries, Roots Radics, etc. Newer reggae has a lot of newer pop in it, auto-tune, plastic-y production.

I like the sound of those records too. I kinda wonder how much of it was the access to gear they had, I know lots of sound systems were DIY and people like Tubby and Scientist were electrical engineers.

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

#174

Post by bobthepanda »

teachrdan wrote: post #4

For those who don't know, "Riddim is the Jamaican Patois pronunciation of the English word 'rhythm'. In the context of reggae and dancehall it refers to the instrumental accompaniment to a song and is synonymous with the rhythm section... A given riddim, if popular, may be used in dozens—or even hundreds—of songs, not only in recordings but also in live performances." The actual riddim sounds completely uninteresting…

I don't know that this is the best example of a riddim if you were to look at the ones that got big in the US. Which there are.

In 2002, the "Diwali Riddim" came out, which is the basis of several popular songs: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diwali_Riddim

the original beat - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMASjABxHWE

Sean Paul - Get Busy - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPQ3o14ksaM

Lumidee - Never Leave You (Uh Oh) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k03HK88HhmU

Rihanna - Pon De Replay - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEauWw9ZGrA

Wayne Wonder - No Letting Go (0:30 to start the actual song) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pT1XhnfMT5c

---

Another big one is the Coolie Dance riddim. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d31drv0VQsU

Move Ya Body - Nina Sky https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYbMvAB66KM

Culo - Pitbull ft. Lil Jon https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iy-vUCIm04M

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

#175

Post by zepto »

JohnBooty wrote: post #153
zepto wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

I mean, yes, they are different. One is usually explicitly meant to denigrate another group; another is usually not meant to denigrate another group. In that sense, very different. In another key way they’re absolutely similar: they are modes of expression that (in the eyes of some) harm other groups or (in the eyes of others) are not a big deal. And there are an awful lot of grey areas and nobody agrees on the defin…

You’ve simply repeated the contradiction.

We know that slurs are meant to denigrate.

We not only don’t know that appropriation is intended to do harm. For any given claim of appropriation, we don’t even know that it does harm, nor that members of the group perceive it that way in general.

There really is no comparison at all, and it seems like your argument is that they are similar in that people disagree about them, which is not a meaningful point.

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

#176

Post by fsckboy »

aembleton wrote: post #139
sithadmin wrote: post #100

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.

A Japanese company doing market research and selling products to reggae artists in Jamaica who like and adopt the included rhythm is... what?... according to your calculus.

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

#178

Post by [deleted] »

dashwehacct wrote: post #90
2muchcoffeeman wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of the YouTube comments makes an interesting observation that this is an entirely digital rhythm.

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.

[deleted]

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

#179

Post by pjmlp »

lelandfe wrote: post #150
rvense wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Also,

"That UK Sound - Roots Of UK Jungle"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8J88JmcrAVI

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

#180

Post by kuhewa »

JohnBooty wrote: post #73
zuminator wrote: post #25

This is a beautiful example of why people shouldn't be too quick to tag cultural borrowings as "appropriation." They often result in a back-and-forth cross-pollination that bears novel hybrid fruit we can all enjoy.

Agree completely, though, I also don't feel like this sort of (awesome) thing is what anybody is talking about when they discuss cultural appropriation! Cross-pollination like this is, I dare say, universally loved and recognized as vital. Generally when people speak of "cultural appropriation" it's a situation where you have a majority and/or oppressing group capitalizing on the culture of a minority and/or oppresse…

> Generally when people speak of "cultural appropriation" it's a situation where you have a majority and/or oppressing group capitalizing on the culture of a minority and/or oppressed group.

I think the issue, as illustrated in replies to you, is that many people's only exposure to conversations about cultural appropriation are extreme examples brought to their attention by someone seeking to highlight how absurd they are (or more typically, get some click revenue) and not necessarily representative

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